You know how some people are reluctant to show you their messy homes, closets, garages, etc? I don't like to show people those things, but I especially don't like to show my messy gardens because it is something I pride myself upon.
But in order to help anyone out there to get their garden on, I figure I should show you how I do things, messy or not.
I usually find myself "cleaning" up the garden in January. Mostly because I'm dealing with a severe case of holiday and birthday letdown and I need to get out and clear my head. But also because by January we've had a hard freeze or two and I know what has completely died or gone into dormancy and it seems easier to trim, remove, and prune what I need to.
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| Red twigged plant in the container is one of our blueberry bushes |
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| Get my large yard waste container and put all the late maturing fruits from last summer's garden in it as well as any woody stems or dead annuals |
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| View of the back door leading out to the deck. See the green moss that covers the wood? You can thank wet Oregon fall and winter for that. Looks like I will need to pressure wash this spring |
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| Clear the side perennial bed of dead leaves, annuals, and plants that didn't survive the frosts (I haven't lost any so far!) |
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| I usually pile up all the cleared materials and put it into the walkways and then wheel around my yard waste container and put the piles in them |
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| I also add the hoops for my hoop house at this time because we're really only a month away from planting cold season vegetables. Plus, with this method of hoop house heating, I may get to start as early as a few weeks from now! |
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| After I clear all the debris from each bed, I put a double layer of black garbage bags (or if I wasn't so cheap, I would use black plastic mulch that I could reuse next year) to insulate from weed seeds, bake out and help break down the current plants in the bed, and warm up the soil. In the spring planting, I will cut holes in the plastic in which to place my seedlings. |
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This is my side pumpkin, squash, and sunflower bed. I use many of my empty hanging containers and baskets to weigh down the plastic.
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Tomorrow - adding organic material to the winter garden
7 comments:
A- I thought you wrote "Get my large yard waste container and put all the late maturing fruits from last summer's garden in it as well as any woody stems or dead ANIMALS", and it made me laugh
B- I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE your garden posts. I have zero talent in this arena of life, and I just love reading about this amazing talent of yours!!
Thanks so much cuz! Hey, if we were even semi close to each other then you could come over and soak in the garden and go home with a bag of veggies!
Your garden looks great! Mine is still pretty messy, but hopefully, since the weather is supposed to cooperate, I will get out there and get it into a bit better shape! I've been growing salad greens under hoops and plastic this winter, and because we had a mild one, it's still going strong. Some years we get too much cold weather, and it kills everything, but we were lucky this year! Take care!
Hello, stopping by from the party! I love the way you did your hoops! Please visit me at:
http://theredeemedgardener.blogspot.com/
I need to tidy up some flowerbeds - you've inspired me!
I need to do some major clean-up in my garden, too! I had hoped to do some things this week, but it's been one thing after another and now we are supposed to have several days of rain and then a cool-down. Oh well, there's always next week,
Shannan- SO nice to have you at the TGP! I was seriously bummed when I thought you were not going to blog anymore. And messy? with those beds and permanent paths, it looks good even when nothing's growing yet!
Can't wait to see how your garden grows this year, bloggy friend! :-)
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