PRE-HYBERNATION CLEAN-UP TIME! Garden clean up: tools, trellises, garden hoses, sprinkler, timers, plants… First and most important on the list: empty your hoses, coil them up, and connect the two ends. This will keep any bugs from hibernating in your garden hose all winter. Store your hoses in the greenhouse or garage. The second task is to remove batteries from any water timers. Store the timer in a dry protected area along with your hose nozzle and water splitters. Batteries left over winter have chances of eroding. The third task is to gather all your garden tools and store them in a protected garage or greenhouse for the winter. Tools are expensive and by leaving them outside you are not doing your wallet any favors. This also applies to any tomato cages, hoops and covers, netting for trellises, and buckets. The fourth and final task to get done is cleaning up the garden of dead garden debris. Cut all annual plants down for the season at the soil level, leaving the roots in the ground for the microbes. The only ones left behind are our overwinter crops and our perennials. A side note, most perennials don’t want to be cut down before spring, plus, they produce a lot of seeds for the native birds and habitat for local native insects. After you have cleaned out your garden don’t forget to cover it with a good mulch layer of straw or leaves.
Now it’s time for you and your garden to rest for the winter.
Follow Nikki @urbangnomestead for local garden growing advice, #farmlife and some the occasional tik-tok dance. Also check out her free monthly garden talks from 1-3 p.m. the final Sunday of each month at Ridgeline Brewing, Bremerton. This month’s foucs: Cucumbers
