Gardening for Kids

Gardeners garden for many reasons. Exercise and mental challenges motivate some gardeners, cut flowers and edible harvests drive others. I garden for these reasons and many more. One of my primary motivations is gardening for children.

Gardening for children encompasses a wide array of activities. One approach brings kids into the gardening process. Kids help prepare the garden beds, sow seeds, assist with transplants, weed, water, and harvest. All ages can play a role in the garden, with specific tasks modified in an age-appropriate way. My four-year-old grandson is glad to help me water the garden in summer though I have to help direct the hose. He is eager to pick tomatoes and dig up carrots once I point out which ones to harvest. His father planted a garden this year and enjoyed his help too.

A carrot harvest

During our extended vacation last month I hired our neighbor children to tend to the garden. The pre-teen girls watered, covered the plants when cold weather threatened, and, of course, harvested what they could. The youngest enthusiastically pulled carrots and beets from the ground to enjoy at home. Their mother helped guide them, but they did most of the chores themselves.

Just as adult gardeners reap satisfaction from gardening, children can feel the same sense of accomplishment and success. They can begin to realize a bond with nature. When exposed to gardening, children may start down the path toward a lifetime of gardening joy. The youngest neighbor girl has already decided to participate in 4-H gardening activities next year.

Another approach to gardening for children is for adults to grow plants for the benefit of children. I've done this for years. I've written before about growing green beans for the sole purpose of pickling them for my daughter. This year, as in years past, I grew pumpkins for our neighbors and my grandson. Sure, I can use the orange flesh in pies and breads, but the pumpkins were intended to be the victims of Halloween carving.

I get great satisfaction out of sharing my harvest with kids. The smile on a child's face when he or she picks out their personal pumpkin is priceless. The smile on my face when they try to pick up one that is heavier than they can manage stays with me for a long time.

My grandson's pumpkin

Gardening for kids is a gardening activity that I recommend. I know gardeners with cordoned-off beds that no one but they are allowed to approach. Some use fences to keep animals, and children, out. We gardeners can have great pride in our successes and can be selfish and fearful also. I understand that, but with a little guidance and direction children really don't pose much threat.

My children and my grandson have picked tomatoes before they were ripe. They have stepped on plants that were in their path. They have dug up young transplants. They have splashed water on me with errant watering. But all of their transgressions are less than the damage I've done in my own gardens. The number of plants that I damaged or killed over the years far exceeds their few accidents.

The benefits of allowing children into your gardening world can be huge for the children and for you. Sharing my passion for gardening with youth helps me navigate along my gardening journey and may even establish a beneficial legacy. My grandson is old enough now that next year he'll have his own bed to plant among mine. He'll be able to learn gardening and maybe create some lifelong memories. I still remember eating a warm, ripe tomato while standing in the garden with my aunt and grandmother when I wasn't much taller than the tomato vine.

Many of us garden because we were exposed to it by a friend or family member long ago. Pleasant memories are the foundation. All of us have the opportunity to create and share gardening memories with children. As you look to your next growing season think about how a child would view your garden. And then find a child to view it.

Gardeners garden for many reasons. Exercise and mental challenges motivate some gardeners, cut flowers and edible harvests drive others. I garden for these reasons and many more. One of my primary motivations is gardening for children.

Gardening for children encompasses a wide array of activities. One approach brings kids into the gardening process. Kids help prepare the garden beds, sow seeds, assist with transplants, weed, water, and harvest. All ages can play a role in the garden, with specific tasks modified in an age-appropriate way. My four-year-old grandson is glad to help me water the garden in summer though I have to help direct the hose. He is eager to pick tomatoes and dig up carrots once I point out which ones to harvest. His father planted a garden this year and enjoyed his help too.

A carrot harvest

During our extended vacation last month I hired our neighbor children to tend to the garden. The pre-teen girls watered, covered the plants when cold weather threatened, and, of course, harvested what they could. The youngest enthusiastically pulled carrots and beets from the ground to enjoy at home. Their mother helped guide them, but they did most of the chores themselves.

Just as adult gardeners reap satisfaction from gardening, children can feel the same sense of accomplishment and success. They can begin to realize a bond with nature. When exposed to gardening, children may start down the path toward a lifetime of gardening joy. The youngest neighbor girl has already decided to participate in 4-H gardening activities next year.

Another approach to gardening for children is for adults to grow plants for the benefit of children. I've done this for years. I've written before about growing green beans for the sole purpose of pickling them for my daughter. This year, as in years past, I grew pumpkins for our neighbors and my grandson. Sure, I can use the orange flesh in pies and breads, but the pumpkins were intended to be the victims of Halloween carving.

I get great satisfaction out of sharing my harvest with kids. The smile on a child's face when he or she picks out their personal pumpkin is priceless. The smile on my face when they try to pick up one that is heavier than they can manage stays with me for a long time.

My grandson's pumpkin

Gardening for kids is a gardening activity that I recommend. I know gardeners with cordoned-off beds that no one but they are allowed to approach. Some use fences to keep animals, and children, out. We gardeners can have great pride in our successes and can be selfish and fearful also. I understand that, but with a little guidance and direction children really don't pose much threat.

