Fall Garden Prep and Spring Planning

Just because winter is getting close doesn't mean you have to abandon your gardens altogether.  Fall is the perfect time to start preparing your gardens for the spring and mapping out your plans.  We have been removing any left over veggies and pulling out remaining plants from this years beds.  We have been trimming back bushes and trees and moving trees that were getting too big for their area.  This year we covered our bed areas with newspaper, leaves and compost.  We are planning to have more growing areas this spring so it is time to sit down with a pencil and paper and a cup of tea and decide what we want to do.  I love to plan.  We have more animals now, so we have to raise our crops around them.  Fall is a good time to have your soil tested.  A soil test can show you where your soil's pH levels stand and, if changes are needed, you can work on  it by using the proper amounts of lime now and it will be ready just in time for spring.   Now is the perfect time to order some seed catalogs and learn all about the fruits and vegetables you would like to plant next year.  It is really important to read all you can so you don't have to learn the hard way like we have done so many times.  Also, fall is the time to plant garlic.  I use a lot of garlic in our kitchen, so it makes perfect sense for us to grow it.  We will be planting ours as soon as we have a dry day, look for a post on that.  Happy Fall Cleanup and Planning!