It might be a bit of a silly way to phrase it, but I really feel like that is what I am doing. I am a bit fanciful, and I like the idea of the earth slumbering under a blanket of leaves and snow. So if you will humor my fondness for quaint expressions, today I am going to write a little bit about putting your garden to bed for winter.

I feel I should start with a confession. This isn’t so much a “how to” or expert guide as it is a quiet little ramble through my garden at the end of the year. There will be some talk of what I do and why, but this is hardly a definitive guide. I know that a lot of gardeners add certain amendments this time of year, but I tend to stick with what I have on hand.

Surprisingly this year I found myself having to do a fair bit of harvesting before I could get to more of the clean-up type chores! We had such a strange year… it was cold at the end of August but hot through September and October. I was finding things that had barely produced in summer were putting out a second crop. I had a whole basket of peppers, and even some more zucchini!

My leeks did well thankfully. It would have been a dismal winter with no leek and potato soup! They had to come out of the garden and got first place in the dehydrator. (I am serious about my soup.) Later in the week I will dig my mint pots into that same garden bed.

Beans needed harvesting and shelling, and the plants chopped and dropped. Some I gave up as a loss and just chopped as a green mulch. (RIP corn)

Anything with insect damage (I’m talking about you cabbage seed experiment), or disease (I am NOT however willing to talk about this year’s tomatoes, it is too soon after such a tragedy), got pulled entirely and unceremoniously dropped in the yard waste bag. I do have a compost pile, but I do not compost with enough attention or enthusiasm to kill bugs or disease.

Some years I have done a bit of living mulch. This is an idea I love, but I struggle to be prepared enough to implement it. The problem is one part logistics, (fall gardens coincide with my homeschool prep time), and our short Northern growing season. By the time most crops are finished in the soil, it it too late for a new one to germinate. This year is probably the first time that I haven’t attempted any at all, but I do have more perennials then ever to compensate.

I grow a number of herbs in large pots that I keep in the walkways of my garden. Because they would each need their turn one at a time in my little dehydrator, and because it was predicted to rain every day until the first frost, I decided to haul them all up to my front porch. (It’s still looking a little jungle-y up there, I haven’t put the pots back yet!

All that was left was cleaning up the last bits of weeds, tossing or storing the odd pot that had been lurking around, and putting the inevitable kids toys back in their part of the yard. For a final touch, my husband and I teamed up to spread a layer or mulch over the soil for a bit of extra protection. I find that our yard acts a bit like a wind tunnel at times, because of the size and the shape. This means that without protection we loose a lot of topsoil over the winter, and that lighter mulch like leaves gets blown away. We are hoping that a slightly heavier top layer this winter will prevent that.

Well that’s it for you this year, my little backyard garden. It may not be a large space, but it is just enough to keep me happy and puttering in the spring, and to survive my benign neglect by the end of summer. I know many avid gardeners start seeds much earlier in the year than I do, and use season extension methods to keep going in the fall. Right now in this season of my life though, I appreciate the seasons of gardening. My garden winds down as our school year and the holidays begin. After that, the rest of mid winter is always appreciated, and by the time it is time to start seeds, I am ready for the cycle to begin again.

Goodnight my friend, sleep well.

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