How To Complete Your Organic Vegetable Gardening Winter Checklist

When spring time rolls around gardeners are so occupied with planting and getting everything ready that they feel overwhelmed. Gardeners can benefit from completing a winter organic vegetable gardening checklist to help them get everything organized before spring comes around.

If you follow this check list, planting your crops in the spring will be much more efficient.

1. Cleaning:

* Clean out your garden, and remove any plant debris for compost.

* Clean all garden tools and place them in a dry location.

* Check your fences and building for anything that needs to be repaired.

2. Mulching:

* Cover your beds with mulch to protect from frost and weeds.
* You can use pre packaged mulch, or use leaves that have fallen.

3. Pruning:

* You should prune back fruit trees after they have produced the last crop of the year.

* Make sure that you leave enough “shoots” on the trees to produce a crop for the next year.

* Cut out any dry or damaged places that will hinder growth.

* Prune bushes back a couple inches to promote growth for the next year.

* Berry bushes, such as blueberry, should be pruned in late winter. Prune back any weak branches. If the bushes are growing too rapidly for the location, trim them back to suit the size you need. Mature blueberry bushes need to have 1/5 of the weak canes trimmed, and 6 inches off of healthy ones.

* Raspberries should be pruned to the ground when the last of the fruit has been produced for the year.

4. Planning ahead for spring:

* Create a garden plan for the next year. Lay out where you would like to plant your vegetables in the garden.

* Make notes of what your have been successful and unsuccessful in growing.

* Determine if you would like to try new crops.

* Try to start some seedling indoors to have a healthy start before planting outdoors.

* Research the best methods to grow you vegetables, and if any of the plants you want to grow have any special needs.

* Determine if you will need to construct a raised bed for any of your vegetables.

Although getting your garden ready to go in the spring can be a lot to do, planning in the winter months can help. Since you can not plant outside in the winter, you can complete the checklist for your organic vegetable gardening to get a head start on planting this spring.