How do you put your veggie garden to bed?

I would like your fall routines for putting your vegetable garden to bed. I'm new to vegetable gardening. So far I've pulled up the plants and have dumped lots of cut grass mixed with chopped up fall leaves.

Do you all recommend tilling it all under now or wait till spring? Do you plant fall cover crops? If so, when do you plant them and what do you plant?

Do you add any types of fall fertilizers to the soil?

Thanks for any suggestions for refurbishing the soil before next growing season.

It would be best to till in your leaves and grass. Planting fall cover crops is a good idea if they will grow in your area in the winter. Those are great ideas, but I don't always get around to them myself. Still, I ought to!

Agree. I like to mix all organic material into the soil in the fall. Spring and Summer I use it as mulch. Just finished sowing the Abruzzii rye in the fields. More as a green manure than a cover crop, but it serves both purposes well. Of course, the kitchen garden is still going with Brassicas, carrots and spinach. By the time they are finished, I turn them down and start the early spring planting.

Farmerdill --- I used to live on Long Island, NY and had lots of oak trees on my property and always had to add lime to my mix as the oak leaves created a low PH. However, my azaelas and rhodendrons just loved their area as I had a seperate mulch pile, w/o lime, just for them. I had the only blue azaela in my neighborhood but alas one fall I neglected to wrap it properly and a severe winter killed it. Lesson to be learned if in a frost area --- WRAP YOUR PLANTS FOR WINTER AND MULCH HEAVILY TO PROTECT THE ROOTS!

We put a temporary fence around the garden, dump in lots of chopped leaves, compost, straw, kitchen scraps and grass clippings. Then we give that space to the chickens for the winter and let them break the stuff down. Come late winter, we move the chickens out. When the ground's workable, we take the fence off and turn everything in, letting the chickens go over everything for a few hours (for pest control and grub work), and then take them out and mulch in preparation for planting. I'm thinking, though, of digging a new garden this year and resting the old one.

Wow, Zeppy, I would love to have some chickens. Sounds like they are a big help, not to mention supplying eggs! I live in town but am thinking of trying 2 or so hens anyhow.

Hope your neighbor approves or you will make enemies. Check your zoning laws first or you could be fined!

Many towns that do not allow farm animals will make an exception if you can show that they are pets. If you are only going to have two hens for eggs and gardening services, and don't intend to eat them, you can teach them to sit in your lap to be petted and teach them a few tricks. If the neighbors rattle, show them what a great companion a hen can be.

I think it is probably okay to have chickens in my town if your neighbors don't complain, but I will check. I think I would only want two and would definitely not want to eat them. I have a walled yard so it would take some doing to see that I even had chickens, but some neighbors could see them from their two story houses. I would definitely not get a rooster! I wouldn't even like that.
I just have always like chickens and fresh eggs. A friend of mine in California has 4 chickens and she loves them and their eggs. I think she once gave an old one to a friend to kill and eat and the meat was so tough that even endless stewing didn't keep it from having the consistancy of rubber bands.

Anyway, chickens or no, I find that a thick layer of chopped leaves and other organic material is lovely for putting the garden to bed. It helps the worms stay active (they don't have to retreat down quite so far and can work the soil better). The fence just keeps it all from blowing away. I always throw several shovelfuls of greensand, rock phosphate, and trace minerals into the mix as well. Finally, I bring in herbs I can overwinter indoors and use in the kitchen.

That's my method. And I'm late doing it this year.

Here are a few links on the subject of "chicken as pets".

http://tinyurl.com/yb3kn6
http://pathtofreedom.com/pathproject/simpleliving/chickens.shtml
http://network.bestfriends.org/wisconsin/news/5737.html

Several of our pet rescue groups also has chickens available from time to time. It's same story as with rabbits, people buy chicks (or baby bunnies) for their kids as an Easter present without giving any thought to caring for the animal when it grows up. Every year many of these will be abandoned. The lucky ones are taken to the humane society or rescue group to be adopted out.

