Prepare Garden Beds for Winter

Posted by on Oct 20, 2011 in Featured, Gardens | 90 comments

It’s only been fall for a month now, but we avid gardeners know it’s never too early to start preparing our gardens for winter.  Soon the first frost will settle in the South, and there’s already been snow in many parts of  the nation.  It’s time to start thinking about how to make sure we take the best care of our garden spaces so we’ll be ready to start them back up next spring, just like it’s time to replace batteries in your smoke detectors, or make sure you arm your adt home security system at night. Putting the garden beds to rest for the winter is primarily a matter of cleaning up and providing adequate coverage for the ground, but there are several things to consider.

As fall deepens and temperatures continue their drop, what plants survive the first frost prepare for dormancy. Begin by clearing out the blackened stems and foliage from annuals and vegetables; this will help to prevent them from harboring disease pathogens and insect eggs over the winter months.  Also, the cool weather is a prime time to make a cold frame, dig and box in raised beds, and make general repairs to your garden structure.  The following video will help show you how.