Spoil Your Soil Spa Package
Leaving your soil bare is like gardening naked in the winter. While I believe it is perfectly fine to garden naked in the warmer months, the nippiness, wind chill, and general hypothermia you would experience is similar to what happens to your soil on a barren winter day. So cover up and give you garden a Spoil Your Soil Spa Package with our 2014 FALL CATALOG!
Buckwheat growing on Kingbird Farm.Cover Crops
Beyond protecting your soil from the elements like an organic duvet, cover crops are the equivalent of sending your soil to a spa for the winter. Think rejuvenating massage, detoxing juice fast, mineral bath soak, and a five course farm to table dinner. After the hard work of growing for you for three seasons, give your soil a spa package, by growing a cover crop to renew and revitalize nutrients, texture, and add vital organic matter. It's the least you can do!
Row cover next to Tiger Paw Asters on the Seed Library Farm.Row Cover
Every Spoil Your Soil Spa Package should including giving your garden as many warmth-basking days as possible, even if it's getting cold outside. The most elegant way to achieve this is with a long swath of translucent white row cover. Think of it as the pristine terrycloth robe waiting for you in your garden spa locker. Your soil (and the plants growing in it) will feel cozy under just one layer or you can double up for colder days- extending your growing season by 2-4 weeks. And yes, we custom cut to length!
Mache art by Beth Haber.Fall Sown Seeds, Garlic, and Flower Bulbs
The last treatment on the spa menu is an organic seed-infused massage. There are many seeds that can be fall or winter sown. They'll nestle into the soil, keeping your beds company over the winter and be the first to greet the garden when it's time to awaken, renewed, re-invigorated, and ready to grow. Spinach, mache, poppies, garlic, and fall planted flower bulbs like tulips are like the gentle voice of your massage therapist letting you know you can open your eyes when you are ready, sit up slowly, and take a refreshing drink of spring water.
You don't have to be a full-time farmer to heal your soil with cover crops, row cover, or winter sow seeds. We offer a full menu of spa treatments just right home gardeners, homesteaders, and small farms. If you're feeling inspired to give the gift of rejuvenation to your garden check out our Fall Catalog full of everything your garden needs now.
And if you'd like a little more how-to and advice check out these posts:
Fall Cover Crops for Home Gardens
Sow What Now: September