My children and my grandson have picked tomatoes before they were ripe. They have stepped on plants that were in their path. They have dug up young transplants. They have splashed water on me with errant watering. But all of their transgressions are less than the damage I've done in my own gardens. The number of plants that I damaged or killed over the years far exceeds their few accidents.

The benefits of allowing children into your gardening world can be huge for the children and for you. Sharing my passion for gardening with youth helps me navigate along my gardening journey and may even establish a beneficial legacy. My grandson is old enough now that next year he'll have his own bed to plant among mine. He'll be able to learn gardening and maybe create some lifelong memories. I still remember eating a warm, ripe tomato while standing in the garden with my aunt and grandmother when I wasn't much taller than the tomato vine.

Many of us garden because we were exposed to it by a friend or family member long ago. Pleasant memories are the foundation. All of us have the opportunity to create and share gardening memories with children. As you look to your next growing season think about how a child would view your garden. And then find a child to view it.

Gardening is Powerful

Gardening is an important part of me. A few days ago in anticipation of the first big snow of the season, I finished cleaning up many of my garden beds, harvested a few of my root crops, and prepared some of my plants for the impending cold weather. As I worked in the bare vegetable garden, with the dry, towering, sunflower stalks watching, I was happy. It wasn't a giddy, snickering kind of joy, but rather a peaceful calm that made time stand still.

I realized, as I stood on the straw mulch and hairy vetch that was blanketed by expansive butternut squash vines just a few weeks before, that enjoying the crisp air on a sunny autumn day was nirvana. The tomato plants are gone, the strawberries and raspberries won't offer any more fruit, and the few remaining green beans are wrinkled, dried pods, but the garden is still full with life and, blissfully, so am I.

The chores of maintaining an active, growing garden have morphed into a more somber undertaking. I experienced and enjoyed the new birth of colors, smells, and sounds as the gardens awoke in spring. The adolescence of the vines and stalks climbing to meet the warming sun heartened me with satisfaction and pride. All components of my gardens became dedicated and productive members in our botanical community, displaying their successes to the local insects and birds and animals and me. And now that retirement and cessation slow and halt the observable signs of their verdant existence, my role is to help lay beds to rest for the long, cold slumber ahead. Nature is entering the twilight of the year.

Many aspects of the garden slow in fall. The planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting have passed. The tools that were kept ready at arm's length are stored away. It may seem to be a place easily abandoned, ignored, and forgotten, but I find comfort in the garden at all times and all seasons.

While the landscape can appear brown and still, I see color and activity. Slender green garlic shoots peek through the straw. White strawberry blossoms shout against dark green leaves refusing to surrender to the changing weather. Miniature violet-blue flowers peer from the protective shoulders of the Veronica growth. Juvenile crookneck squash lie solitary and abandoned amid gleaned garden rows, slowly decaying, but shining in golden splendor through the ordeal. Errant bees and flies continue their explorations and epic flights. Magpies, woodpeckers, jays, and sparrows jump on the beds plucking seeds and unlucky bugs from the cooling soil.

I stand in the garden and feel surrounded by life. Some actual and some invented. I study a corner and don't see bare soil and dead peppers but rather a vision of the garden in full bloom. My imagination envisions the lush plants of next year and each year beyond that. I reshape the furrows and soil mounds in my mind. I sow adventurous seeds and transplant innovative seedlings. The vibrant hues, avian melodies, and complex fragrances of the garden are as real to me today as they were last month or will be next summer.

Gardening is a state of mind. In every task in every season, gardening connects nature and the world with an individual and his psyche. Breathing air shared by plants, touching soil teeming with life, listening to the languages of insects and birds, gazing at minuscule communities through the eye of a deity. Gardeners are able to experience all of creation at a different pace, in a different manner, than the unlucky majority focused on their daily existence.

Gardening is an important part of me. It soothes and invigorates my soul. It calms and enlivens my being. In absence I see abundance. In abundance I find joy.

How, where, and why I garden is a personal experience; no one else gardens as I do. Yet every gardener is connected by similar emotions, desires, and visions. Some have more passion, some have less, but we all expose ourselves to nature, ready to absorb its bountiful forces.

If you're a gardener, revel in your gardening. If you're not a gardener, become one. Enjoy the opportunity it offers, to stand still in emptiness while surrounded by action and abundance. See more of nature, gaze upon what it can be. Be happy.

 

Gardening is an important part of me. A few days ago in anticipation of the first big snow of the season, I finished cleaning up many of my garden beds, harvested a few of my root crops, and prepared some of my plants for the impending cold weather. As I worked in the bare vegetable garden, with the dry, towering, sunflower stalks watching, I was happy. It wasn't a giddy, snickering kind of joy, but rather a peaceful calm that made time stand still.

I realized, as I stood on the straw mulch and hairy vetch that was blanketed by expansive butternut squash vines just a few weeks before, that enjoying the crisp air on a sunny autumn day was nirvana. The tomato plants are gone, the strawberries and raspberries won't offer any more fruit, and the few remaining green beans are wrinkled, dried pods, but the garden is still full with life and, blissfully, so am I.

The chores of maintaining an active, growing garden have morphed into a more somber undertaking. I experienced and enjoyed the new birth of colors, smells, and sounds as the gardens awoke in spring. The adolescence of the vines and stalks climbing to meet the warming sun heartened me with satisfaction and pride. All components of my gardens became dedicated and productive members in our botanical community, displaying their successes to the local insects and birds and animals and me. And now that retirement and cessation slow and halt the observable signs of their verdant existence, my role is to help lay beds to rest for the long, cold slumber ahead. Nature is entering the twilight of the year.

