Is it tempting to just walk away from the garden once the first frost hits? I get it. But an hour spent tucking your beds in for winter pays you back many times over next spring, with better soil, fewer weeds and healthier plants. In this guide, you'll find a simple six-step fall checklist for getting your garden ready for winter.
1. Pull what's finished, leave what's not
- Clear spent crops: Pull frost-killed tomatoes, squash, beans and other warm-season plants.
- Toss diseased plants: Put plants with blight, mildew or other disease in the trash or a municipal compost program. Most backyard piles don't get hot enough to kill those diseases.
- Compost the healthy stuff: Chop up healthy stems and leaves so they break down faster.
- Leave the hardy crops: Kale, Brussels sprouts, carrots and parsnips keep going well into the cold. Many taste sweeter after frost.
2. Feed the soil
Fall is a great time to add compost, because it has all winter to settle in.
- Spread compost: Add a 1 to 2 inch layer of finished compost over each bed. There's no need to dig it in. Earthworms and freeze-thaw cycles do that for you.
- Use your leaves: Shredded leaves are free organic matter. If your soil is on the heavy clay side, like plenty of Minnesota gardens, a layer of leaves helps loosen it by spring.
3. Mulch bare soil
Bare soil over winter loses topsoil to wind and snowmelt, and it's an open invitation to early spring weeds.
- Cover beds: Spread 3 to 4 inches of straw or shredded leaves over empty beds.
- Use wood chips wisely: Wood chips are great on paths and around perennials, but keep them out of annual vegetable beds.
- Protect perennials: After the ground starts to freeze, mulch around perennial herbs, strawberries and asparagus to protect their roots.
4. Sow a cover crop if there's time
Cover crops hold soil in place, crowd out weeds and add organic matter when you turn them under in spring.
- Winter rye: The hardiest choice for cold climates. It can still be sown into early October in zone 5a, and later farther south.
- Oats and field peas: A great mix for earlier fall sowing. They winter-kill in cold zones, leaving an easy mulch in spring.
- Missed the window? Mark your calendar for early September next year and simply mulch this fall.
5. Clean and store your tools
- Clean: Knock dirt off shovels, trowels and hoes.
- Sharpen: Sharpen pruners and hoe blades so they're ready for spring.
- Oil: Wipe a light coat of oil on metal parts to prevent rust.
- Drain: Drain and coil hoses, and bring rain barrel valves and spigot attachments inside before they freeze and crack.
If your tools are looking worn, our Hori Hori Garden Tool is a handy all-purpose digger for weeding, planting and dividing.
6. Take notes for next year
While the season is fresh in your mind, jot down what worked and what didn't:
- Which varieties did great, and which disappointed?
- Where did pests or diseases show up?
- What did you run out of, and what did you have way too much of?
Tuck your notes in your seed box with any seed you saved this fall, clearly labeled with the variety and year.
A few crops worth leaving in the ground
- Vates Blue Curled Scotch Kale: very cold hardy and sweeter after frost.
- Harris Model Parsnip: leave roots in the ground under mulch and dig them through late fall or early spring.
- Long Island Brussels Sprouts: keep picking sprouts well after the first frosts.
Sleep well, garden
A garden that goes to bed fed, mulched and tidy wakes up ready to grow. This is also a great time to start sketching next year's layout. All our seeds are non-GMO and USA grown, and I pack every packet myself here in Minnesota.
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