Cold Weather Vegetable Garden Tips
The method that you use to handle your vegetable garden during the winter will depend on how cold the climate gets in your area. For example, if you have very frigid weather then you will need to start prepping your garden in the spring.
- Prune your perennials. This will protect them during the winter months. If you have herbs, cut them back to stumps. Doing this will ensure that you have a hearty growth of herbs come spring. It also prevents snow and ice from weighing the plants down in the winter.
- Put organic matter into your garden. You can use old vegetable plants and dig them right into your soil. The old plants will break down during the winter and provide your spring crops with the essential nutrients that they need to stay healthy. Using compost pile is another alternative for your vegetable garden.
- Water perennials before you mulch. Your plants will be healthier and spring up much faster in the spring if you have them in moist soil as opposed to dry soil.
- Lay down at least 4 inches of mulch. The mulch will prevent weeds from sprouting in the midst of your vegetable garden.
- Use row covers for your vegetable crops. Check the weather in the evening. Whenever there is frost in the forecast, you need to cover your vegetable crops. Use row covers and secure the covers with rocks at night. Once the temperatures rise above freezing, you can remove the covers.