Sherry's Greenhouse - SOIL

You can start working on your garden soil now. That way, it will be ready for an early start on gardening next spring. Plant a winter cover crop.

Autumn is a good time to work into the soil any compost you have made over the summer. Or, you can be lazy (as I often am) and just spread the compost on top of the soil, letting the worms do the work. If you haven't made any compost, buy some for immediate use, and start a compost pile for next year. You can also shred leaves with a lawn mower (if you have one) and mix the shredded leaves and grass clippings into the soil. They will break down over the winter.

While you're working in organic matter, you could also add some organic fertilizer. You can buy pre-mixed ingredients or separate components. Try adding small quantities of fishmeal (for nitrogen), bonemeal (for phosphate), and kelp meal (for potassium and trace minerals).

Be sure to mulch. Leave no soil bare. Water and wind erosion will cause a loss of topsoil over the winter.

Plant a nitrogen-fixing winter cover crop such as crimson clover or vetch in September or October. In spring, dig or till in the cover crop before it sets any seed. Don't plant for a couple of weeks to
allow the dug in cover crop to break down a bit.

Here are a couple of sources for winter cover crop seed:

Territorial Seed Company
PO Box 157
Cottage Grove, OR 97424
USA
telephone 541-942-9547
fax 888-657-3131

Johnny's Selected Seeds
Foss Hill Road
Albion, ME 04910
USA
telephone
fax 800-437-4290
fax outside USA 1-207-437-2165
email: homegarden@johnnyseeds.com

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