Many aspects of the garden slow in fall. The planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting have passed. The tools that were kept ready at arm's length are stored away. It may seem to be a place easily abandoned, ignored, and forgotten, but I find comfort in the garden at all times and all seasons.

While the landscape can appear brown and still, I see color and activity. Slender green garlic shoots peek through the straw. White strawberry blossoms shout against dark green leaves refusing to surrender to the changing weather. Miniature violet-blue flowers peer from the protective shoulders of the Veronica growth. Juvenile crookneck squash lie solitary and abandoned amid gleaned garden rows, slowly decaying, but shining in golden splendor through the ordeal. Errant bees and flies continue their explorations and epic flights. Magpies, woodpeckers, jays, and sparrows jump on the beds plucking seeds and unlucky bugs from the cooling soil.

I stand in the garden and feel surrounded by life. Some actual and some invented. I study a corner and don't see bare soil and dead peppers but rather a vision of the garden in full bloom. My imagination envisions the lush plants of next year and each year beyond that. I reshape the furrows and soil mounds in my mind. I sow adventurous seeds and transplant innovative seedlings. The vibrant hues, avian melodies, and complex fragrances of the garden are as real to me today as they were last month or will be next summer.

Gardening is a state of mind. In every task in every season, gardening connects nature and the world with an individual and his psyche. Breathing air shared by plants, touching soil teeming with life, listening to the languages of insects and birds, gazing at minuscule communities through the eye of a deity. Gardeners are able to experience all of creation at a different pace, in a different manner, than the unlucky majority focused on their daily existence.

Gardening is an important part of me. It soothes and invigorates my soul. It calms and enlivens my being. In absence I see abundance. In abundance I find joy.

How, where, and why I garden is a personal experience; no one else gardens as I do. Yet every gardener is connected by similar emotions, desires, and visions. Some have more passion, some have less, but we all expose ourselves to nature, ready to absorb its bountiful forces.

If you're a gardener, revel in your gardening. If you're not a gardener, become one. Enjoy the opportunity it offers, to stand still in emptiness while surrounded by action and abundance. See more of nature, gaze upon what it can be. Be happy.

 

Houseboat Gardens of Paris

Gardeners garden. Green thumb or black, rich soil or poor, large plot or small, gardeners aren't hindered by a garden's limitations. Gardeners take life's lemons and make lemon trees.

I'm always looking for good gardening examples. When stumbling upon a garden in a surprising spot, I stop, smile, and soak in the energy that the gardener is sharing. While walking through Paris, universally recognized as a beautiful city, I discovered fascinating emerald energy dotting the houseboats on the Seine.

The boats of Paris

Moored along the banks of Paris' famous river are about 100 boats. Former barges that plied the waterway for years, they were rescued from scrapyards and converted into floating houses permanently tied to the quai. Some are available as vacation rentals while others represent the permanent address of their occupant.

For the residents, the floating home is no different than any small abode in the city or country. It has all of the trappings of a modern apartment. For typical apartment gardeners, a balcony or deck offers the chance to grow a few plants in pots. For the houseboat gardeners, growing plants on the deck takes on a new meaning.

Some people, those who haven't discovered gardening, would never think of a boat as a garden plot; it doesn't meet the traditional definition of a house and yard. For a gardener, it isn't a question of whether there will be a garden, but rather one of how big.

Potted plants atop a boat

I think a boat would be a great space for gardening. On a big river like the Seine, there are few obstacles to prevent the sun from shining through. All of the plots will be raised beds or pots so the soil can be customized, avoiding many of the soil-borne problems that many of us encounter. In the middle of the city, devoid of large agricultural areas, the insect and pest problems would surely be reduced. The humid environment would help keep the soil from drying out quickly, a common problem when growing plants in pots. The natural barriers of the water eliminate animal pests; no gophers, deer, or rabbits there.

Most of the boats have a few plants in the windows and topside, but a few are lush with greenery. Those gems aren't boats with plants, but are gardens that happened to have a boat beneath them. Flowers, shrubs, and trees cover the decks. That's where gardeners live and they're proud to show it.

A gardener's boat

We all have issues with our gardens. I live in a semi-arid, high-altitude region that limits what I can grow. The soil is poor and the weather is extreme. But I have space and time and knowledge to overcome the obstacles. Above all I have the desire to garden.

Many people would like to grow plants but feel the obstacles are too numerous to overcome so they don't begin. I've talked with many such people about their doubts and I always suggest they start small, with just a pot or two. From there they can expand as they learn more and become comfortable with gardening. It can take years to achieve gardening success in a challenging area. I know. I've spent years making mistakes, trying new things, and discovering what works.

I think of the houseboat gardeners of Paris following that pattern. Starting with a pot or two, making mistakes, trying new ideas, and succeeding with a beautiful garden, on a boat, in the middle of the most famous city in the world. Their desire to garden under the scrutiny of every passerby is inspirational.

Creative gardening

Gardens can be grown everywhere. With desire and dedication gardeners can overcome whatever stands in their way. When it seems hard, keep persevering. If a gardener can enjoy a garden on a boat think about what you can accomplish on dry land.

