Before the First Frost: 6 Garden Jobs (and the Fall Habit That Hurts Your Soil), by Innа Lab on YouTube. 13 min 11 s.
- Video length
- 13 min 11 s
- Time to do it
- 4 hours
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 8
What you need
Steps
Move tender plants indoors before the first frost night. Lift basil, peppers and tropical pots, or cover them with a sheet. Pick every green tomato still on the vine and ripen them on a windowsill.
Sort what is left in the beds. Pull spent annuals, cut back soggy stems and put healthy debris on the compost. Bin anything with mould or disease instead of composting it.
Test your soil now, while the beds are still easy to dig. Use a home kit for pH and the main nutrients, then add lime, compost or fertiliser only as the result says.
Empty pots, scrub them and store them dry and stacked. Drain and coil hoses indoors so ice cannot split them. Clean soil off tools, dry them and oil the metal.
Plant the last crops of the year. Set garlic cloves and spring bulbs, or sow a cover crop such as rye or clover on empty beds so roots hold the soil.
Rake leaves onto your beds instead of bagging them. Shred them with a mower first so they break down faster, and spread them a few centimetres deep around shrubs and perennials.
Do not leave beds bare all winter. Rain washes nutrients out of bare soil and wind takes the top layer. Cover every empty bed with leaves, compost or a cover crop.
Walk the garden with a checklist at the end. Note what needs moving, dividing or replacing next spring, and keep the list with your seed box.
Tips and common mistakes
Do not dig or walk on beds when the soil is wet and sticky, because you will compact it for the whole winter.
Cover tender plants the evening before a forecast frost, not after the leaves have already blackened.
Shred leaves before using them as mulch so they do not mat into a soggy layer.
Wear gloves when sharpening or oiling tools, and store them clean and dry.
Questions
When should I start winterising my garden?
Start about three to four weeks before your first expected frost date. Finish the tender plant rescue the day before a frost is forecast.
What can I do with green tomatoes?
Pick them before frost and ripen them indoors on a windowsill or in a paper bag, or pickle them. They will not ripen well once frosted on the vine.
Can I leave my pots outside over winter?
Empty and store them dry if you can. Pots left full of wet compost can crack in a hard freeze, and roots in small pots freeze much faster than roots in the ground.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
