Autumn is the time to wrap things up in the garden. You may be taking in one last crop of spinach or peas, but most of the garden needs to be cleared out and tucked in for winter. Don’t forget your compost pile while you’re out there working.
Get a good pile of grass clippings before the mowing season ends. Grass clippings are nitrogen-rich. They decompose rapidly, heat up the compost, and provide moisture. Good stuff to have in that pile.
When you start raking those piles of leaves, shred them and add some to the compost. If you have more than you need for the compost bin, use the extra as a layer of mulch over flower beds.
Add the plants (not weeds) you’ve cleaned out from your garden and flower beds to the compost pile, as well. Don’t include diseased plants (unless you are absolutely sure that the heat from the composting process will kill the disease.) If in doubt, bag and dispose of the diseased plant. You don’t want to spread it to the rest of your garden, or your neighbor’s garden…
Since fall is a great time to prune your trees and hedges and shrubs, look into borrowing a chipper. Pass the pruned branches through the chipper and add to the compost pile. Or use as mulch.
Clean that last pile of ashes out of the fireplace before it’s time to start making fires again, and add it to the compost as well. It’s a great source of potassium and lime.
If you’re doing any fall canning (apple butter?), be sure you throw all the scraps from it into the compost pile as well. You’ll get double-duty from your fall produce.
Keep an eye (or ear) open for news of your local municipality offering free mulch. Often in fall time cities will do a brush collection, then make mulch out of what they collect. You don’t necessarily have to be a resident to get it for free, though some municipalities may charge a small fee to non-residents. Still, it’s a great deal and just in time for the cold weather coming in.
What else will you do to prepare your garden for winter?
Image Credit: Sue Richards.
I think this is a fantastic idea. I wish I had a garden and some space to do that. I would even grow my own veggies! But I guess at least I can read about it.
Our local recycling centre takes garden waste and sells the compost they produce. I prefer to use that service because they can make the compost mire efficiently on a larger scale and I feel it is safer than the stuff I can produce at home.