If you have already wound up with your garden for this year then let me tell you that you are not the only one. However, before locking the garden tools let me give you a good tip to jump-start your garden in the spring. It is necessary to spend some time to improve the soil in the beds. It will definitely boost the way to a productive and healthy garden along with very few concerns for you to tackle. A couple of things that you need to do in order to prep the soil.
Test
Do consider testing the soil in order to find out if it requires PH materials such as lime or maybe acidic materials that include elemental sulfur. In order to receive an accurate result, make use of the soil testing kit that is available at the office of the country extension.
Roots
Do you still need to remove some plants? Avoid digging into the soil to make sure that you’ve got out the last bit of the route, instead you could tug on the plant and the entire thing would come out easily. If there is a small part of that root that is left behind you don’t need to stress, because it will be beneficial to feed microbes that digested and produce humus. It helps to keep the soil aerated and moist, helping the plants to get adequate nutrients that will help them to grow well.
Note: if the plants have diseases then you must make sure that you remove every last bit of the roots in order to avoid the diseases to spread over winter into the soil.
Adding compost
Place a layer of your compost, it should be about four inches in the garden. Utilize the digging fork and work it gently into the garden soil. If you are successful to get the composed in the place when the soil is warm, critters that dwell in the soil and microbes that are extremely beneficial will begin to work on it right away preparing it for the spring.
Use manure
We all know that before you apply manually to the soil it should be first composted. However, if you manage to apply the composed during the fall in the garden that you won’t be planting until spring, then you can utilize fresh manure, as long as you will be fine with the stench. The fresh manual has ammonia in it and during winter it would disappear leaving behind rich organic materials for spring. The best manure that I recommend is horse and cow, and then sheep. You can apply a thick layer that is approx 1 inch. If you prefer you could also sprinkle in water and blood meal, covering everything with leaves or tarp along with some straw and allow it to cook. Organic farmers refer to this as “6 months winter compost”.
These are a couple of tips that you could follow and prep your soil up over the winter so you would not have to do a lot of groundwork this spring and you would also face fewer challenges. I do hope that this article has been beneficial to you and giving you more clarity on the kind of compost you must use this winter. Thanks, and good luck!