The fall is a great time to begin to plan and prepare next year’s vegetable garden. You can take important steps to promote a healthy and successful garden for next year. Here are five tips for preparing for next year’s garden today.
1) Fall is the best time of year to prepare the soil for next year’s garden. To begin you should pull up and remove any plants from your garden. You may choose to till them under instead. If you do this, make sure that the plants are disease free. You can also add compost to the soil, and till it in at this time. Shredded leaves make an inexpensive but excellent resource of nutrients to add to your soil.
2) You should plan wisely. Take the time now to plan what vegetables you want to plant next year. If you begin early enough you can work through several seasons of plants. You can also plant at different times throughout the year so that you can have fresh vegetables from early summer to late fall. If you plan now you can take advantage of your entire growing season.
3) If you want to save money, you can save the seeds from your plants to plant next year. You will need to determine the time you should plant the seeds, or the time you should begin sprouting them in your home. Tomatoes do better if they are sprouted in a warm environment, and are then transplanted outside.
4) If you do not wish to do your own sprouting, you should decide when the best time to plant each vegetable, and be prepared to do it in when the time arrives. You can often find out this information through local gardening shows.
5) Enjoy the time off from weeding during the winter weather. It may be the one positive aspect to winter that you enjoy. You can also continue an herb windowsill garden, and enjoy sprouts inside your home.
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