As the days get shorter and cooler, it’s time to start closing your garden down for the winter.

Spend a little time now to help your garden – and yourself! Come spring, when everyone else is hacking away at weather-hardened soil, you can, without breaking a sweat, start planting in great soil. Sound good?

Here’s how you can accomplish this minor miracle:

1. Dig out all your spent plants. Dead roots and top growth are favorite hiding places for harmful insects. Add everything to your compost pile.
2. Transplant any perennial plants that you now realize you put in the wrong place. If you do this now the plants will have time to settle into their new spot before we get any really cold weather. Water them well, but do NOT fertilize.
3. Protect and enrich your soil with a layer of compost at least three inches thick over the whole garden.

You have a choice of what to do next: Cover this with a layer of straw or salt hay about four inches deep. Water this well so it mats down. Cover it with nylon garden net (sold at garden centers), well anchored at the edges, to stop it blowing away.
OR Evenly spread about a pound of oats seed over every 100 square feet, and gently rake it into the surface so the seed is an inch or two deep. A light coating of compost on top will help.

Oats will grow now, putting down roots that prevent your garden soil blowing or washing away. The oats will be killed by hard winter frosts, the decomposing roots will benefit the soil, and in the spring you will have a nicely rotted layer of oat straw. Any oat plants that survive are easy to pull up. Either way, in the spring you will be able to plant right into the undisturbed soil – this is great for the health of your soil, and by not disturbing weed seeds that are hiding under the surface you will have far fewer weeds next year! Tilling and deep digging brings those weed seeds up near the surface where they can grow, so you want to avoid that if possible.

And next year, remember – never let a weed go to seed! Happy gardening!