I don’t know about you, but when we finished pulling our produce out of our Garden this year, I wanted it to be DONE. Strangely enough, that’s also the time that we began to dream of what next year’s garden will look like. But there’s a problem. What do we do this year to set up next year’s garden for success. Success isn’t just putting seeds or starts into the ground. It’s something we need to plan and take steps for NOW. So how do we prepare our 2023 garden for success in 2022?
What we have already done…
So there are three steps that we have already taken to put our garden to bed for the winter. Let’s look at them one at at a time.
Weeding your garden
Really, Karen? Weeding is weeding. There’s nothing new or novel about it. Some people find it cathartic. Some people, like me, find it monotonous and dull. But at the end of the year, when we start by weeding, we are removing at least a good part of what will keep the Weeds from reproducing next year when we get started on the garden. What is not removed by weeding, we will address later in this article.
But there’s a reason for this step. When weeds establish themselves in your garden, they do three things to ruin your garden.
Weeds Steal Three Things
First, weeds steal water – and as we all know – water is money! Even if you set up a rain catchment system and use that to water your garden it took money to set the system up. By allowing the weeds to remain in the garden, they steal the water that you are painstakingly putting on your garden. They steal the money that the water you are using costs.
Secondly, weeds steal nutrients. When our girls were doing home ec one year we read this little book called Weeds and What They Tell Us. One of the things that you learn is that certain weeds live in certain soils because they contain an abundance of one nutrient or another and those weeds need those nutrients. So if you don’t take the time to get the weeds out of your garden, you will lose nutrients to these usurpers.
Lastly these weeds steal beauty. When we allow weeds to take over our garden, they steal the order we have been trying to cement and the beauty that we can see in the garden itself.
Planting overwinter crops/overwinter perennials
Next, if you haven’t already, decide what plants you’re going to overwinter in your garden. Want some ideas on what foods overwinter well?
After you plant your crop(s) of choice, you’ll need to cover them with enough hay or straw to protect them from the cold temperatures and frosts of the wintry months. 6 inches of cover is sufficient for most overwinter plants and bulbs.
Put down black plastic tarping
Lastly, cover your unused garden beds with the black plastic tarping. Why do we do this? Because while you’ve pulled the weeds from your garden, we all know that many of them will be back next year, but there is a – almost completely fool-proof way to rid your garden beds of weeds next year and that is by killing the parts of the weeds that will germinate into new ones. And by putting down plastic tarping, we will do just that. The waterproof nature of the tarping keeps the ground from being moistened by rain and the dark color stops any light from penetrating to the soil beneath.
One other thing that we did to make this as successful as it can be is at the end of each row – every few inches, we secured the tarping with either garden stakes or large stones to keep it from coming free and/or blowing away on a windy day. And since we live on the prairie in Illinois, wind is a fact of life!
2023 Garden Adventure
In the spring, we are embarking on a new type of gardening adventure.
No till gardening
We are going to keep our garden (almost completely) weed free next year using this no-till gardening method. Once all of the weeds (of this even works with just grass) underneath the plastic have been killed, in the spring after the ground has begun to thaw, we’ll remove the plastic tarping.
Putting down cardboard
With the plastic gone, we want to make sure that there is a barrier between the ground and and what we’re going to place on top of it. Cardboard boxes works well because they are biodegradable.
Why cardboard? It will help the soil that you’re going to add retain moisture. It will also – eventually – decompose so you don’t have to worry about removing it like you do the plastic tarping.
Need boxes? Amazon fettish anyone? Okay, I know not everyone loves Amazon, but their boxes sure are helpful for situations just like this. We’ve been saving boxes since about June of this year for next year’s garden.
Layering soil and compost overtop of the cardboard
The last step is to spread your soil and compost over the boxes. According to the website, GroVeg, “Add around four inches (10cm) of compost, then add a layer of woodchips about two inches (5cm) deep, taking care not to mix the two layers. Then simply push aside the woodchips to plant into the compost beneath. You could of course use other materials such as leafmold or hay in place of woodchips. The secret of this top layer is to slow down evaporation and constantly feed the soil below, so that no additional fertilizers are ever required.”
Plant your garden!!!
Yay!!! You are finally ready to start your garden! You can sew directly into the compost. When you begin planting in the garden bed, just push back the woodchips or hay so that you can access the compost, and plan your foods!
What about you?
Have you ever overwintered any plants before? Have you done the No-till gardening method? I’d love to hear! Leave a comment below so that we can all learn and be better prepared. And remember when you are taking steps to prepare your family . . .
You’ve Got This Mama!
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