Winter Garden Tips

You might think it's too late to do anything in the garden now, but it's your chance to say thanks for the abundance your garden has given you all season, and better yet, to get started on a better garden next year. If frosts haven't come, they will be here soon, and all the summer's bounteous heat-loving crops will be finished. You have spent the summer building the richness and texture of your soil, encouraging worms and other soil life by fertilizing, watering and cultivating. Take time now to carry off spent plants of tomatoes, peppers, beans, etc. to the compost heap so they can break down and contribute again to next year's fertility. Be sure to separate any noxious weeds like bindweed or crabgrass that spread from their roots or have massive amounts of seed, and send them to the dump (at Camp Joy we put them in the winter burn pile.) Rake the soil over lightly and sow a quick growing cover crop- rake the seed in to the top inch, then water to get the seedlings up before the rains set in. This cover crop will protect the soil from erosion - the root fibers hold the soil, plants break the impact of the raindrops, and next spring can be dug under or cut and composted. Grains like oats, annual rye and barley germinate and grow quickly and have the fibrous roots, vetch and clovers grow nodules on their roots, which help make nitrogen available to other plants.

Ideally cover crops are planted before it gets too rainy. If it seems late, mulch instead. Use a 3 or 4 inch layer of manure - horse is readily available from local stables - or straw, spoiled alfalfa hay, leafmold, or whatever organic substance you can find to protect the soil. Make a plan for where you will sow the earliest spring vegetables like peas, radishes, onions and early greens - those areas are better covered with winter mulch than a cover crop anyway. The mulch will leave the soil soft underneath, and seed can be sown without digging, allowing planting much earlier.

There is still plenty of time to plant garlic too. Dig the soil deeply (at least a foot) and enrich it well for plump sizeable heads. Pull apart the cloves from a head of garlic - you can send for all kinds of interesting varieties these days, or buy it from the store (use organically grown garlic to make sure it hasn't been treated with any growth retardant.) Plant the cloves pointed side up deep enough so the soil is about 2 inches above them. It's good to let the tops emerge from the soil before mulching. Weed well as necessary, and water if rains are not sufficient to keep the soil from drying out. Garlic can be tucked around roses, or in flower beds, or any place where it can grow until June or July without being disturbed.

Don't neglect those easy to plant, scatter and grow seeds of hardy annuals like all sorts of poppies, cornflowers, godetia, clarkia and larkspur and other California wildflowers. Best planted by the end of October, but later if rains aren't yet muddying the soil, these lovely flowers appreciate a long cool growing season. They'll germinate and put down roots that get stronger over the winter. A little weeding is important, but you can take advantage of no need for watering throughout most of the growing season, unless we get a dry period. Watch for slugs and snails and handpick them in the early morning or after dark. When days begin to lengthen and warm up in March, the tops will begin to flourish and put forth sturdy plants and long stemmed blossoms for bouquets and garden beauty.