I have 4 4 x 12 foot beds and 2 half whiskey barrels for my veggies. The barrels have peppers still producing in them. When they finish I will mix in ingredients to make the mix popular on the container forum (Al's mix). Bed one was tomatoes which died from blight. I have about a foot of compostables topped off with a layer of wheat straw. I'll keep burying compostables from the kitchen and garden (weeds, pea and butterbean hulls, corn shucks) in that bed. Bed 2 has a trombeta squash still going on a trellis. The rest of the bed has collards, lettuce and toy choy for fall and winter. The lettuce and choy are under a 3 x 3 x 3 hoop which I may try covering with clear plastic to see if I can extend their season. Bed 3 is actually 2 rows of cement blocks with a 6+ tall arched trells running the entire 12 feet. One side was planted (in the holes) with green pole beans. They have played out and I have pulled them up and will plant green peas in those holes. The other side has Christmas limas which are still producing, Once they are gone, will leave that side alone until spring. The 4th bed now has okra, going strong. Once they die I will start my sheet composting on that bed.

I have all my fall greens coming--kale,colllards, mustards, lettuces--just sowed the winter lettuces, as well as turnips, carrots, and beets. The savoy cabbages will be harvested in Dec. and Jan. Today I'll sow spinach. Long time till the garden is fully wrapped up.

Seysonn, prep the garden for next year!

Remove tomato plant waste to minimize disease next year. Move compost pile onto garden to make room for fall leaves (new compost pile). Put fast decaying leaves on top (silver maple leaves). Bring on the worms! Maybe put tarps down to keep tree rats (squirrels) from planting walnut trees in my tomato patch! If weather is sunny and above freezing between Christmas and New Years, turn over the garden to get compost mixed into it.
I rake leaves in the fall, add manure and let it sit a year. Then move it onto garden and repeat... till the cows come home.

The part that isn't still in use will get a light layer of manure plus a bit of lime (the soil here needs liming) tilled lightly in. Then a layer of mulch to help prevent the cool season weeds from taking over. The mulch is an experiment. I may forgo the mulch in future autumns if it turns into rodent city. Right now I have one mole living under the garden that's driving me crazy because it tunnels right under the trap but just doesn't set it off. Probably it has a few dozen vole cousins shacking up in its runs too. Anyhow I just want to see if I can defer tilling in the spring by covering in the fall.

Late fall is very important prep time for me. I spread the chopped leaves over the garden and till them in, along with high nitrogen fertilizer to fuel decomposition. Then I prepare the rows and beds for spring planting. Come April or whenever, I don't need to wait until "ground is ready to work" to put in my seeds and transplants.

A good 40% of my garden is Fall and winter vegetables, so I will continue to eat. I cut the tomato growing tips a week ago, I cover the summer beds with leaves after the first hard frost, I pick root cellar stuff around Thanksgiving, and also build hoop houses around Thanksgiving. As the beds get eaten they get leaves, but those can be moved even in mid-January.

Post harvest and pre-winter is one of my busiest gardening periods. I remove all surface organic matter (chopped to compost bins), then grab 50+ giant bags of my neighbors' raked, and often shredded, leaves to till into the soil of my 25x35 foot garden, then lay out 1x12 plank rectangles on which I place recycled storm doors for fall and over-winter gardening (with big rectangular water jugs on inside corners for physical and temperature stabilization. I'm also doing a long-term project to remove rocks and pebbles using a 1/4" screen to a 24" depth. That will take many years on my rocky hillside at the rate I'm going. Not really sure why, but it makes me feel good, so I do it.

Thanks. Very interesting methods. I learn a lot.

I am also planning to add compost , manures, fall leaves too. This was my first year planting in my raised beds. I did it in hurry. Cause I had to make the beds, buy topsoil/compost and plant , all within a short time. I think the mostly clay soil needs more amendments to make it fluffy so the plants roots can grow better.

ANOTHER THING: I consider this very important. I will make a thorough pH test and add lime if necessary. Fall is the best time to do that, b,c it takes months for the lime to work into the soil.

This post was edited by seysonn on Sat, Sep 7, 13 at 4:04

Actually, according to the gargwarb of the soil forum, it takes an average of three years for pulverized limestone to fully release it's ph-raising effect in a linear progression. Something worth knowing and bearing in mind. The ph-change is a result of the carbonate; how quickly the calcium becomes available as a plant nutrient may be different.

it takes an average of three years for pulverized limestone to fully release it's ph-raising effect
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Pnbrown .....How about the so-called fast acting lime/calcium products ? There is on called SUPER SWEET that is not really lime but it is supposed to do what lime does, ie, raise pH.

Anther point here : Changing pH and availability of calcium to plants are two things,. Are they not ? Because, as I understand, lime/calcium is not the only thing to raise pH.

Yes, I believe that is correct.

Albrecht maintained that the majority of the benefit of lime was in the calcium nutrient rather than the raising of ph. Supposedly tests have been done where crops grow very well in extremely acidic soil so long as calcium is adequately plant-available.

I do not know from direct experience whether that is true, but I firmly believe that calcium is the prince of nutrients.

Reality Check:

From the northern zones we here that the FALL IS UPON US. And little further down, : THE FALL IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER.
But there is a life after frost for most gardens. To keep my garden living I have planted winter radishes and onions and am planning on planting few garlic , just for the heck of it My tomatoes, eggplants and beans are still going, thou very slowly. So I did not have space for more cool crops.

Like somebody said (and I liked that) the first frost is the beginning of the next season; It starts with preparing the beds and drawing the plans, making grow lists. Can't wait to sow some seeds and watch them grow.
Another life, another season begins.

I don't quite get that idea - summer is barely over and already we are supposed to think only of next spring?

The first frost is the beginning of the winter season, dormancy and storage, which is a season in its own right.

My motto for late fall and winter: every bed must be covered.

My choices for covering:
1. growing greens under hoops and fleece, (uncover to eat during thaws)
2. hay bales over carrots and parsnips, (kick the bale over, even in snow, and dig in Jan, Feb, March)
3. heavy mulch over leeks and rutabagas,(dig during winter thaws)
4. tangles of weeds that overtook things like the squash patches, (why plant a cover crop when it's already there? I just go around with a serrated knife and cut off the seed heads.)
5. a winter-kill cover crop like oats, (if ground is bare some place)
6. lasagne layers of manure or compost, and hay.(especially for the beds that need to be ready in early April for onions, leeks, peas, greens, broccoli, cabbage, etc.)

I keep a couple of beds for winter stuff, cause I still have tomatoes, tomatillas, and a few other things going for another month or so.
I've planted lettuce, chard, celery, radishes, chard and broccholi in those 2 beds, then as the other things are ready to come out I add compost and/or leaves and cover with cardboard to help prevent weeds (stabbed repeatedly for water to get through)
This is when I pay more attention to my compost, turning and adding leaves etc It seems like too much work in the summer when it's hot! Then I usually have a pretty good batch by spring. Nancy