Usually if there is a complaint with backyard chickens, it is the result of roosters crowing, or too high a population for the residential neighborhood. As long as you keep them clean, and don't crowd them, there will be no odours or excess noise for the neighbors to complain about. Hen clucks are certainly quieter than the screech of large parrots or barking dogs.

Is the purpose of a cover crop to keep the worms warm? I'm new at this too:)

Lori

GM,
Thanks for the articles. They are exactly what I was thinking about -- chickens to follow me around, eat bugs and weeds and to be family pets. My only concern is my two 13 year old keeshonds. They are generally friendly, but it is hard to predict how they will behave with new chickens. The tractor coop would enable the chickens to be protected from dogs and to be moved from place to place. I could try the dogs with chickens in supervised "visits". If the dogs and chickens get along, I could forget the tractor coop. On the other hand we could use it if the dogs go wild over the chickens. It is all a matter of diplomacy.
I would love to put the chicken tractor over my gardening area, moving it every now and then. It would really help me prepare the soil for the spring planting season.

A cover crop is wonderful for weed control, and many of them "fix" nitrogen into the soil: that's why they're called "green manure." You can either turn them under with a tiller or hoe them in.

On mulch: Keeping worms warm is a very non-scientific way of saying that layers of mulch over a garden will work sort of like a blanket. It's also (organic mulch) what worms feed on. I don't till my garden often, and if I've cleaned it up and placed a nice mulch of leaves/straw/grass on it, when I pull that away to plant in the spring, the worms are everywhere and the soil's soft and rich. Didn't mean to be confusing!

That's good helpful info. Thanks! :)

Lori

I just finished getting my raised beds ready for the winter. I turned the soil with a fork,so I don't kill the earthworms, and worked in a whole bunch of compost, then covered them with horse and rabbit manure, and covered the whole thing with about 5 inches of straw. The first year that I did this I couldn't believe the worms that were living there in the spring.In late spring I layer the straw with horse manure and let it compost the rest of the year, it then goes into the beds again.Straw takes a long time to compost, but this way it's wet all winter and composts much faster when manure is added to it. I just keep it wet all summer and covered with a big tarp, let it cook.

dguimo, do you grow any winter vegetable crops? If you have ready access to fresh horse manure, a hot bed would be easy to create.

garden mermaid, what's the best resource for making a hot bed? I find sort of vague instructions here and there, but regulating the temp is what seems most problematic. Re-reading "Four Season Harvest" by Coleman, but that doesn't deal so much w/ hot beds...

Farmerdill,

What is the difference between a cover crop and green manure? Can they serve the same purpose?

Yes. A cover crop is simply a ground cover which prevents erosion from the weather, It can even be perennial if you don't wish to cultivate land for several years. Green manure is typically an annual, which is plowed down to decay in the soil, before planting your money crop. It may be a late summer crop like buckwheat, which is plowed under in the fall , Rye or wheat which is planted in the late fall grows all winter and is turned down in the spring. The key is that green manures can be any plant that is incorporated into the soil while it is green and growing. Clovers, particularly Crimson clover is also used for this purpose. I typically use rye both to hold the soil in place during the winter and to turn under in the spring as a green manure. Some folks use the annual rye grass, but it can be quite weedy. I don't recommend it.

Thanks Farmerdill for the excellent explantation on the difference. I just planted some Crimson Clover for green manure a couple of weeks ago.

Zeppy, I've attached some links that will hopefully be less vague on hotbed construction. I don't think you can do much in terms of temperature regulation when using manure other than letting the manure cool a little initially and then venting with cooler air if needed. I think most folks use them in the spring to get a head start on transplants, but I have know a few people who grew lettuce in the winter using horse manure hotbeds.
If you have free manure and space to set them up, you might find it interesting to experiment with.


http://www.holon.se/garden/howto/hotbed_en.shtml
http://www.montana.edu/wwwpb/pubs/mt9803.html
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/envirohort/426-381/426-381.html

Thank you! I've been reading books on Victorian gardens where hotbeds played an important role, so this is very interesting to me.

