Well the time has finally come. Golden leaves are giving way to barren branches. Our nights are freezing more often than not, and the last warm sunny days are beginning to falter in their protest against the coming cold. It is time to put the gardens to bed for the winter. It can be tempting to let the growing season just fizzle out at the end of the season, but a little bit of effort now will make a world of difference for your garden next season. Closing down a garden space for the season is as much about organizing your growing area as it is prepping the growing spaces for next season. This is also the time when you want to plant any of your fall crops that you plant on over wintering. In the Gunnison Valley, this means garlic.
Why you should put your garden to bed
Any wise gardener will scoff at the idea of not putting their garden to bed for winter. There are many benefits that come from properly putting your garden to bed in the fall. Your soil will be healthier at the start of spring, you will have a leg up on the weeds, your gardening equipment will last longer, and it will help you with planning your garden for next season. Let’s talk about garlic before we dive into the steps you should do to make sure your garden is tucked away nice and snug for winter.
Garlic
Garlic is a great crop to over winter here in the Gunnison valley, this is because it takes garlic 9-10 months to reach maturity. Growing your own garlic is something that is incredibly easy to do. Everyone should have a garlic row in their garden. Plus, nothing compares to the taste of fresh garlic from your own garden. The first thing to do when growing garlic is to make sure you get the right type. There are two main types of garlic, Hardneck and Softneck garlic. Hardneck garlic like the name suggests, has a much harder stalk. Where as, Softneck garlic has a much softer stalk. Hardneck garlic produces smaller bulbs than Softneck garlic, but it is better adapted to colder climates than Softneck garlic. In the Gunnison valley you will want to go with Hardneck garlic. Once you have your the garlic planted, it is very easy.
Where to get you garlic.
Where you get your garlic is very important, because the quality of the bulb will determine the quality of the plant it grows into. I reached out to Sue Wyman with Gunnison Gardens to ask her what her recommendation would be for where to get garlic. She told me that for the home gardener these are the best places to order garlic bulbs from. Gurneys, Burpees, High Mowing.
She also told me that many people buy garlic bulbs from her at the farmer’s market to go home and plant them. This would be a great option because these plants are already adapted to growing in the Gunnison valley.
It is important that you do not use garlic from the grocery store. These bulbs are treated with preservatives to increase their shelf life. This will make them not grow properly.
Plating garlic.
The basic steps below outline the simple process of panting garlic.
Break the bulbs apart into individual cloves. Leave the papery husks on them.
Plant them 2-4 inches apart, and about 2 inches deep, with the wide root section down, and the pointed section up.
Cover them with compost rich soil.
Cover the soil with 6-8 inches of mulch
Water for 3-4 days after planting. It is important to water your garlic at the beginning so that it gets established before the winter.
Putting your Garden to Bed.
Once your garlic is planted, you can go about putting the rest of your garden to bed. There are a lot of small steps for preparing your garden for winter, and all of these will be specific to your garden, but all of them lead to the end goal of a tidy space with everything cleaned and put away. Leaving anything out of the winter will leave you with a mess to clean up in the spring. The end goal here is to make sure that everything in your garden is put away neatly. This will also let you know what you need to do to get ready for starting in spring. Here are all of the things that we do at Mountain Roots when putting our gardens to bed.
Make a garden map of what was planted this year. Clearly label all rows, crops and include varieties. This will help you with planning your garden for the next season. Whether you are doing any sort of rotational planting, or looking to change the quantities of what you grew, this information will be helpful.
Remove all annual crops, break into smaller pieces and put into the compost. Any “softer” crops which have not gone to seed may be turned into soil, such as lettuce blends, arugula, peas, etc. With this you want to make sure that any crops you add to your compost are disease free. If you have any diseased crops, you do not want these going into your compost. Don’t worry about removing all of the root structure of these plants. It is better to leave some root structure in the ground than disturb the soil too much.
Remove all weeds! If they go to seed after you close the garden then the garden will turn into a grass patch when we return.
Line walkways, and the edges of your beds with Cardboard/newspaper and wood chips to suppress weeds along the outer rows of garden and in isles. This will help suppress any weed growth early next season.
DO NOT PUT WEEDS WITH SEEDS IN THE COMPOST! Throw in another area where weeds can grow happily!
Water and turn compost. Sift if needed. This will help with getting your fresh food scraps to start breaking down in the winter, and keep pests away from your compost pile.
Roll up drip tape, secure roll with blue painter’s tape and label with row number to which is belongs. If your rows are different length, it will be really helpful to know where the tape goes before you have to roll it all out and try to match it to the right beds
Remove irrigation manifolds (if applicable) to store for winter. With all irrigation, you want to make sure it is broken down and disconnected so freezing water doesn’t damage anything.
Blow out mainlines with air compressor (if applicable). This will help blow out any residual water.
Dry frost cloth, fold or roll and label with row number. Get rid of any unusable frost cloth.
Turn in soil amendments if necessary – such as compost and/or leaves. Avoid Cottonwood leaves, they are very acidic. For soil amendments in fall, look at last week’s blog. This is an important step for every garden bed that you have.
Turn beds. With this step it is important that you disturb the soil as little as possible. Us a broad forking technique to cause as little disturbance as possible.
Cutback perennials. Add any extra compost. Mulch if applicable.
Cover beds with straw. Mulching the beds will help with protecting the soil biome from deep freezes, as well as limit erosion that will take away your valuable top soil.
Plan and plant cover crops when possible. By this point, it is a little late for cover crops, but you might be able to get winter rye established before the ground freezes.
Clean and maintain tools. This does not have to be done this day, but take inventory of what tools need to be sharpened, oiled, or de-rusted. These a great winter projects that you will appreciate come spring.
Fix fences, latches, etc.
Take inventory of supplies.
Clean and organize your storage areas (you’ll thank yourself in the spring).
Be sure EVERYTHING is winterized. No materials or tools are left out. Everything is put in a home. Anything that is left out will be in poor shape once you find it after all the snow melts.
Inventory any left-over seeds.
Make a list of “must do” for next year (order new drip tape, get frost cloth, better tomato stakes, etc). Any of these that you can get done in the winter will help you get started earlier next spring.
Putting a garden to bed is a bitter sweet thing to do. While it is sad to officially mark the end of your growing season, it can be exciting to start thinking about next season. Putting your garden to bed is a great chance to reflect back on the growing season. A chance to slow down and think about what went well, what you learned, and what you want to try for next year. Many of the steps for putting your garden to bed are fairly easy, but they are very important. A little work here at the end of the season will go a long way to giving you a great start to next season. So get out there before the snow starts falling, and get yourself set up for next year.