Winter is here and I always ask myself. What can I do for my garden in the winter? Winter time is tricky but surprisingly offers a lot of opportunities for gardening. The weather may scare you off but the rain is vital to building your soil’s water table. I like to leverage mother nature at this wet time of the year. If you are in a region that you are frozen and snowed in, unfortunately, outdoor gardening is on hold.
Leverage Mother Nature
During the rainy season, your soil is getting the deep watering it needs. Saving you from using irrigation and saving on the water bill. Let’s take this opportunity to retain this rainwater and get your gardens prepared for spring. Ways to save water in the garden:
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- Mulch your gardens to lock in the moisture and not lose water through evaporation. It is recommended to use 3″ to 4″ inches of mulch. If you have mulch in an area but it was from a few years ago it would a good idea to through down 1″ to 2″ inches of mulch. Mulch is also helpful to cover the muddy area so you don’t have to walk in the mud. Mulch can be considered woodchips, shredded composted materials, and rocks.
- Collect rainwater using a rain barrel. This is a great way to help conserve water.
- Get your veggie gardens built. you can get a lot of work done in a shorter amount of time because the weather is usually milder in the winter.
- Harvest your compost and layer it in your gardens. Check out the living soil recipe.
- Easier to dig holes for planting especially big potted plants and trees. The rain will help establish the plant with a higher water table during wintertime. I had to move dirt after the rain and digging up the dirt was so much easier.
My favorite winter garden activity
Empty the compost and layer up the gardens using the living soil method. Usually, The day before you assemble your garden you need to deep water the ground but in the winter you can get mother nature to do this step. Another step the rain can help with is soaking cardboard and/or newspaper to get the first layer ready. Thanks, rain!
Make sure you are prepared to do all the layering on the same day or the next day after the rain stops. Once the rain stops the best thing to do is lock in the moisture, block out the light, and provide a wet environment. Ensuring You will attract the earthworm to come to the surface to find layers of organic materials to eat, poop, and populate your garden.
Layer 1 Water and paper. Deep water the ground and soak newspaper and/or cardboard. If you use newspaper for this layer use 6 to 8 sheets and overlap to make sure you’re blocking out the light the same goes for the cardboard but use only one sheet of cardboard. Leveraging the rain can help with this step.
Layer 2 A green layer with your fruit and veggie scraps, wood scraps, cotton, and wool clothing, and any material that needs to be composted goes in the second layer. The top layer of my compost pile is usually the uncomposted material which is the layer that goes on top of the cardboard.
Layer 4 Cover with a thick brown layer of dried leaves and/or dried grass. Alternatives can be coco core or peat moss.
Layer 5 Compost, garden hummus, worm casting, chicken poop, or bunny poop. Choose any of these options that work for you or use a combination. Fresh Chicken poop and bunny poop may cause concern if not yet composted but I found it to be safe as long as it is added in the lower layers closest to the ground.
Layer 6 Cover with a thick brown layer with dried leaves and/or dried grass. Alternatives can be coco core or peat moss.
Layer 7 Peat moss or coco core. A good material to add for water retention. Peat moss holds vital nutrients once all the materials have been composted which gives an added benefit to a healthy garden. Feel free to add this material to other layers.
Layer 8 Cover with a thick brown layer with dried leaves and/or dried grass. Alternatives can be coco core or peat moss.
Layer 9 Top it off with a thick layer of good-quality garden soil, peat moss, or coco core. I like using peat moss along with worm castings because it retains moisture and nutrients from the castings. You can also add peat moss or coco core in replace of the dried leaves and dried grass layers.
Finishing touches
Once you are finished layering add a good amount of water if it’s not raining. You can plant your seeds and starter plants the same day you finish layering and plant closer together due to the nutrient density you provided. In 2 months the recipe will be done cooking and by that time your plant’s root systems will reach the newly composted materials and grow abundantly healthy. Providing your plants with a rich biological environment (living soil) to thrive without the use of any chemical fertilizers. The living soil provides a balance between good and bad bacteria and good and bad fungi making it a balanced ecosystem attracting the good bugs to eat the bad bugs.
What veggies do well in the winter?
Plan to grow what you like to eat. I like growing lettuce varieties, collard greens, kale, and cilantro because they do well in the winter and will not bolt to flower as fast as when you plant in spring and summer. Start your seeds or starter plants and cover them with a clear container to protect them from frost. Cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. Peas, carrots, and radishes are ok to grow in the winter. I hope this helps. The list of what you can grow will vary due to different regions so do some research for what grows well in your neck of the woods.
Winter in the garden wrap-up
So get your garden boots on and put on your gloves. Winter is a perfect time to get your gardens ready for spring and grow some food. Mulch muddy areas and improve your soil. Get garden projects done while it is cooler weather. Plant the natives while the ground is soft and your water table is high. Happy winter gardening!