Tips for your Winter Garden
11/13/2020
Tips to prepare your Garden or Plants for Winter
Here in North Georgia in mid-November we are enjoying some
great weather, but we see the signs that cooler times are coming. We have
enjoyed our gardens and plants this summer but are there things we should do to
prepare them for winter?
Doing some research, I found a varied answer based upon the
plant. For tender vegetables, its time to harvest everything that may be left
before the first frost strikes. Then pull
all the plant material and if there’s disease on the plant place them in the
trash or burn them instead of composting to keep the disease from your compost
bin.
Hardy vegetables like Brussels Sprouts, greens like Kale,
Broccoli, and Garlic can tolerate 25-28 F so they can stay in the ground in our
area. Some of these vegetables even become sweeter after a frost.
Semi-hardy vegetables can tolerate 29-32 F and some examples
are Cabbages, Swiss Chard, Arugula, Leeks, Mustard Greens, English Peas, and
Kohlrabi. So, in our area these vegetables would benefit from a row cover to
protect them from damage.
Some herbs can over winter like Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme
can over winter in our area with little to no protection. Chives and Basil should be potted and brought
in and they can continue to produce through the winter.
During the winter Inactive garden space can benefit from a
cover crop or compost so nutrients can be restored to the soil over the winter.
If weeds were a challenge during the year you might consider covering the
garden with black plastic over winter to kill the weed seeds before its time to
plant in the spring.
During the Winter we can miss our garden and plants, but an
option might be to create a vegetable planter that you can enjoy even when its
cold outside. We at the FM Aquaponics farm has prepared some vegetable planters
that contain attractive leafy vegetable plants and with our liquid fish
emulsion they should thrive in your home. Come check them out, take one home or
maybe it will give you an idea to create one of your own.