​             Cool season garden bed maintenance

​Gardens are a living ecosystem with as much happening below ground as there is above it. Caring for your plants and the soil they grow in will reward you with garden health and resilience.
Late autumn and winter is a great time to get into the garden and carry out seasonal bed maintenance and rejuvenation, ready for the following growing season. It’s also a handy time to start a brand-new bed, giving it time to settle in and soil life to work its magic before planting into it during spring.
 
Carry out the following:

• Remove and compost spent crops or send to green waste facility if diseased;
• Chop and drop weeds onto the soil’s surface, minus their seed heads. Weeds are full of nutrition and minerals, especially those which have deep tap roots. Alternatively, you can add them to your compost pile;
• Gently aerate soil with a garden fork or similar, avoiding plant roots. Simply push fork in and lever forward – doing so loosens compaction layer, allowing water, nutrients and air to be more easily absorbed into the soil;
• Add generous layer of aged organic matter (cow manure, compost, mushroom compost, quality veggie mix etc.). Product doesn’t have to be aged if bed is rested for several months before planting into, however.

 
Worm castings can also be sprinkled through beds. Castings are quite concentrated and full of good stuff for plants and soil microbes. Another option is to dilute one tablespoon of worm castings per 9 litres of water and apply generously to soil surface.  Remove spout before applying as castings will block the flow;

• Check soil pH with a Manutec testing kit or similar and remedy if needed. Avoid pH soil testing probes unless they are top quality as they are inaccurate;
• Mulch, preferably with organic products such as Lucerne hay or straw, to protect and improve the soil. Only a shallow layer of a few centimetres is needed during cold weather as you want the sun’s rays to keep the soil as warm as possible;
• Starting a new bed – carry out site assessment including aspect, slope, predominant summer and winter winds, and soil type and quality (soil percolation test, soil texture analysis test, soil pH test – online good resource). Site analysis will help you select the best suited plants for your new bed, better-understand your soil type including strengths and weaknesses, and any relevant improvements you can make. For example, a compacted clay soil can be improved through judicious cultivation, loads of organic matter and mulch (or a green manure crop if time permits), and limiting future foot traffic to designated path areas.

 

Judiciously aerate garden beds with a garden fork to break up mulch and soil compaction and promote water and nutrient absorption.

The cooler and calmer months is a great opportunity to carry out garden bed maintenance and creation.