The garden in winter

March 9th, 2009 at 01:32pm Jill Beyer

Looking out at the various gardens, it appears the work is done and the garden and gardeners are static. The flurry of fall preparation has left the beds in great shape to over-winter productively and begin growth at the optimum moment.

The strawberry beds were composted after the last fruits were harvested. Weeds were pulled as the whim struck and the berry plants were put to bed under a 6-8 inch layer of straw. The straw is lifted off the plants and placed between the rows in April to become the walking path in the raised beds.

All summer, after the harvest, we “bonked” Japanese beetles into soapy water, trying to keep ahead of their destructive eating. Next year? Chickens. We’re hoping to let some hens in to feast on the bugs in the spent berry plants, the spring-bearing ones.  Our plan for the chickens is to let them out during the daytime and cage them from the coyotes at night. Does anyone know if this will work or if a particular variety of chicken is a Japanese beetle connoisseur?

The asparagus is weeded, composted, and half is under straw. I need to know if a layer of straw protection will increase the harvest or result in an earlier first harvest.  Every garden is unique and every year provides it unique challenges. Gardening is one big continuous experiment.  It’s my science background that demands a continuous search for a better way of doing things.

The garlic was planted in September from the best cloves from the last crop. Spinach, Swiss chard, kale, onion seeds, arugula, and some lettuce varieties were seeded out in October.  All of this is under straw for winter  protection.  Hopefully, at first thaw and a little heat from the spring sun, most of these seeds will germinate and poke through.  Not all will  be successful, but that first spring surge makes the planting efforts  the past  fall worthwhile.  It’s empowering to actually see the first new growth…lettuce? garlic? chard?  kale?

Gardening must be a continual soil building  and soil maintenance process. Two of the four gardens have been spread with 4-6 inches of leaves from the fall garden clean up of 3 landscapers. It’s a win-win situation for the landscapers (no bagging), the garden (worm food and the addition of ‘tilth’), and the environment (carbon locked up in the soil instead of burned off increasing atmospheric CO2).

For a successful organic and biodynamic garden, there’s more than just “adding nothing bad” to the soil or crops. We need to be very conscious of maintaining soil fertility. For every crop removed, there needs to be a plan to replace the removed nutrients by choosing a follow-up crop from a different family, compost, cover crops,  or suitable soil enhancements. I like feeding the worms and soil organisms with leaves and compost, because they produce their own manures. So while we sit inside  by the warmth of the fireplace, the garden is maintaining and enhancing it’s own fertility.

Entry Filed under: Garden, Eat locally