If you love to garden, the end of the year leaves you wishing you could continue cultivating. Keep busy with this list of seasonal gardening tips.
The crisp fall breeze is a chilling reminder that winter is on its way. As the leaves begin to turn, reflect on your garden and its health. There are several things you can do to prepare your garden for a fruitful spring or even keep your green thumb active during the bitter cold. With these tips for gardening during the fall and winter, your garden will be ready for next year, and you’ll decrease the amount of work you need to do in the spring.
Mow Your Leaves Into Mulch
Fallen leaves on the forest floor function as a blanket for the animals and other foliage within. However, fallen leaves on your lawn can cause the appearance of brown spots, as they cover the grass from the sun. Mowing your lawn’s leaves into a nutritional mulch is helpful to your lawn, and you can use the mulch in your garden as well. Gently mix the leaves into your garden’s soil after you’ve harvested and removed plants, but before the ground freezes. This contributes to healthy soil in the spring.
Plant Bulbs
Bulbs are a perfect way to have beautiful flowers in the early spring, and you can plant them right before winter for the earliest bloom. Make sure to plant only flowers that bloom in the spring—like daffodils and tulips. Planting summer bulbs might not result in blooms.
Weed Your Garden
Once you take care of old crops, it’s important to remove weeds before the ground freezes. Removing the weeds now prevents them from an early growing time in the spring before you get your new crops seeded. Once you pull up all the weeds, gently till the soil to break up any remaining roots and remove pests that are hibernating or have laid eggs.
Take the Garden Inside
Once plants finish their growth cycle outside, place them in a composter for healthy fertilizer in the spring—just make sure they aren’t diseased. You can also bring in fragile herbs to care for throughout the winter.
When you want to continue tending to your plants during the colder seasons, consider the most unique tip for gardening during the fall and winter—creating a small hydroponic garden for the offseason. Many crops can thrive for at least three harvests in a hydroponic garden, and even grow faster than usual. Learning how to manage a hydroponic garden can prepare you to grow fruits that don’t naturally thrive in your environment.