Fall Garden Cleanup

Putting the garden to bed for the winter requires a little work.  If things went perfectly all the beds would get cleaned of weeds and spent plants, compost would get worked in, the beds reworked and reshaped as necessary, and the whole garden covered with a thick layer of leaves.  Most years I get most of that done. This year, I’m only a little behind, but trying to catch up.

I’ll be planting garlic within a week, but I’m not maintaining a fall hoop tunnel for carrots, spinach, and beets as I have in past years, so any effort now is to get the beds ready for spring.   I’ve put away all the trellis materials, and harvesting is just about over.  We still have lettuce under fabric, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and maybe some raspberries have survived our first frosts and a light snowfall, but otherwise, the beds are ready for cleanup. 

I had some major critter issues this season and I have to take that into planning for next year.  I haven’t fenced the garden for years, but that has to change, as the deer pressure around here is increasing. Raccoons ate a significant portion of corn, and woodchucks are always causing some grief, so next year it will be back to a fenced perimeter for at least the south beds.  I also have to work on a way to protect several crops from voles, which have become a major pest since the last of our cats left us a year ago and has not been replaced.

We always enter a new garden season with the hope it will be our best garden ever. What constitutes the best garden can be arguable, but this year’s efforts were quite successful, so we’re looking forward to 2021.