Prepare your garden for spring
Now that Summer is over it’s time to begin planning for next year. There are a number of things that can be done now to prepare for Spring. This includes soil testing, planting cover crops in your garden, and planning for next year’s garden.
Fall is the ideal time of year to do soil testing on your lawns, gardens, and pastures. The soil test lab is typically less busy during this time and it gives you plenty of time to adjust your soil pH and fertilize before the growing season starts in the spring. Soil testing should typically be done every three to five years. When you submit a sample to the University of Tennessee Soil, Plant and Pest Center, modern chemical analyses are combined with up-to-date research to make each lime and fertilizer recommendation. This takes the guesswork out of fertilizing and liming.
Another great thing to do during the Fall is to plan your garden for the Spring. Now is the time to be thinking about what fruit and vegetables you want to grow. You also should be considering the layout of your garden. If you had some disease problems in one crop, then you might want to rotate the garden and grow that crop in another section. Growing the same vegetables year after year in the same location makes them more susceptible to diseases and it also puts more stress on the soil. By rotating your garden, you can help reduce diseases and make the nutrients in your soil go farther.
Want a way to add more nutrients to your garden and also help control weeds? Planting cover crops is the way to go. These cover crops help enhance soil structure, reduce compaction by adding organic matter, suppress diseases and insects, and reduce soil erosion. Some common cover crops include white and crimson clover, wheat, oats, winter rye, and annual ryegrass.
If you have any questions about the above mentioned topics or anything else, please feel free to contact the Anderson County Extension Office at (865) 457-6246 or email me at wbruhin@utk.edu.