Get Ready For Winter

Time to prepare the garden for Winter and for next year's season. I use checklists that way I only have to remember how to find the list. Checklists can be modified at any time.

Here is a simple checklist I use:

1. Buy soil from garden centers and bring inside so it's not frozen when you start seedlings inside in late Winter. (Try to bring a bag frozen to the ground bag into the house in the snow!)
2. Clear garden paths so items won't be covered in snow and cause tripping hazards 
3. Stake garden paths so they remain visible with snow on the ground
4. Empty rain barrels so the water doesn't freeze and burst the barrel
5. Empty water hoses and store off the ground
6. Seed save
7. Collect  flower pots and place in right area
8. Apply manure and mulch to base of berry bushes
9. Mulch perennials
10. Get everything off the ground or it will freeze and be covered by snow
11. Clears areas for feeding birds in winter
12. Empty flower pots and pile soil into beds
13. Bring all tools into garage
14. Cut raspberries to 12"
15. Throw all leaves into leaf mulch bin
16. Take out last compost from outdoor bins before hard freeze
17. Get rid of all weeds left in garden
18. Remove residual vegetable stems, leaves, chop them up,  and put in indoor worm bins (future blog)
19. Before ground freezes harvest the carrots, pickle and pressure can them
20. Harvest and eat all plastic protected lettuce from operating bed
21. Remove residual petunias from hanging baskets
22. Take pictures of the garden so locations of perennials (Lilies, Coneflowers, Black-eyed Susans, etc) are not forgotten