It’s November in NE Georgia and we’re in transition in the garden – hot weather summer plants to fall/winter
There are Four approaches to winter in the garden:
First Option:
Either clear the beds and clean up preparing the soil for next spring
When hot weather plants die out with the first frost or freeze, clear out the dead organic matter and compost it. Gather any seeds created by those plants and save them by drying or other wise removing them from their pods or fruit, label them and place the seeds in glassine (ULine has glassine envelopes) or tan paper key envelopes or other appropriate containers. Always title each kind of seed with basic plant (Tomato, Pepper, etc.) and the cultivar (cultivated variety like Tomato, Black Cherry) and the date. Then store them in a cool dark place for next year.
We don’t use tilling but we will do some light and shallow cultivation with a rake or “V” cultivator to loosen the soil and clip off any roots still viable in the bed.
Second Option:
Or Sow and rake in cover crop seeds such as Winter Rye or other kinds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Whkmjh8sCg
https://www.aces.edu/blog/topics/row-cover-crop-soils/cover-crops-for-ala https://www.americanmeadows.com/content/grass-and-groundcover-seeds/how-to-select-cover-crops-for-the-home-garden
Third Option:
Or cover a bed with deep layers of ‘sheet mulch’ using several things such as a combination of kitchen waste (dug in), straw (free of chemical sprays), weed free grass clippings, chippered fresh leaves or fine herb stems and debris from the garden, compost, sand and ash mixed 50:50, vermiculite mixed with bonemeal, chicken manure and bedding, worm castings, autumn leaves, egg shells and coffee grounds just applied topically. Use as much of this as you can gather. Leave till the spring.
Fourth Option:
Or clear the beds and prepare for subsequent crops of cool weather plants that can be grown in fall and winter. See below for that process.
When to Seed Save Before the transition from summer to fall planting, choose the best, hardiest, and most prolific vegetable plants and herbs, and mark them clearly, so when they start to flower up and make seeds, you know which ones to gather for seed saving. I start looking in August for the ones I want to save. Save only heirloom, heritage, open pollinated or land race varieties as any plant labeled hybrid will not breed true and are a waste of garden space for seed saving. People worry about GMO plants going in their garden, but GMO varieties are usually only grown in industrial type large farms under contract with GMO seed companies like Monsanto. Those seeds sold to the home garden are not GMO but are often hybrid. Purchase your seeds carefully from reputable seed companies that are not linked with Monsanto or related companies. For a list of reputable such seed companies: https://christinamariablog.com/best-seed-companies-not-owned-by-monsanto-or-bayer/. Also, seed trading with people who follow this buying practice are a great source of unusual or tried and true varieties. I love to go to seed trading events in spring and fall. Your area will have these if you link up with garden and homesteading groups. If you are a lady, you’ll perhaps find this kind of connection with National Ladies Homestead Gathering. https://www.nlhg.org/ Check out if there is a chapter in your area.
We grow in cold weather here at Hillside Gardens, using the good garden space to produce year round. That requires clearing the beds by harvesting and seed saving from the summer plants, restoring the soil of nutrients for the next planting, loosening any compacted soil for the roots of the new plants, and improving or repairing any tools or equipment, supports, and pathways.
Every seasonal change we add organic matter and nutrients to the soil after the beds are cleared of dead plants and debris. We don’t till in but we do lightly cultivate to encourage composting in place. The ratio of ‘green’ (nitrogen rich) 25% and ‘brown’ (carbon rich) 75% organic matter is the same as used for ordinary composting. As well we add non-organic matter such as crushed granite, hard wood ash (if soil is too acidic), sulphur (if soil is too alkaline), Epsom salt, bone and blood meal, rock phosphate, calcium supplements like crushed egg shell, and vermiculite or perlite to lighten the composition of the soil making it more drainable. We layer in thin layers building up the soil 4 to 6” deep.
Then water well, We leave top mulch till after planting and don’t mix that in.
Choose cold weather crops https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/gardening-by-zone/zone-8/winter-vegetables-in-zone-8.htm and either purchase already propagated plants from a nursery, or start your seeds starting in late August, early September in light seed starting soil – peat moss, vermiculite, compost. When the beds are ready for transplanting, give the baby plants some organic liquid fertilizer including fish emultion and some B1 from the nursery. Then plan out your garden space, and plant. We mix plants according to Companion planting guides: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/gardening-by-zone/zone-8/winter-vegetables-in-zone-8.htm, https://www.epicgardening.com/winter-vegetables/
Also a great book for this subject is “Carrots Love Tomatoes” by Louise Riotte.
When planting into a ‘sheet mulch’ make a little hole in the mulch and put a hand full of top soil or sifted compost, plant the baby, fill in around the root, and at the end of planting the bed, mulch about 1 to 2” deep to insulate the roots. Water well directly after planting, and again before it freezes to protect the new babies.
Our mulch is drawn from whatever we can gather from the environment but always ensuring anything used is free of chemical sprays and seed bearing plants. We never use hay (which is usually field gathered grass loaded with seeds) only straw (never sprayed), and are careful using lawn clippings from property that has been sprayed by the home owner. I always look at the lawn if I’m gathering autumn leaves mixed with grass to make sure the lawn has weeds growing in with the perfect turf.