Gardeners garden. Green thumb or black, rich soil or poor, large plot or small, gardeners aren't hindered by a garden's limitations. Gardeners take life's lemons and make lemon trees.

I'm always looking for good gardening examples. When stumbling upon a garden in a surprising spot, I stop, smile, and soak in the energy that the gardener is sharing. While walking through Paris, universally recognized as a beautiful city, I discovered fascinating emerald energy dotting the houseboats on the Seine.

The boats of Paris

Moored along the banks of Paris' famous river are about 100 boats. Former barges that plied the waterway for years, they were rescued from scrapyards and converted into floating houses permanently tied to the quai. Some are available as vacation rentals while others represent the permanent address of their occupant.

For the residents, the floating home is no different than any small abode in the city or country. It has all of the trappings of a modern apartment. For typical apartment gardeners, a balcony or deck offers the chance to grow a few plants in pots. For the houseboat gardeners, growing plants on the deck takes on a new meaning.

Some people, those who haven't discovered gardening, would never think of a boat as a garden plot; it doesn't meet the traditional definition of a house and yard. For a gardener, it isn't a question of whether there will be a garden, but rather one of how big.

Potted plants atop a boat

I think a boat would be a great space for gardening. On a big river like the Seine, there are few obstacles to prevent the sun from shining through. All of the plots will be raised beds or pots so the soil can be customized, avoiding many of the soil-borne problems that many of us encounter. In the middle of the city, devoid of large agricultural areas, the insect and pest problems would surely be reduced. The humid environment would help keep the soil from drying out quickly, a common problem when growing plants in pots. The natural barriers of the water eliminate animal pests; no gophers, deer, or rabbits there.

Most of the boats have a few plants in the windows and topside, but a few are lush with greenery. Those gems aren't boats with plants, but are gardens that happened to have a boat beneath them. Flowers, shrubs, and trees cover the decks. That's where gardeners live and they're proud to show it.

A gardener's boat

We all have issues with our gardens. I live in a semi-arid, high-altitude region that limits what I can grow. The soil is poor and the weather is extreme. But I have space and time and knowledge to overcome the obstacles. Above all I have the desire to garden.

Many people would like to grow plants but feel the obstacles are too numerous to overcome so they don't begin. I've talked with many such people about their doubts and I always suggest they start small, with just a pot or two. From there they can expand as they learn more and become comfortable with gardening. It can take years to achieve gardening success in a challenging area. I know. I've spent years making mistakes, trying new things, and discovering what works.

I think of the houseboat gardeners of Paris following that pattern. Starting with a pot or two, making mistakes, trying new ideas, and succeeding with a beautiful garden, on a boat, in the middle of the most famous city in the world. Their desire to garden under the scrutiny of every passerby is inspirational.

Creative gardening

Gardens can be grown everywhere. With desire and dedication gardeners can overcome whatever stands in their way. When it seems hard, keep persevering. If a gardener can enjoy a garden on a boat think about what you can accomplish on dry land.

Fall Clean Up for the Vegetable Garden

Much of my garden is looking pretty ragged and it's time to deal with it. While I advocate leaving flowers and decorative grasses in place through the winter as food and protection for birds and for their interesting wintry appearance, vegetable beds are often best when cleaned up before the ground freezes. Fall clean up is an important chore in most gardens.

An unsightly garden

There are many reasons to clean up the vegetable garden in the fall: most of the chores associated with growing and harvesting are complete but the days are still warm enough to work outside; dead and dying vegetable plants rarely have the same positive visual appeal of flowers and grasses; vegetable plant material left in the garden to overwinter can often harbor harmful insects; weeds can be pulled before they spread in spring; organic material added to the soil can decompose through the winter and early spring; the garden beds will be ready for spring planting with minimal preparation.

Fall is a great time to work in the garden. Daytime temperatures can be warm enough to work comfortably without the heat stress of summer and the soil is warm enough to handle digging and amending. You've had the entire growing season to identify things you want to do and change in your garden and those thoughts are still fresh in your mind while all of your tools and supplies are still in place. Take advantage of that and get outside before the cold of winter keeps you cooped up in the house.

After the first frost kills your warm season plants and subsequent freezes finish off the others, the withered vegetation can become a blight in your landscape. Gone are the vibrant colors and verdant backgrounds. Solely from an aesthetic perspective, removing the plant carcasses makes an immediate positive impact.

Most of the dead plants should find their way to your compost pile; chopping or cutting them into smaller pieces will hasten decomposition. Tomatoes and potatoes are best carted off in the trash, especially if you had any problem with fungal or bacterial infections. If you compost tomato plants with a disease you will introduce that same problem to future plantings when you spread the compost.

Bags of tomato plants

Dead plants left in place through the winter provide a haven for many insects, most of them harmful. They burrow into the plants, or just under the soil, and continue their life cycle that results in many more insects emerging in spring. Cleaning up your beds breaks the cycle and reduces your insect pest problems the next year.

Cool season plants will continue to grow in cold weather and don't need to be removed right away. Leaving brassica plants like cabbage, kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and radishes is a natural way to kill some insect pests. The vegetation attracts some harmful insects. After harsh winter temperatures finally kill them and the plants begin to decompose in early spring, they'll actually release cyanide compounds that will kill those pests. You can pull them up and add them to the compost pile in spring.

