Tracey Bool Garden Writer
  • Home
  • Photo Gallery
  • In The Garden
    • Permaculture >
      • Borage
      • Bringing in the Good Bugs
      • Building Beneficial Insect and Solitary Bee Accommodation in Your Garden
      • Comfrey My Garden Back to Life - Symphytum officinale
      • Climate Change Gardens
      • Growing Lucerne as a Green Manure Crop
      • Grown & Gathered by Matt & Lentil
      • Handy Link: ACT for Bees
      • Jerusalem Artichoke
      • Make Friends Using Companion Plants in Your Garden
      • Marigold
      • Pip: Australian Permaculture Magazine
      • Queensland Arrowroot
      • RetroSuburbia
      • The One Straw Revolution
      • The Weird and Wonderful World of Compost Brewing
      • Urban Homesteading Goulburn Mulwaree Library reference list
      • Yacon
    • Australian Native plants >
      • Bush Foods and a World of Wonder
      • Brachychiton populneus
      • Correa alba x pulchella 'Pink Pixie'
      • Correa pulchella 'Little Cate'
      • Correa pulchella ‘Ring A Ding Ding’
      • Eremophila racemosa
      • Grevillea iaspicula
      • Handy Link: Birds in Backyards
      • Lomatia myricoides
      • Lovely Locals
      • Lovely Winter Natives
      • Olive Pink: A Life in Flowers
      • Photographic Guide to Native Plants of the Australian Capital Territory
      • Plants of Goulburn Wetlands
      • Kembla Cherry Orchard: Seasonal Winter Maintenance
      • Poa labillardieri
      • Wahlenberia stricta
    • Fruit, Veggies & Herbs >
      • Flavour and More with Spaghetti Squash
      • Green Zebra Tomatoes
      • Grow. Food. Anywhere
      • Growing Blueberries
      • Growing Chillies in Pots
      • Growing, Eating and Enjoying Radish
      • Growing Garlic
      • Growing Passionfruit in Canberra
      • Leaf Curl and Codling Moth on Fruit Trees
      • Maintaining Blueberries
      • Mild Mannered Turnips
      • Preparing veggie seedlings for planting
      • Reaping the Harvest: Broad Beans
      • Pumpkin True Green Hubbard
      • Scented Geranium
      • Snowpea 'Oregon Sugar'
      • Summer Hardy Perennial Herbs
      • Summer Savory
      • The Seed Savers' Handbook
      • The Vegie Box
      • Tomato 'Honey Drop'
    • Garden Creation & Maintenance >
      • Australian Dreamscapes: The art of planting in gardens inspired by nature
      • Autumn in The Garden
      • Adhoc Gardening Tool Box
      • Bokashi Composting
      • Biofumigant Seed Crops
      • Canberra Soils
      • Carbon Storage in Urban Environments
      • Clay Seed Balls
      • Comfrey Tea
      • Composting
      • Cool Season Garden Bed Maintenance
      • Enliven the Senses with a Sensory Garden
      • Creating a Wildlife Friendly Garden: Reference List
      • Gardening Down-Under
      • Green Manure Crops
      • Growing and Maintaining Windbreaks
      • Handy Organic Sprays
      • Handy Tip: Plant Gazebo
      • Hardwood Cuttings
      • In the Garden: Re-potting Your Plants
      • Let There Be Light
      • Local Invention: Downpipe Garden
      • Maintaining Citrus During Winter
      • One Plant or Many: Creating Harmony in the Garden
      • Photography in the Garden
      • Plant Selection and Design Considerations
      • Protect Your Garden from Jack Frost this Winter
      • Save Time, Water and Money with No-Dig Gardening
      • Summer Pruning Fruit Trees
      • The Art of Pruning
      • The Key to Successful Seed Germination
      • Tree Borers
      • Tree Selection with Christine Rampling
      • Winter Maintenance and Preparing for Spring
      • Yates Nature’s Way Citrus & Ornamental
    • On The Forage Trail >
      • Chickweed
      • Fat Hen
      • Foods of the Forest: Canada
