Fall Cleanup

We‘ve had a great garden this year. It’s not quite over. Lettuce, carrots, leeks, Brussels sprouts, and kale are still out there, but all the other crops have been harvested. Now we have to clean up the mess left behind and start prepping the beds for next spring. I’ve got piles of weeds and spent plants all over the garden. I let a lot of weeds compost in the aisles, but most of the weeds and plants will go to the compost pile.

I purposely try to let galinsoga be the dominant weed in the garden. It crowds out other weeds, and it is about the easiest weed to pull that I have encountered. Not all the weeds will be as easy to get out as the galinsoga, so a lot of weeding is on the agenda.

This will be the first bed to get prepped. It’s for garlic, and it will be planted as soon as it’s ready, hopefully within a few days.

The dahlias are fading, but the marigolds won’t quit. I like the color they give to an otherwise mostly brown and green garden.

After frosts finish off the lettuce, I’ll take down the fence. I’ve still got some cages, bamboo, t-posts and trellis material to put away. With the fence down, I can begin dragging in leaves, the more the better. Leaf gathering is the most strenuous of the garden prep chores, but if I do a good job, my work in spring is dramatically reduced. Also, the addition of leaves each year helps get organic matter into my very clayey soil.