Winter Gardening Checklist

"In many gardens, fall and winter are seasons of neglect. Once the fall harvest is in, many gardeners just leave the ground fallow and wait for spring, but this time of year is important for laying the groundwork of a successful growing season. The time to prepare the ground with cover crops that improve the soil is while winter is in full swing. It's also the right time to amend the soil and blend in compost[Learn how to build a compost pile]."

Now is not the time to get lazy. There are a handful of awesome winter preparation blog posts and checklists out there so there's no reason for you to not know what to do this time of year. Winter can be the busiest time of year for ya, with all the holiday shopping, and the planning for next year. You'd better get busy!

• Finishing picking the last of any fruit and vegetables you might have
• Finish moving plants around and get everything in the right spot
• Finish Bulb Planting
• Decide on what seeds you want to order for next year
• Prep beds by mulching, composting, staking, and labeling
• Feed the birds!
• Cut down and haul dead or decaying plant material
• Finish preparing the vegetable garden
• Place more stone borders in the vegetable garden
• Finish up all the weeding you have left to do
• Mulch, mulch, mulch
• Do maintenance on your garden tools. Before you store your tools, spray them off with water to remove potentially corrosive chemicals and dirt
• Scrub tools with a metal wire brush, and dry the tools before storing them
• You should oil any moving parts on tools such as pruners and garden loppers.
• Check the manual for your mowers and mechanical tools, and make sure to do the yearly maintenance (ie; sharpening, tightening bolts, replacing consumable parts).