I make a mixture of crushed autumn leaves, chicken poop with bedding, fine paper shredded in the office (making sure only simple paper, no plastic windows, glossy colored paper), grass clippings, straw, dry herbal debris put thru the chipper, etc. (see my blog article on this: https://thegardenladyofga.wordpress.com/2023/10/30/what-to-use-for-mulch-and-the-fine-art-of-mulching-10-30-23/
Mulch carefully around the base of plants after watering them in. Later in the season, check the depth of the mulch and add more if it thins out too much. The worms in the soil will come up and eat the organic matter, and as it decomposes, the plant actually draws the nutrients out of the soil thinning the mulch.
Deer – we live in a rural area with woods all around. But deer and bunnies come onto the garden and over the years we have used various strategies to prevent them from eating all our hard won food. I’ve tried those humming electronic buzzing gizmos, no joy. Also peeing on the space only works until it rains again. Likewise using powdered or sprayed repellent. The only real working strategy is some kind of physical barrier like chicken wire, hog panels, or deer netting.
You can make bed covers with 1×2” rectangular frames attaching panels or chicken wire on them. Later when it gets cold you can cover this frame with 3.5 mil clear or white plastic sheeting, and anchor the unit over the bed. This is particularly nice for raised beds, the units fit to the right size. These can be lifted up to harvest. But be careful of the wind pushing them over. Anchor them somehow against the wind’s push. Get creative.
Covering and protecting plants in winter. What we do is erect or push in heavy wire supports with a curlicue at the top along the bed so the netting and sheeting are held above the plants so they aren’t crushed or the moisture that builds up can rot the plants. Another strategy especially effective is using summer’s tomato wire cages on their side along the bed, alternating direction so the netting and/or sheeting is held above the plants forming a baby green house effect. The netting and sheeting must be weighted down along the edge with rebar or heavy branches, single cinder blocks, or rocks. Otherwise the sheeting becomes a sail in the wind and blows off. If the space covered this way is more than a couple of feet wide, it helps to lay some kind of weight over the top to further prevent the sail effect.
The insulating effect of the mulch and the covering of the sheeting makes quite a difference in the space under it and cool weather plants do quite well. On warmer days if it reaches over about 45F for a few days, you can roll back the sheeting, especially if it gets hotter than that. Or you can harvest by lifting the weights along the edge and reach in to gather greens or other harvestable things.
Trees and Bushes planting Besides vegetable growing in the fall into winter, now is the time to plant your trees and bushes into the ground. Choose varieties that grow well in your growing zone, which here in NE Ga. is 8B. But you can stretch it one zone either way with success usually. Just check your plants for zones.
Growing perennial plants such as roses, perennial herbs such as thyme, rosemary and similar woody herbs do well planting now. Also, after the first hard freeze is the best time to harvest Sunchokes aka Jerusalem artichokes. Usually once the flowers die off on them I cut off the tall stems about a foot above the ground so I know where to dig later on. The stems once dried make good fire starter tinder so I cut them in 1’sections and put them under the porch or in the garage to dry out for the winter. Once after the first hard freeze the inulin – a kind of sugar and prebiotic – has developed making them more delicious. Dig deep as the tubers like to hide under rocks or sneak under raised bed walls. Once they are harvested and kept in the frig, they can last up to 2 years. Any small tubers left in the ground will produce plants next year. So, save the small ones and purposefully plant them 18” apart 6” deep. Other root crops do well in the winter too such as carrots, beets, rutebegas, turnips, and parsnips. I also grow ginger year round, but mulch well in cold weather.
Once the weather has turned from fall to winter, now is the time to prune your fruit trees, and bushes. Do a little Google search for pruning tips and videos. The prunings can be chipped to make mulch. I also watch for long strong branches I can trim side branches from and use as supports for my vegetables later. Elderberry bushes make great support branches.
Prune your roses severely and mulch well around the roots. Leave leaves in piles on pathways and open areas as beneficial insects and critters over-winter in them. I also leave seed bearing branches of wild and cultivated plants that I am not saving the seeds for ourselves, for the birds as these provide needed nutrients for them in cold weather.
Once the garden chores are pretty much covered, I pay attention to my equipment and tools. I check out my metal hand tools for rust and damage. Rust is easily handed by soaking in cheap vinegar for over night, and scrubbed with steel wool and brush, then oiling with Wd40 or mineral oil. I check out engines for mowers, chippers or chain saws, empty fuel and flush out the motors so the fuel doesn’t gunk up the works and fail to start in the spring. Bring in all the tools and equipment and protect them from the weather.
Hoses and water sources can explode if water is left in to freeze, as water expands when ice. Empty all the hoses, bring in the wands and spray heads, coil up the hoses and cover with a tarp or bring them inside garage or basement. Turn off water to faucets at their source inside. If you save rainwater in buckets or other large containers, line them up and cover with tarps or if they freeze they will often split and become debris.