If you don't have a compost pile, the debris of fall creates a great start. Stack the dead plants in your designated area and you now have a compost pile. Add the leaves that are piling up on your lawn and kitchen scraps you used to throw away. You probably won't have the perfect blend of material to allow decomposition during the cold temperatures of winter, but you'll have a mass that will begin to turn into compost with the warmth and rain of spring.


With your beds cleaned up, it's easy to see the perennial weeds that have been lurking under cover. Left unchecked those weeds will grow, set seed, and multiply before you return for spring planting. The soil is still workable so deal with those invaders now. Dig them up and throw them on your compost pile. The green of the weeds is a nice balance to the brown of the dead plants.

I add to my compost pile throughout the year and at the end of the growing season I usually have a batch of compost ready to use. With the beds cleaned up I add a layer of that compost to the surface. Along with the straw and grass I used as mulch, it is a great organic amendment to the soil. Aged manure works well too. This year I also added the bedding and droppings from my neighbor's rabbits that have been aging in a pile all summer. Store-bought compost and soil amendments are a good alternative.

Compost on top of straw

With all of those organics in place I simply turn them into the soil with a spade. Through earthworm and microorganism activity the material will break down and decompose. The freeze-thaw cycle of winter will help incorporate it in the soil. It will be about six months until I plant again and in that time the soil will be improved greatly.

In a few hours my vegetable garden is ready for spring planting. Sure the task is completed months ahead of time, but when the air and soil temperatures are finally warm enough in early spring I want to get to planting. Cleaning up the withered plants in spring is an unnecessary delay.

Raised beds ready for spring planting

My vegetable garden is just about on autopilot right now. The garlic is planted and beginning to sprout under the straw mulch; it will be fine through the winter (see my blog, "How to Plant Garlic"). The beds I cleaned up have the organic material incorporated in the soil and are ready to support new growth next season. My green manure, the cover crops (see my blog "Try Green Manure"), are growing well and will be turned in to the soil in spring. I'm leaving the sunflowers in place to feed the birds.

There are many activities to keep me busy now and in the months ahead, but an entire garden, the vegetable garden, is put to bed for winter. It required effort, though it wasn't hard. In a small way I can relax a little as I focus on other things. And it's a nice feeling to look back on the season from first seed to last plant on the compost pile and think about all the enjoyment it provided.

 

Much of my garden is looking pretty ragged and it's time to deal with it. While I advocate leaving flowers and decorative grasses in place through the winter as food and protection for birds and for their interesting wintry appearance, vegetable beds are often best when cleaned up before the ground freezes. Fall clean up is an important chore in most gardens.

An unsightly garden

There are many reasons to clean up the vegetable garden in the fall: most of the chores associated with growing and harvesting are complete but the days are still warm enough to work outside; dead and dying vegetable plants rarely have the same positive visual appeal of flowers and grasses; vegetable plant material left in the garden to overwinter can often harbor harmful insects; weeds can be pulled before they spread in spring; organic material added to the soil can decompose through the winter and early spring; the garden beds will be ready for spring planting with minimal preparation.

Fall is a great time to work in the garden. Daytime temperatures can be warm enough to work comfortably without the heat stress of summer and the soil is warm enough to handle digging and amending. You've had the entire growing season to identify things you want to do and change in your garden and those thoughts are still fresh in your mind while all of your tools and supplies are still in place. Take advantage of that and get outside before the cold of winter keeps you cooped up in the house.

After the first frost kills your warm season plants and subsequent freezes finish off the others, the withered vegetation can become a blight in your landscape. Gone are the vibrant colors and verdant backgrounds. Solely from an aesthetic perspective, removing the plant carcasses makes an immediate positive impact.

Most of the dead plants should find their way to your compost pile; chopping or cutting them into smaller pieces will hasten decomposition. Tomatoes and potatoes are best carted off in the trash, especially if you had any problem with fungal or bacterial infections. If you compost tomato plants with a disease you will introduce that same problem to future plantings when you spread the compost.

Bags of tomato plants

Dead plants left in place through the winter provide a haven for many insects, most of them harmful. They burrow into the plants, or just under the soil, and continue their life cycle that results in many more insects emerging in spring. Cleaning up your beds breaks the cycle and reduces your insect pest problems the next year.

Cool season plants will continue to grow in cold weather and don't need to be removed right away. Leaving brassica plants like cabbage, kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and radishes is a natural way to kill some insect pests. The vegetation attracts some harmful insects. After harsh winter temperatures finally kill them and the plants begin to decompose in early spring, they'll actually release cyanide compounds that will kill those pests. You can pull them up and add them to the compost pile in spring.

If you don't have a compost pile, the debris of fall creates a great start. Stack the dead plants in your designated area and you now have a compost pile. Add the leaves that are piling up on your lawn and kitchen scraps you used to throw away. You probably won't have the perfect blend of material to allow decomposition during the cold temperatures of winter, but you'll have a mass that will begin to turn into compost with the warmth and rain of spring.


With your beds cleaned up, it's easy to see the perennial weeds that have been lurking under cover. Left unchecked those weeds will grow, set seed, and multiply before you return for spring planting. The soil is still workable so deal with those invaders now. Dig them up and throw them on your compost pile. The green of the weeds is a nice balance to the brown of the dead plants.

