It’s sad to say but the growing season is coming to an end in many areas of the country. We currently have bell peppers, onions, kale and cauliflower growing. The majority of our other vegetables plants like the squash, tomatoes and cucumbers have died and stopped producing. This past weekend we cleared out the expired plants and put away the plants supports such as tomato cages.
Put a little time in the vegetable garden now to prepare the soil for next Spring. Remove any diseased plants. If the dead plant material was not diseased, you can work it into the soil as compost. Add in compost or manure to get the soil conditioned. You can test your soil to determine what it needs. If your soil is acidic you will need to mix in some lime.
For our strawberry plants we will cover them with leaves before the first frost. This can be done for an plants that will be returning next Spring. Plus leaves are a good compost material!
Make sure that you note what you grew this year and in what area of the garden. Most crops do best if they are rotated each year. Making notes now will help next Spring- especially if you have mommy brain like me!
Also, make sure you either bring your herb plants inside or dry the herbs to use throughout the winter!
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Hi Renae,
Do you have any particular preference on a soil test kit?
Thank you
Hi Debbie,
In my area you can bring your soil to a nursery or Southern States store and they will test it for you. There are also test kits at places like Lowes. I would call your local nursery or farm supply and see if they will test it for you (sometimes they do it for free!). Otherwise, I am not sure on a particular kit.
My favorite book resource is The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible (10th Anniversary Edition)
Good luck!
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