Saving organic matter. Fall is the ideal time to gather large amounts of leaves for mulch and soil insulation. Often in the nearby towns, people rake their leaves to the street where the city comes around with a big vacuum truck to collect them. I get there first. I have a mini-van but a pickup works fine or hatch back. I have a lightweight metal garbage can with lid which just holds one commercial grade heavy black plastic Hefty bag. I find a pile of leaves which often has mowed up leaves from lawns, and checkout the lawn. If it has various ‘weed’ plants in them I know they haven’t been sprayed with pre-immergent herbicide, and can be used on the garden. Then with a bag in the garbage can, using two leaf rakes like tongs, I gather the pile into the bag. When it’s full, it goes in the van and another bag is put out.. I usually need two or three full vans of bags of leaves to give me sufficient organic matter for a year of gardening. As soon as the piles appear in the streets I go out on a nice day and fill my van.
Another use for these bags of leaves is insulation. I have a row of large containers used as planters. Putting a row of these filled bags along both sides protects them from hard freeze. I also have a collection of plants in pots which are my nursery as yet unplanted. These include tender perennials and small trees and bushes I propagate. So I surround those pots with the bags, cover the circle of bags with a clear piece of sheeting and have a little protected greenhouse there too. Those bags are very handy.
Greenhouse use and heating Any plants still outside which can’t withstand freezing need to come inside or put in the garage so they don’t freeze and die. These include a Moringa tree, lemon grass, various usually outside herbs in pots, which sit in my south facing window where I can keep watered. If you have a greenhouse, this is the place for these plants if the greenhouse is kept above freezing. If you heat it with a rocket mass stove, have enough sticks collected to keep it going all winter. Here are several websites showing how to make and use Rocket Mass Stoves in greenhouses: Rocket Mass Heater for a greenhouse.
Paul Wheaton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtFvdMk3eLM Better Than a rocket stove green house heat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIzWgBWF3SQ Building a Greenhouse Rocket Stove https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCp7dQPwdkA
Brick Rocket Box Stove https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQjqaFgjyhI
Rocket stove for $6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qoyBVKC0nI
Double burner rocket stove with concrete bricks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FubUylKe2uo
This is the most efficient source of greenhouse heat I know of and does it very inexpensively.
Herbal treatment at the of season End of summer and after garden is either put to bed or planted and prepared to withstand winter cold, this is the time I use for taking the herbs I have frozen or dehydrated to make my herbal preparations. Also, I put my seed saved seed collection in order for the year and ensure they are protected from moisture and other seed destroying elements like mice and bugs, mold and bacteria. For this the seeds must be completely dry or placed in envelopes that can sweat and not collect moisture which will mold your seeds. Usually though I ensure they are completely dry. Always label your seeds before storage because some of the plant family seeds all look exactly alike and without labeling you really can’t use them for anything but seed balls.
Saving end of Summer vegetables As for end of season harvest, once you get your first real freeze, tomatoes and peppers will be rendered inedible so the day before the weatherman says freeze, go out and harvest every nightshade vegetable (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant primarily) and place them in cardboard boxes lined with newspaper and put them in the garage or basement where they won’t freeze or be attacked by bugs or mice. They will ripen from the inside out and will be edible as soon as they ripen. The plants will be dead and ready to remove from the beds but the food is still salvaged this way.
Don’t worry about root vegetables in the ground as they are protected by the soil. This includes beets, carrots, Jerusalem Artichokes, and other roots, ginger included. Onions, garlic, green onions, chives all can stay unprotected. Also some herbs like flat leaf parsley do just fine even in coldest weather. Some flowers like panseys are immune to the cold. But zinneas and other hot weather flowers like calendula and marigolds will die with the first freeze. Save the seeds. Perennial herbs like Bay leaf, oregano, thyme and rosemary will survive most cold winters here, though when it gets below 20F I try to cover and mulch them. And I wrap my Bay Laurel (Bay leaf) with 3.5 mil plastic sheeting, and prune the bush down so it can be wrapped. Roses don’t need wrapping much here but when it gets really cold, some people wrap their roses in burlap cloth.
Alternative to dehydrator If the amount of saved herbs becomes too much for your dehydrator space, I often use a panel of old screening lifted up over bricks so air can travel underneath, in dry weather, to give it a start, then taking a batch at a time, break up the mostly dry herb and put it in the dehydrator to finish it off. Once crispy dry, it gets stripped off the stems and put in containers well labeled for later use. The removed stems either go on the compost pile or run thru a chipper for mulch. This includes ground ivy, large amounts of mint, oregano, stinging nettle, and other medicinal and culinary herbs. Some people use hanging fine netting fabric dehydrators you hang from rafters or under porch roofs with several stories and flat stages at each. These can be purchased online.
Propagation of plants to the next season using grow lights. Sometimes, if you have grow lights and a suitable indoor growing facility, before tomatoes, peppers, and some other plants can be propagated from living plants with growth hormones, potted and kept alive over the winter. This is especially useful if you have a rare or especially loved variety you want to save. Also, you can take rose bush prunings and other perennial woody bushes or trees and start them using growth hormone so those prunings increase the plants for yourself or trade or sale. I do this with a number of my perennials such as elderberry. Why waste a source of propagated plants!
Diann Dirks
The Garden Lady of Georgia 