Autumn brings closure to the productive gardening year. Now your vases, baskets (and freezer) are full, it's time for one final push to ensure your soil is in tip top condition next spring. Whether you're growing flowers, vegetables or a mixture of the two, this garden checklist has everything you need to know to put your garden to bed for winter. Everything we outline here will help protect your soil and build fertility using organic techniques which nurture your garden ecosystem.

 

1. Final Harvests

Harvest all of your tender crops - the last straggling beans, a basket of green tomatoes, a few final sweet peppers - before you clear the whole plants. My preference for most crops is to cut plants off at the base, leaving the roots in the soil. Or to twist plants out at the base - this leaves as many roots in the soil as possible which is really good for the soil life. 

Carrots, potatoes and beetroot also need to be harvested before the ground freezes. I find in practice it is best to do this before it gets really wet - they seem to store better. Dig them up, chop off the leaves (for carrots and beets) and store with soil on in mesh bags (for short term storage) or in wood shavings/damp sand (for long term storage). These harvests will leave you with a lot of bare soil which needs dealing with (see section 3 for ideas).

 

2. A Thorough Weed

There are two really important times to be on top of your weeding. The first comes in May when all the spring weeds are popping up, and the second is in late September and October when the pernicious weeds are still visible and the grass weeds have just started to establish. Wait for a dry-ish day and give all your beds a really good weed, particularly if you want to use those beds for early planting next spring. If the weather has already turned and you haven't managed to weed, you can always use a tarp (see section below) to get on top of the weeds before next spring.

 

3. Mulch Bare Soil

No matter how hard you try, you'll always be left with some areas of bare soil going into winter. As conscientious gardeners, it's our job to keep as much of it covered as possible. This is because the winter in the UK is very wet and any exposed soil will be pounded by rain relentlessly for at least 4 months, washing away nutrients and damaging soil structure. Covering your soil (either with living plants or decaying plant material) will help negate the effects of winter. Here are a few materials you can use:

• Living mulch - try sowing a cover crop to protect your soil. There are plenty you can sow during the autumn. We have a free guide you can download here which outlines a few crops suited to gardeners.
  
  

• Decaying Plants - when I'm clearing plants at the end of the season, I'll often choose a bed to dump all of the decaying plant stems on to. This stops weeds seeding, provides wildlife habitat and protects the soil. Most of the plant material will have been incorporated into the soil by worms before next spring - magic. Of course, you can also leave plants in situ and they'll protect the soil a bit and provide habitat for bugs.
  
  

• Leaf Mould - the most gorgeous way of protecting your soil - collect leaves from your garden (or from the street) and either put them directly onto your beds or put in a pile to rot down first. A very carbon rich mulch which earth worms love. Perfect to use in beds which are already well fertilised (i.e. they had compost applied to them last year) or for growing crops with low nitrogen requirements (includes most cut flowers).
  
  

• Straw - another fabulous carbon rich mulch which will leave you with beautifully rich, lively soil come spring. Use as a mulch around large brassicas (like brussels sprouts and cabbages) and overwintering garlic and you will not be disappointed. I recommend it for these plants because straw can act as a bit of a slug habitat. Slugs and snails don't tend to bother garlic or big brassicas so its a great companion for these plants. Remember to use straw not hay (hay is full of grass seeds).
  
  

• Compost - the mulch of choice for most people. If I have good quality compost, I prefer to keep it in a pile, covered over winter to protect it from the rain. I'll then apply it in the spring in thin layers. If I have rougher stuff, I'll might apply it overwinter to all the frost to help break it up a bit. In general, I'm not a big fan of lugging around massive barrows of compost so I try to keep it to a minimum.
  
  

• Tarps - if nothing else is available, or if an area is particularly weedy, you can use a piece of thick black plastic sheeting to cover your soil over winter. This protects the soil from the rain but won't feed it in the same way an organic mulch does. Tarps need to be secured very well with sand bags or many pins. Charles Dowding has excellent recommendations on tarp thickness.
  
  

4. Look After Your Equipment

Many-a-word has been said about looking after your tools but people often overlook all the other equipment a productive garden needs - I'm talking cloches, tarps, fleece, netting and stakes. Any of these things which aren't in use, need to be rolled up and stored somewhere dry (and ideally out of direct sunlight). 

• Stakes can be bundled in groups of 5 or 10 depending on their size - tie them together twice - once at either end to keep them tidy.
  
  

• Roll up all sheet equipment (this includes black plastic tarps, netting and fleece). If you have multiples of one type in different sizes, label them - you will thank yourself next spring. For instance, if you have 3 rolls of netting - one 4m roll and two 2m rolls, label them with their sizes or what they're for. Use string to tie them into bundles to avoid storage chaos and snagging. Mice are very keen on fleece so be warned - I keep mine hanging up so they don't take up residence over winter.
  
  

• Secure netting which is still in use with pegs (your cabbages and sprouts still need to be protected from the onslaught of pigeons). Make sure you weed around the net thoroughly and ideally mulch too to prevent weeds becoming entangled with the net overwinter.
  
  

• Of course you still need to look after your tools - clean, sharpen and oil them - but this can wait until the deepest depths of winter.

 

We hope this helps prepare your garden for the winter ahead!

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