Prepare for Spring Planting Now and Set Out Cool Weather Plants

Fall is not a time for slowing down in the garden (aka the city farm). If you want to enjoy a productive harvest during the winter months and into next year, now is the time to prepare. Here are the steps I take in my six raised beds and numerous large pots around the exterior of my home:

1) Clean up beds of all old plant material. Do NOT put into composter if any plant diseases were experienced during the last year (e.g powdery mildew). Throw them into your green city trash container to get them off the property! Wash your hands after touching them as well.

2) With a shovel, pitch fork, or pick, deeply loosen the soil, taking out weed roots and any other unsavory "residents," such as grubs. The best shovel ever: The sawtooth shovel--a wickedly sharp tool that I've only been able to find online from Gardner's Edge (http://www.gardenersedge.com). It cuts through hard soil amazingly.

3) Generously add homemade compost made out of lawn clippings, and a variety of organic waste from the garden and kitchen. A good website to learn about how to make compost is: http://www.vegweb.com/composting/

4) Test soil to assess nutrient levels and acidity/alkalinity. To do this, buy a soil tester. Do not, however, completely trust the "fertility" function on inexpensive testers. They can over- or under-estimate, which means you can "burn" your plants or under-amend your soil.

Plentiful compost without the need for added amendments is the ultimate in terms of soil conditioning and fertility. Short of that, I recommend organic cottonseed meal, bone meal, and rock potash for sources of soil nutrients. A good basic overview of organic fertilizers can be found at: http://www.the-organic-gardener.com/organic-fertilizer.html

5) Blend soil, compost, and nutrients well, then allow this mixture to "rest." At any given time, one of my six boxes is in this state and after a month's time out, will then become the next planting site.