At some point this fall, even those who like to garden need to put their garden to rest until next spring.
Now is the time to clean up and remove spent garden debris since vegetable and floral debris harbors fungal diseases and immature insects over the winter. These often pose serious problems for next season’s crop.
Now, with cooler weather, is the perfect time to construct a compost bin for composting spent garden materials and leaves. It is the perfect way to recycle spent vegetation into beneficial organic matter. Composting is a process that requires soil and fertilizer or manure to accelerate the composting process. Compost is a natural source of nutrients and also helps loosen tight clay soils.
This Web site www.ces.ncsu.edu /depts/hort/hil/pdf/ag-467.pdf has detailed information on building and maintaining a home compost bin.
Deeply plowing declining and spent garden debris reduces disease and insect problems by smothering fungal spores and insects that overwinter in stems and roots. Exposing roots to freezing temperatures also plays an important role in reduction of plant pests, including nematodes.
Plant a cover crop as soon as the soil is workable. Cover crops such as rye grain, wheat, clover or oats reduce erosion and supply much-needed organic matter when plowed under as green manures in late winter or early spring. These crops produce an abundance of biomass that improves the tilth or workability to the soil. This is especially important to those with clay soils.
Research has proven that many cover crops reduce certain weed populations in future plantings. For example, wheat reduces broadleaf weed populations in early spring plantings.
Now is a great time to have your soil tested. Home gardeners need to have their soil analyzed every two to three years. Soil sampling saves time and reduces unnecessary nutrients into the environment as well as dollars in producing ornamental and edible crops.
Soil testing boxes and forms are available from Cooperative Extension, located at the Agriculture Center on Old Concord Road in Salisbury.
These samples are sent by homeowners for testing to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture in Raleigh. Reports will arrive in a few weeks and now are available online at the NC Department of Agriculture Web site, www.ncagr.com. Take a few moments and test your soil now because the closer to spring planting, the longer it takes to receive and implement the results.