Farmerdil,

What is the difference between rye seed and annual rye seed and where do you buy it? I'm in zone 5 so if I bought this rye for next year, what month would you suggest planting it?

Rye is the small grain (looks very much like wheat) from which Rye bread and Rye Whiskey are made. It is a tall growing grass with large seedheads. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/73675/index.html, Annual ryegrass http://www.american-lawns.com/grasses/rye_ann.html is a smaller finer plant often use for temporary lawns. It grows thick and fast. A lot of folks here use to over seed Bermuda, Zoysia, and St. Augustine lawns for the winter. It has small fine "grass" seeds and reseeds readily which why I don't like to use it in a cultivated area. Both are readily available in the seed and feed stores here. Farmers and deer hunters plant a great deal of rye for grain, winter pasture and green manure. Urbanites over seed a lot of lawns to have winter green. Our typical summer lawn grasses turn brown with first hint of frost and don't show up again until hot weather.

http://www.annualryegrass.com/
http://www.homegrownharvest.com/rye.html

Thanks. I'm guessing I'd have to plant this tall rye grass in August to get it tall enough before hard frost hits it in November or so. Would you also have to cut this down before you could till it under in the spring? Do you cut it down before winter or do you leave it up all winter and then cut and till in the spring?

If it gets very tall you could mow it. I never have for either rye or rye grass. In the past I have pastured it, but typically it does not get tall enough to bother a plow. A rotary tiller, maybe. I usually plant rye in October an plow it down in February, which is when I start spring planting. You do want to turn it down before it starts sending up seedheads.

Zeppy: Re: your question on information for constructing a hot bed. Bernard McMahon's American Gardener was first published in 1806. It contains detailed information on how to construct hot beds for early vegetable production. I thought about quoting the information, but it is in very fine print and covers several pages, p. 18 - 26.
If you can't find the book, I will xerox and mail copies of these pages to you. I think the information in this book is still so valuable, you should try to buy it if you can find a copy. It is highly detailed and arranged like a garden calendar. McMahon was an Irish immigrant who operated a nursery in Philadelphia at the turn of the 19th century. He propagated many of the plants brought east by the Lewis & Clark expedition. One was Osage Orange used as "living fences" throughout the Black Belt south.
McMahon and his book are an American Gardening treasure. He describes managing the raw manure in detail, using the amount of steam as a measure of the heat. Being a gentleman gardener, he never mentions the smell. You would need access to a horse stable or cow barn to get the amount of manure you would need for the hot bed(s). He gives procedures for growing cucumbers and melons in the hot beds. Hope you can find a copy.

gloria

https://www.abebooks.com/ has used hard cover copies for around $10. I just ordered one.

Justfurkids: Hey, that looks like a great resource! I checked Amazon.com. They didn't have it. Please let us know how you like it. It is one of my most treasured books, and I have hundreds. Another book on my shelf is, Ralph L. Watts, 1917. Vegetable Forcing. It describes ways to heat hot houses to get an early start on the vegetables with steam heat. Much more high tech than McMahon. It looks like it was a text book, written by a Penn State professor.

Thanks very much! I'll look into it. I do have a stable down the road (and a great deal of chicken poo right here, though that's better for general composting), so this may work out.

will do gloria.

Zeppy -I bought a bunch of poultry poo and had to compost it, as the dogs just would not leave it on the beds I was trying to amend. They'd eat it faster than I could put it down! lol crazy critters!
carol

Your plants will also appreciate your composting chicken poo. It is a great fertilizer but heats to a very high temperature, probably too much for your plants.

The mcMahon book will explain how to manage the heat, and how to construct the manure bed so that it can be renewed later to keep the temperature up to keep the plants going through the winter.

UPS brought the book yesterday. Such small print....need my granny glasses for that one!