I add to my compost pile throughout the year and at the end of the growing season I usually have a batch of compost ready to use. With the beds cleaned up I add a layer of that compost to the surface. Along with the straw and grass I used as mulch, it is a great organic amendment to the soil. Aged manure works well too. This year I also added the bedding and droppings from my neighbor's rabbits that have been aging in a pile all summer. Store-bought compost and soil amendments are a good alternative.

Compost on top of straw

With all of those organics in place I simply turn them into the soil with a spade. Through earthworm and microorganism activity the material will break down and decompose. The freeze-thaw cycle of winter will help incorporate it in the soil. It will be about six months until I plant again and in that time the soil will be improved greatly.

In a few hours my vegetable garden is ready for spring planting. Sure the task is completed months ahead of time, but when the air and soil temperatures are finally warm enough in early spring I want to get to planting. Cleaning up the withered plants in spring is an unnecessary delay.

Raised beds ready for spring planting

My vegetable garden is just about on autopilot right now. The garlic is planted and beginning to sprout under the straw mulch; it will be fine through the winter (see my blog, "How to Plant Garlic"). The beds I cleaned up have the organic material incorporated in the soil and are ready to support new growth next season. My green manure, the cover crops (see my blog "Try Green Manure"), are growing well and will be turned in to the soil in spring. I'm leaving the sunflowers in place to feed the birds.

There are many activities to keep me busy now and in the months ahead, but an entire garden, the vegetable garden, is put to bed for winter. It required effort, though it wasn't hard. In a small way I can relax a little as I focus on other things. And it's a nice feeling to look back on the season from first seed to last plant on the compost pile and think about all the enjoyment it provided.

 

How to Extend Your Growing Season in the Fall

Freezing temperatures are coming, if they haven't hit you already. While my high-altitude garden had its first frost about two weeks ago, the vast region that surrounds me is expecting the first fall temperatures below freezing tonight. The first frost of fall can spell doom to many of the warm season plants in the garden, but for gardeners who want to extend the growing season a few weeks it's relatively easy to buy more time.

The basic concept behind growing season extension is to cover plants. You want to put a blanket on your plants to keep them warm. It sounds simple and easy and it is.

An old blanket over a tomato cage

After months of hot spring and summer days, the soil is warm and still capable of supporting most plant root, leaf, and fruit growth. When air temperatures begin to drop in fall many soils are still able to retain the heat that has accumulated deep in the earth until long after the first frost. The key to extending the growing season is to harness that soil warmth. A blanket on the plants does that.

At night in our cozy beds a blanket keeps us warm. Wool, cotton, or polyester, the blanket doesn't actually create higher temperatures. The blanket traps our body heat and radiates it back to our chilled skin. Our own body is what keeps us warm when we cover it with a blanket. In the garden a blanket keeps the plants warm in the same manner by trapping and returning the heat of the soil.

Plants aren't picky about the blanket material. It can be plastic, canvas, wood, or cloth. Of primary importance is that you cover plants before the temperatures approach or drop below freezing.

When you suspect or expect cold temperatures overnight, apply the blanket while the outside air temperature is still above freezing. This usually means during the day when the sun is shining. The waning daytime heat will couple with the radiating soil heat and create a warm air pocket that protects the plant during the cold temperatures.

Like a blanket on our own beds, the garden blanket should fully cover the garden bed that you want to keep warm. It should be large enough to ensure no leaves or plant parts are sticking out from the edges. Any part of the plant that is exposed to freezing temperatures may experience freeze damage. Your foot gets cold when you dangle it outside the covers; the same happens with dangling stems and leaves.

This tarp isn't covering the entire plant

The blanket doesn't need to physically touch the plant and in many cases it should be supported above it. It all depends on the blanket material. I've thrown old wool blankets directly on top of squash plants to protect them from cold. I've leaned a plywood sheet on a fence to cover plants with a lean-to. I've draped both canvas and poly tarps over bushes. But when I use plastic sheeting I use wooden stakes and metal or plastic tubing to support it above the plant; the plastic is thin and any leaves that touch the plastic can experience frost damage as though they were unprotected.

Covering a tomato plant with plastic

In this respect, think of the plastic blanket as an umbrella that envelops the garden bed. We're trying to trap the soil warmth and it's that heat that keeps the plant warm not the actual blanket. Cloth and wood blankets can touch the plant with little damage but plastic isn't thick enough or dense enough to prevent it. I use a lot of plastic to protect my plants and my system is essentially a series of plastic umbrellas or tunnels. The same plastic hoops that allow me to begin planting in early spring are reused to extend the growing season in fall.

Protecting pumpkin plants

Also important in covering the plants is to ensure all edges of the blanket or umbrella are flush with the soil. It's difficult to keep your bedroom warm if you leave the window open. It's equally difficult to maintain a pocket of warmth around your plant if you have one side of the blanket open to the cold air. Use bricks or rocks to weigh the edges down. Bury edges in soil. Clamp or staple plastic to the support system. Drape plastic over the edges of a tarp or a plywood board. You may need to use multiple pieces of material to achieve a complete blanketing.

The last critical component of plant protection is to remove the blanket when temperatures warm up again. Once the sun comes up and temperatures rise above freezing, take the cover off. If you leave the blanket on, you run the risk of potential plant damage through excessive heating. You also want to give the soil more opportunity to warm up again.

