Despite the shorter, colder days there are still a few important gardening jobs to consider. There is still time to plant garlic and ornamental bulbs for next year.  Once gardens are harvested I like to clear remaining weeds, apply a thick layer of compost, and tarp the beds for the winter.  If your lawn is covered with leaves mow them to chop them up into free organic fertilizer and mulch.  Finally, be sure to leave plenty of leaves and by-gone plants to decay and provide essential over-wintering habitat for beneficial bugs.  Now some details.

Garlic is an easy crop in New England and it’s great to have something to look forward to for next year.  You will never accept store bought garlic after you’ve had fresh garlic from your own garden!  Mild temperatures have caused me to delay planting this year but now through mid-November is the time to sow your garlic, along with flower bulbs for next spring. 

There are two simple tricks that really help with garlic and bulb growth.  Put a dash of bone meal in each hole before planting either garlic or flower bulbs and then cover the soil over them with 2-3 inches of mulch (straw, hay, chopped leaves, wood chips, etc.).  The bone meal provides essential nutrients directly to the roots and mulch prevents winter heaving and freezing of the bulbs.

Plant the selected garlic cloves, pointy end up and the flat, root end down (yes, it matters) spaced about 6 inches apart.  Cover each clove with soil and gently tamp it down. The top of each clove should be about 1-2 inches below the surface when covered. 

Whether you purchased “seed garlic” or saved some of your own (but not store-bought garlic!) you can plant garlic until the soil starts to freeze or is snow covered.  What’s important is that the bulbs get just enough time to begin growing their roots but not enough time to send a shoot above the ground that gets frozen and dies back.  The small roots will give the garlic a head start come early spring and the over wintering provides the necessary cold treatment garlic needs to form bulbs next summer. 

Prepare for spring now.  After I’ve cleaned up my garden and spread homemade compost over the empty beds, all growing beds (except those with perennials) are “tarped” for the winter.  I use 4 or 6 ft. wide woven ground cover (FEDCO, Johnny’s, etc.) anchored with rocks and bricks. The tarp blocks any fall or spring weed growth and warms the soil in early spring.  In the spring it is so nice to remove the tarp and find nearly weed free soil ready for planting!

Leave the leaves, please.  There is a misguided tradition of removing leaves from our gardens and lawns that works against us.  Leaves are a great source of minerals and organic matter for the soil so why are we raking?  Further, leaves provide essential winter habitat for many beneficial insects that over winter under leaf cover. If leaves bother you, just mow them in place on the lawn and they will provide free natural fertilizer and weed suppression come spring.  Extra leaves make a great mulch around shrubs and chopped leaves are an excellent “brown” ingredient in your compost.