Putting the garden to bed for the winter
By peavey
@peavey (16936)
United States
October 8, 2012 9:42pm CST
We got hit with a hard freeze here a couple of nights ago, right after the first very light frost. Needless to say, everything got frozen. I did manage to save one cherry tomato that was in a pot, but that's all. I thought some of the plants near the house would be protected enough, but everything but the kale and Jerusalem artichokes were frozen.
So... now it's time to clean up the gardens and get things mulched and covered for the winter. This year I am going to cover all that I can with dried grass that I saved from mowing during the summer.
Do you mulch your garden before winter? What else do you do to your garden before or right after the first freeze? I am sometimes pretty lazy about it, but have determined this year to do better!
7 people like this
13 responses
@allknowing (153544)
• India
9 Oct 12
I admire all you out there who have to face winter and put your garden to sleep for that time but come spring everything springs even better than most of our gardens here.
1 person likes this
@1hopefulman (45111)
• Canada
9 Oct 12
Good on you! My garden is so small that I don't plan on doing anything. In the spring I will just buy a few bags of organic earth and mix it with what is already there. Still trying to grow dandelions inside my apartment but so far nothing has worked. Will keep trying! 
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (169406)
• United States
9 Oct 12
So far I have been lazy but I am hoping to do better before we get blanketed with snow. I did pull a few weeds today, and we are watering fruit trees so they will have something to go on for a while.
1 person likes this
@cher913 (25781)
• Canada
9 Oct 12
its been pretty cold here at night as well and i will need to chop down the sunflower stalks and see if my poor tomatoes have survived! i am like you. in other years, i have not bothered, but this year, i really need to chop stuff down and get ready for winter.
1 person likes this
@GemmaR (8517)
•
9 Oct 12
We have done a lot with the garden this past week and I think that we probably won't be doing all that much with it before the spring now. We had grown a lot of vegetables that needed to be harvested in the autumn, and we have just finished doing these and digging everything up. The vegetable bed is now all ready to be planted again in the spring. It has been very wet so has been hard to keep the grass short but at the weekend we did our best with it and I think that it will certainly last for another couple of weeks.
1 person likes this
@CODYMAC (1356)
• San Diego, California
9 Oct 12
Hello, peavey. When I was younger I helped my mother with all of these things. At this time I have no garden and I really do miss my home grown tomatoes, peas, and everything else.
We let the remaining plants go to seed and harvested the seeds. After the first freeze mom would have us pull all the remaining plants and burn them. We would spread the ashes over the ground and till it in.
1 person likes this
@flowerchilde (12529)
• United States
10 Oct 12
I'm glad to hear you are sometimes rather lazy in this, as I am terribly lazy at it! I'm all gung ho in the spring, but come fall, not so much. I do need to go out and cover my roses and a few other plants though but the garden will go neglected until spring again!
I think I get overwhelmed with the harvest, then cleaning up and getting things in order. At least... that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
@KrauseHome (36445)
• United States
8 Feb 13
Many times, when you have gardens, and plants outside, you are often ill prepared for changes in weather, especially when it is earlier than normal. But we have been known if they are in pots to bring some of the plants indoors like to the garage, or ways to cover them when we have advance warning of something that is supposed to hit. But many times we end up having to just replant most of it every yr instead.
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
1 Jan 13
Dare I say I'm too lazy to really do much mulching or pruning in the fall. For some reason I just dont want to be outside anymore and in the cold. I usually do most of my trimming and such in the spring. I do try to put clippings and such by my roses, but honestly we had green grass up until nearly 2 weeks ago! I had joked with hubby we should mow the lawn and put the snow blower away.
@JenInTN (27514)
• United States
11 Oct 12
I don;t have much of a green thumb at all. I have flown around the yard before trying to get everything covered when I have had an early frost before though. I usually do most of my preparation in the Spring. I would probably do better if I did it in the Fall though.
@koopharper (7599)
• Canada
10 Oct 12
Our garden this year is just a few potted and hanging tomato plants because that is all we have room for. We haven't thrown in the towel quite yet. The tomatoes are being hauled in every night when the temperature threatens a frost. We're getting tired of it though and starting to wonder if those last tomatoes are worth all the effort.
@peavey (16936)
• United States
10 Oct 12
I know what you mean. I have one potted cherry tomato that I'm putting out during the day and bringing in at night. I think tonight will be the last night. We're supposed to have temperatures above freezing for the next week or so then that tomato is on its own.