You can continue the cycle of covering plants at night and removing the cover during the day for weeks. Until daytime temperatures drop to a point where the soil no longer absorbs heat, you can continue gardening.

Colorado State University conducted studies for extending the growing season in the spring, but the same systems can be used in the fall. They found that a simple cloth covering (a row cover) provided 2F to 4F degrees (1-2C) of protection. That means that the outside air temperature can fall to about 28F degrees (-2C) while the air around the plants stays above freezing. Plastic supported by a metal mesh frame provided 3-6F degrees (3C) of protection. It's important to note that the plastic completely covered the frame, allowing no exchange of air. This is enough protection to keep your plants alive for the first frost of the season and for a few weeks after.

For even more protection, a space blanket, or thermal blanket, is highly effective. The light-weight, metallic blankets reflect up to 99 percent of heat. Adding a space blanket on top of a plastic cover adds protection when the night temperatures drop below the 28F degree (-2C) threshold. In CSU trials, a space blanket added to a plastic-covered frame kept plants from freezing when the night temperature dropped to 0F degrees (-18C), following a sunny, spring day. It is critical to remove it during the day because you've also created an oven that can bake plants in the sun.

If you are really serious about extending the growing season you can take extra efforts to continue gardening when temperatures drop below the point where daytime temperatures can sustain this cycle. You can add a heat source to the plastic umbrella over your plants. Christmas tree lights are one solution, but they need to be the old-style lights, the big ones that heat your fingers when you touch them; new LED lights won't have the same result. The CSU trial showed that a string of C-9 lights draped from the metal frame, under the plastic sheet, added up to 18F degrees (10C) of frost protection. With a space blanket on top, that protection extended up to 30F degrees (16C). That means the outside temperatures can be bone-chilling cold and the plants are still enjoying temperatures above freezing.

Here are a few more thoughts about covering your plants to extend the growing season. Cloth covers work well, but will lose much of their heat retention ability when they get wet; avoid a cloth blanket or sheet if you expect rain or snow.  Heavy tarps or wood sheets retain heat well but can crush plants underneath. Moist soil will retain more heat than dry; plants also prefer moist soil over dry so there's no reason to withhold normal water. Plastic covers can stay in place if you open the edges to avoid over-heating during the day; set up a plastic or wooden frame, drape plastic over it, and just open and close an end during the day-night cycle.

Letting air in during the day

Also, the season-extending technique of covering plants works best with plants that grow close to the ground and for warm season crops. It's not worth the effort and expense to try and blanket a fruit tree. Covering cool season plants like kale, chard, and spinach isn't necessary; they'll keep producing even after there's snow on the ground.

Cover your plants to get past the first frost in fall. Often you only need a few extra days to harvest the crop being threatened by cold. Keep it as simple as you need. One year I didn't see the frost forecast until the nightly news. I ran out as the sun was setting, threw a large tarp over the pumpkin plants, weighed down the edges with rocks, and went back in the house. That was the only crop that needed a little more time to grow. The next morning I pulled off the tarp to see the plant was alive and happy; a few of the leaves that stuck out from the edges were damaged by frost, but I gained enough time for the pumpkins to turn orange in the next week.

At some point in cold-winter regions, the growing season has to end. When you've picked the last zucchini or tomato, there's no reason to protect the plant any longer. Pull off the blankets and plastic and store them away until you need to repeat this process in spring with young plants. By blanketing your plants you can gain time and extend your growing season on both ends.

Freezing temperatures are coming, if they haven't hit you already. While my high-altitude garden had its first frost about two weeks ago, the vast region that surrounds me is expecting the first fall temperatures below freezing tonight. The first frost of fall can spell doom to many of the warm season plants in the garden, but for gardeners who want to extend the growing season a few weeks it's relatively easy to buy more time.

The basic concept behind growing season extension is to cover plants. You want to put a blanket on your plants to keep them warm. It sounds simple and easy and it is.

An old blanket over a tomato cage

After months of hot spring and summer days, the soil is warm and still capable of supporting most plant root, leaf, and fruit growth. When air temperatures begin to drop in fall many soils are still able to retain the heat that has accumulated deep in the earth until long after the first frost. The key to extending the growing season is to harness that soil warmth. A blanket on the plants does that.

At night in our cozy beds a blanket keeps us warm. Wool, cotton, or polyester, the blanket doesn't actually create higher temperatures. The blanket traps our body heat and radiates it back to our chilled skin. Our own body is what keeps us warm when we cover it with a blanket. In the garden a blanket keeps the plants warm in the same manner by trapping and returning the heat of the soil.

Plants aren't picky about the blanket material. It can be plastic, canvas, wood, or cloth. Of primary importance is that you cover plants before the temperatures approach or drop below freezing.

When you suspect or expect cold temperatures overnight, apply the blanket while the outside air temperature is still above freezing. This usually means during the day when the sun is shining. The waning daytime heat will couple with the radiating soil heat and create a warm air pocket that protects the plant during the cold temperatures.

Like a blanket on our own beds, the garden blanket should fully cover the garden bed that you want to keep warm. It should be large enough to ensure no leaves or plant parts are sticking out from the edges. Any part of the plant that is exposed to freezing temperatures may experience freeze damage. Your foot gets cold when you dangle it outside the covers; the same happens with dangling stems and leaves.

