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 If you raised tomatoes this year, and enjoyed the
flavor and convenience of you own produce stand right in your back
yard, you can extend that into the winter by picking off your green
tomatoes and storing them to ripen up. This will extend the time you
are able to enjoy your own fresh produce for several weeks after the
plants have gone to the wayside.
Here is a quick video on how to best accomplish this.
How to ripen
green tomatoes | At Home with P. Allen Smith
Note few key components; leave the stem on the
tomato, have a few apples on hand for your storage container, and
have enough newspaper on hand to wrap each tomato individually.
With the summer harvest brought in from the vegetable
garden, you may think that it is time to leave the veggie garden and
go on to other things. But, there are a few things you can do now to
improve your soil quality in the spring. This simple tip is a double
banger because, if you have trees in your yard, you have all the
material you need to improve your soil quality next spring.
This video will show you how to do a very quick compost made only
from leaves in a matter of days. Items you will need: leaves, black
trash bags, and water.
How to prepare
your soil NOW for Spring - Five easy steps
You can also plant a winter cover crop in your
garden. The value of this is that it will hold the soil in place,
protecting it from harsh winter winds, and in the spring, the cover
crop can be tilled into the garden to enrich the soil with natural
fertilizer.
Cover crops!
What is best, how to plant, when to plant
Planting a summer flower garden can mean putting a
variety of items in the ground from pre-grown plants, to seeds, to
bulbs. Some summer bulbs can be harvested after the growing season
and stored inside for the winter. When spring returns, you can then
put them back in the ground for another season, doubling the value
of your investment. Some of the most popular flowering bulbs that
need to be taken up in the fall include Gladiolus, Dahlia, and
Elephant Ears.
A word of caution, digging Elephant Ears in particular is a pretty
big job. Dig deep and start a fairly good distance away from the
center of the plant. These bulbs reproduce during the summer so
where you planted one bulb, you could end up harvesting a half-dozen
or more.
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 Here are some tips:
How to
overwinter your Elephant Ear bulbs
Digging and
storing Gladiolus bulbs
How to divide
and overwinter Dahlias in cold climates
Geraniums are also a potted plant that can be
overwintered. The result of growing the same plant year after year
can be remarkable as it appears that each year, a well-cared for
plant will be a few sizes larger and fuller than it was in the
previous growing season.
How to
overwinter geraniums Fall is also a
great time to plan your spring flower gardens if you want to include
plants such as tulips and daffodils. You will want to have your
bulbs planted before the first freeze. Many of the spring bulbs need
to be in the ground during the freezing cold, as that is part of
their maturing process that will bring you tons of color in the
spring.
Planting bulbs need not be intimidating. Check out this five minute
video to give you some tips on getting the best return for your fall
planting of tulips.
Planting Tulip
bulbs in Fall | GHC in-depth with P. Allen Smith
Fall is a wonderful time to be outside. The days are
cooler, the air is drier, and pulling on that favorite flannel shirt
or hoodie can make you feel so cozy and warm while you work. Enjoy
the season, and those last days of outdoor living before the snow
flies, and look forward to next Spring, Summer, and back to fall to
give your garden another boost for the next year at the same time!
Happy gardening!
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