      • Fruits of the Forest, On a Roadside Near You
      • Native Raspberry
      • On the Bush Food Trail: Annual Celery
      • On the Bush Food Trail: Warrigal Greens
      • Purple Salsify
      • Shepherd’s Purse
      • Sticky Weed
      • The Overlooked Bounty - Free Food
      • In Season Now: Purple Salsify
    • Ornamental Plants >
      • Arbutus unedo
      • Growing Ferns in Cool Climates
      • Growing Indoor Plants
      • Indispensable: Rosemary
      • Loropetalum chinense 'Burgundy'
      • Pineapple Sage
      • Plants of Nepal
      • Root Nurture Grow: The Essential Guide to Propagating and Sharing Houseplants
      • Taxodium distichum
    • People & Places >
      • A Garden for all Seasons with Deb & Adrian
      • Ainslie Urban Farm
      • An Interesting Mix at Majura Vineyard
      • Aquaponics and Natural Beekeeping in Suburbia with Karen Dahl
      • Be Enchanted at VizArchie
      • Botanical Artist Cheryl Hodges
      • Cacti and Succulent Extravaganza
      • Canberra City Farm
      • Canberra Environment Centre: A whole lot more
      • Community Gardens Abroad
      • Crookwell Seed Potatoes
      • Edna Walling
      • Good Life Permaculture
      • Gardens on the Move with Barbara
      • Gardens to Visit in Vancouver BC
      • Goulburn Community Garden
      • Goulburn Wetlands: A transformed space for the Community
      • Handy Resource for Eating Seasonally in Canberra
      • Historic Calthorpes' House
      • Historic Kentgrove Goulburn
      • Kembla Cherry Orchard Royalla NSW
      • Lanyon Homestead
      • Melliodora Permaculture Gardens
      • Parkesbourne Produce
      • National Bonsai and Penjing Collection NAC
      • Out and About in Namadgi
      • Permaculture Systems with Organic Gardener Christine
      • Plants, Bees, Veggies and a Preserving Wonderland
      • Revered Bonsai Artist Tony Tickle Visits Canberra National Arboretum
      • Richard and Pheap's Garden
      • Royal Sydney Botanic Gardens
      • Roogulli Garden
      • Shona's Garden
      • STEP into Canberra's Local Plant Space
      • Suburban Permaculture at its Best
      • The Crisp Galleries
      • The Honeysmith
      • Think Global Act Local with Global Worming
      • Veg Engenders Community on Roseglen Farm
      • Village Life in Nepal
      • Westbourne Woods Arboretum
      • World Class Homeleigh Grove Olives
      • Wynlen House Farm
    • Preserving the Harvest >
      • Preserving Rhubarb
      • Preserving the Harvest
      • Rosehip Tea and Cordial
  • Recipes
    • Baba Ganoush
    • Barbara's Passionfruit Muffins
    • Chocolate & Feijoa Muffins
    • Curly Fries Slinky Style
    • Double Choc & Raspberry Muffins
    • Growing and Eating Globe Artichokes
    • Luscious Berry Ice Cream
    • Mediterranean Roast Vegetables
    • Quince Jelly
    • Rhubarb Chutney
    • Seasonal Garden Salad with Bocconcini and Sourdough Bread
    • Spicy Apple Muffins
    • Tabouleh-inspired Barley Salad
    • Warm Tomato Salad
    • Spicy Pumpkin Soup
  • Fact Sheets
    • Building and Maintaining Insect Hotels in Your Garden
    • Gardening in Pots
    • Preserving the Harvest
    • Propagation: New Plants from Old
    • The Art of Pruning
    • The No-Dig Garden
    • The Wonderful World of Composting
    • Veggie Gardening Basics
  • Resources
  • About
  • Contact
​             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.
 
Picture
Judiciously aerate garden beds with a garden fork to break up mulch and soil compaction and promote water and nutrient absorption.
Picture
The cooler and calmer months is a great opportunity to carry out garden bed maintenance and creation.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.