The air has finally found its fall crispness and the leaves are beginning to fall, which means that it is time to prep for Spring planting! Before you shut down your garden for the fall you need to take some time to prep your garden space to help yourself come spring time. Your future self will thank you for the effort you put in now. First things first, is setting out a plan for your 2024 Garden. Having a plan is essential to having a successful garden. It helps reduce wasted time, energy and resources. Instead, with your detailed plan, you can go into your 2024 growing season knowing your needs, timeline and goals. Get your 2024 Gardening Planner at https://stan.store/bramblecreekfarmlife. You can also find other valuable learning tools for Gardening there.
Something you should also be thinking about is tidying up your garden in preparation for Spring planting. Here at the farm we are cutting down all the summer annuals and covering them with tarp to kill all the weed seeds and greenery. Fall is a great time to cut back any over grown brush, trees and certain perennial plants. With the foliage dying back, it will make clearing up those problem areas easier. You can also take the opportunity to add some of those leaves and grass clippings to your garden soil and allow it to sit and decompose over the winter. This adds vital nutrients back in the soil and helps prep your soil for spring plantings. Here at the farm we have partnered with a local horse farm to help them with their manure problem which helps us with our compost costs. We can take the horse manure and lay it out on some unused pastures to allow it time to break down so it can be used as compost for garden. We started receiving the manure in the summer and our first few rows are almost ready to be placed on the planting beds. This manure adds much needed nutrients back into the soil and allows us to save money on materials needed for the farm. So a win win in our opinion!
Make sure you are getting any fall bulbs plantings done before the end of November (we are in zone 7B) or before your ground freezes. Here in Northern Georgia, our ground doesn’t actual freeze, but for those of you who do live in zones that the ground freezes, plant sooner than later. The time in the ground in cold temperatures will allow your bulbs plenty of time to settle in for the winter. I like to save my leaves and place them over the bulbs as added insulation for the bulbs during the winter. If you are planting blubs this season, one of my favorite tools to use is a garden auger that you can attach to a battery powered drill. This was an absolute game changer for me! I got mine from Amazon and it came with multiple sizes and have loved it ever since! I use it to plant all kinds of plants, but especially like it for planting blubs and shrubs.
With your soil getting much needed nutrients, fall planting plants going in before winter, you are putting yourself in the best possible position for a successful 2024 Growing Season. We are so excited to expand the flower filed next spring and adding some new animals to the farm. Mark sure you are following Brandi on Instagram @bramblecreekfarmlife for gardening and farming updates and Ron @bramblecreekfarmsga.