The Edible Garden in December

Congratulations to everyone who had a successful edible gardening year in 2022. I hope you enjoyed the gardening as well as the fruits of your hard work. If you have cleaned up your beds, planted cover crops or mulched them, and have protected cool weather vegetables that are still yielding, you have earned a break. In any case, now is the time to review this year’s results and begin thinking about next year.

Reduce Chemicals, Build Soil, Add Diversity

 Admittedly speaking as an advocate, I suggest using the winter to think about how to improve gardening techniques and be more ecologically responsible next year, through these practices:

• Reducing chemical use through Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM is a process based on observing pest issues, understanding them, taking action only when the damage is significant and using chemicals as a last resort. It requires looking deeper into issues, which requires a time commitment. But given the environmental damage that is evident from pre-emptive chemical use, it is important. For information about how to implement IPM, check out the Garden Shed article Integrated Pest Management
• Build your soil. Healthy soil can reduce the need for chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Insights about productive ways to improve soil naturally are coming from the Regenerative Agriculture movement. It is a soil focused approach to growing crops that advocates:
  • Keeping the soil covered, with densely planted crops and employing cover crops or mulching in the off season
  • Minimizing soil disturbance. This means minimizing tilling, adding amendments on or near the surface, relying on soil organisms to carry them deeper, to preserve soil structure.
  • Keeping living roots in the soil to stabilize it while improving structure and adding carbon based nutrients.
  • Add diversity by varying and rotating crops, interplanting, and utilizing diverse cover crops.

These practices are growing, now followed by about 15% of commercial agriculture, and provide guidance to home gardeners that is ecologically and horticulturally healthy. The Garden Shed article It’s All About the Soil explores it more deeply. The You Tube video Healing the Earth Through Regenerative Farming with Gabe Brown is also a convincing summary of the practice.

• Create a diverse home landscape. Creating a diverse home landscape, preferably of native trees, shrubs, and flowering perennials is critical for reducing the decline in insects and birds in recent decades. It also builds their populations to help manage garden pests naturally. This has worked wonders at limiting cabbage moths and Japanese beetles in my own garden. Get guidance on how to start with a pollinator friendly landscape from the Garden Shed article Plant A Pollinator Paradise. If you need some more convincing, watch the video Nature’s Best Hope with Dr. Doug Tallamy, a leader in understanding and repairing native ecology.

 Other helpful information, including video material, is available in the references at the end of this article and from the VA Cooperative Extension website.

As the interdependence of all aspects of our environment becomes increasingly clear, our need to integrate key ecological elements follows. Improving our practices in these three areas is a good start.

Other December Tasks 

• As long as your soil isn’t frozen, it is still okay to plant garlic and shallots in December. Mulch them well to moderate temperature and moisture.

• • Placing row covers over winter hardy vegetables adds several degrees to the temperature under the cover and protects plants in the event of extreme cold while encouraging continued growth into the winter. Covering them during cold spells while giving access to sunlight on above-freezing days, maximizes growth. For tips on constructing simple hoop style row covers, consult The Garden Shed article Row Covers: A Season Extender with Benefits.

• • • Put Your Leaves to Good Use:
      • Chopping or shredding them is a good idea to help speed decomposition while allowing water penetration when used as a mulch.
      • They can be used to set up new compost batches with winter-generated fruit and vegetable scraps added as they become available. When spring temperatures rise into the 50s, the batch’s carbon-to-nitrogen ratio can be fine-tuned to stimulate decomposition. With good moisture and aeration management, you should have compost for use prior to planting summer vegetables. Find guidance for home composting in the article Home Composting: A Guide for Home Gardeners, from the Penn State Extension.
      • Leaves left in place provide excellent cover for over-wintering beneficial insects that will help build a natural pest management system in your gardens next year.

• • • Small Fruits
      • Blueberry bushes can be pruned any time from leaf drop to the start of growth in spring. During the first 3 years, just remove the low growing canes. After fruit production starts, prune out one of every six of the oldest canes, as close to the ground as possible.  For canes aged 1-5 years old, aim for 10-15 canes, 2 or 3 each of the 1-5 year old growth.
      • Strawberries should be protected from the cold; 6-8 inches of straw or leaf mulch works well. Plants growing in barrels or pyramids benefit from having the mulch covered with burlap as well.
      • Additional detail about caring for these and other small fruits is offered in the publication Small Fruit in the Home Garden from VCE.
    • Be sure to drain your hoses. Disconnect them from faucets and lay them out on the ground, both ends open, to let them drain. Then roll them up for winter storage.
    • Drain rain barrels and redirect downspouts to ground, rather than refilling the barrels during the cold months.
    • Review your journal entries and think about improvements for next year in plant selection, location, and techniques.
    • Use your learning as you review the first new catalogs and communication from seed suppliers for next season’s supplies. It is fun to browse them, looking for new items to grow and assessing different varieties that may help avoid disease problems that affected last year’s garden. Pay attention to “time to harvest” and “disease resistance” data. For help interpreting seed catalog and seed pack information, check out Garden Shed article Using Seed Pack Information to Help Your Garden Grow.
    • Make a first pass at laying out your crop arrangement for next year. Remember to rotate specific plant families to different parts of the garden, preferably on a 3-4 year cycle. The benefits are disease and pest reduction and soil enrichment through plant diversity.
    • Care for your tools. Winter is the time to clean, disinfect, sharpen, and generally prepare them for the work ahead. Also a good time to clean pots and flats if you have a warm enough place to do the wet work. Come spring, you’ll be happy you did it.

• 
• An enjoyable way to keep your hands in the soil during winter is to grow herbs indoors. You need a sunny window, preferably with a southern exposure. Use a premium potting soil and add nutrient as recommended. It is best to use clean plastic or glazed containers to reduce watering Be sure the container has drainage holes and use a non-porous dish to catch excess water. Keep the soil surface moist between planting and germination. Herbs do best with temperatures above 65 degrees, the warmer the better. Basil likes temperatures above 70 degrees, so doesn’t want to be too close to the window during cold weather. Check out Garden Shed article “Be Inspired With Indoor Herb Gardening” for great information on growing herbs indoors this winter.

In any case, enjoy your December gardening, happy holidays, and I hope to see you next month at The Garden Shed.

References:

Cool Season Planting Chart for Companion, Interplanting and Square Foot Gardening, Washington State University Extension: https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/2056/2018/10/Cool-Season-Planting-Chart-for-Companion.pdf

Virginia Native Plant Society website: Resources for Creating Native Plant Habitats: https://vnps.org/