As I’ve gotten a little older, I have grown to love Fall more and more. Of course from a gardening perspective, it represents things slowing down a bit and being able to enjoy the hard work and bounty of the harvest. On a personal level, I also see it as a time to take stock of all the good things in my life. Things get going so fast a lot of the time that it’s easy to always be on to the next thing. I’d like to think that after my year of enough I’m better at appreciating where I am and what I have, but reminders are always helpful too.

Have you ever heard that the best way to have a good tomorrow is to get good night’s sleep tonight? The same principle applies to your garden. As colder weather sets in and the hours of daylight fade, time spent in the garden for me is more about wandering, noticing, and pondering. Where do I want to move that?  What would grow better here? I’m sure you can see where this is going… my 2021 garden lessons and successes post will be coming soon.

Getting back to the concept of rest and replenishing, this is the perfect time to tuck in your garden beds for their winter respite. This involves putting back a lot of what has been taken out throughout the Spring, Summer and Fall. When you think about how much nutrition and mass leaves the soil throughout the growing season, it only makes sense to refill the tank so to speak. Like a bank account, if you’re only making withdrawals you’ll soon be in the negative.

Here’s How to Layer your Beds for Winter

1. A layer of aged manure
2. A layer of compost
3. A layer of shredded leaves
4. Put something on top, like cardboard or a tarp, to keep everything in place so that it gets all warm and cozy for the winter.

Note: End of October/early November is also the perfect time to plant your garlic for next year. Identify whichever bed or section you want to plant it in, remembering that you won’t harvest it until mid to late June so factor that in to your placement. Then depending on how much space you can dedicate, each clove needs to be planted 2-3” deep and 4-5” apart, buy as many organic heads of garlic as will fit in your space. I bought 3 heads of garlic and planted between 27-30 cloves (plant the biggest ones) into the compost and manure I had just put down, and then covered with shredded leaves and a few cardboard boxes.