This tarp isn't covering the entire plant

The blanket doesn't need to physically touch the plant and in many cases it should be supported above it. It all depends on the blanket material. I've thrown old wool blankets directly on top of squash plants to protect them from cold. I've leaned a plywood sheet on a fence to cover plants with a lean-to. I've draped both canvas and poly tarps over bushes. But when I use plastic sheeting I use wooden stakes and metal or plastic tubing to support it above the plant; the plastic is thin and any leaves that touch the plastic can experience frost damage as though they were unprotected.

Covering a tomato plant with plastic

In this respect, think of the plastic blanket as an umbrella that envelops the garden bed. We're trying to trap the soil warmth and it's that heat that keeps the plant warm not the actual blanket. Cloth and wood blankets can touch the plant with little damage but plastic isn't thick enough or dense enough to prevent it. I use a lot of plastic to protect my plants and my system is essentially a series of plastic umbrellas or tunnels. The same plastic hoops that allow me to begin planting in early spring are reused to extend the growing season in fall.

Protecting pumpkin plants

Also important in covering the plants is to ensure all edges of the blanket or umbrella are flush with the soil. It's difficult to keep your bedroom warm if you leave the window open. It's equally difficult to maintain a pocket of warmth around your plant if you have one side of the blanket open to the cold air. Use bricks or rocks to weigh the edges down. Bury edges in soil. Clamp or staple plastic to the support system. Drape plastic over the edges of a tarp or a plywood board. You may need to use multiple pieces of material to achieve a complete blanketing.

The last critical component of plant protection is to remove the blanket when temperatures warm up again. Once the sun comes up and temperatures rise above freezing, take the cover off. If you leave the blanket on, you run the risk of potential plant damage through excessive heating. You also want to give the soil more opportunity to warm up again.

You can continue the cycle of covering plants at night and removing the cover during the day for weeks. Until daytime temperatures drop to a point where the soil no longer absorbs heat, you can continue gardening.

Colorado State University conducted studies for extending the growing season in the spring, but the same systems can be used in the fall. They found that a simple cloth covering (a row cover) provided 2F to 4F degrees (1-2C) of protection. That means that the outside air temperature can fall to about 28F degrees (-2C) while the air around the plants stays above freezing. Plastic supported by a metal mesh frame provided 3-6F degrees (3C) of protection. It's important to note that the plastic completely covered the frame, allowing no exchange of air. This is enough protection to keep your plants alive for the first frost of the season and for a few weeks after.

For even more protection, a space blanket, or thermal blanket, is highly effective. The light-weight, metallic blankets reflect up to 99 percent of heat. Adding a space blanket on top of a plastic cover adds protection when the night temperatures drop below the 28F degree (-2C) threshold. In CSU trials, a space blanket added to a plastic-covered frame kept plants from freezing when the night temperature dropped to 0F degrees (-18C), following a sunny, spring day. It is critical to remove it during the day because you've also created an oven that can bake plants in the sun.

If you are really serious about extending the growing season you can take extra efforts to continue gardening when temperatures drop below the point where daytime temperatures can sustain this cycle. You can add a heat source to the plastic umbrella over your plants. Christmas tree lights are one solution, but they need to be the old-style lights, the big ones that heat your fingers when you touch them; new LED lights won't have the same result. The CSU trial showed that a string of C-9 lights draped from the metal frame, under the plastic sheet, added up to 18F degrees (10C) of frost protection. With a space blanket on top, that protection extended up to 30F degrees (16C). That means the outside temperatures can be bone-chilling cold and the plants are still enjoying temperatures above freezing.

Here are a few more thoughts about covering your plants to extend the growing season. Cloth covers work well, but will lose much of their heat retention ability when they get wet; avoid a cloth blanket or sheet if you expect rain or snow.  Heavy tarps or wood sheets retain heat well but can crush plants underneath. Moist soil will retain more heat than dry; plants also prefer moist soil over dry so there's no reason to withhold normal water. Plastic covers can stay in place if you open the edges to avoid over-heating during the day; set up a plastic or wooden frame, drape plastic over it, and just open and close an end during the day-night cycle.

Letting air in during the day

Also, the season-extending technique of covering plants works best with plants that grow close to the ground and for warm season crops. It's not worth the effort and expense to try and blanket a fruit tree. Covering cool season plants like kale, chard, and spinach isn't necessary; they'll keep producing even after there's snow on the ground.

Cover your plants to get past the first frost in fall. Often you only need a few extra days to harvest the crop being threatened by cold. Keep it as simple as you need. One year I didn't see the frost forecast until the nightly news. I ran out as the sun was setting, threw a large tarp over the pumpkin plants, weighed down the edges with rocks, and went back in the house. That was the only crop that needed a little more time to grow. The next morning I pulled off the tarp to see the plant was alive and happy; a few of the leaves that stuck out from the edges were damaged by frost, but I gained enough time for the pumpkins to turn orange in the next week.

At some point in cold-winter regions, the growing season has to end. When you've picked the last zucchini or tomato, there's no reason to protect the plant any longer. Pull off the blankets and plastic and store them away until you need to repeat this process in spring with young plants. By blanketing your plants you can gain time and extend your growing season on both ends.