Should I cover for winter?

[anthony21078]

Hi everyone. I built my wife a 16'x3' raised bed last spring. We are new vegetable gardening so to keep things simple I filled the bed with Natures Care raised bed soil, added bonnie plants for our vegetables/herbs and laid down the soaker hose. We had a great growing season so not much to complain about other then the rookie mistake of overcrowding our garden. As of last week, the remaining vegetable plants had died off but the herbs were in good shape. Knowing we have to downsize the amount of plants for next year, I pulled everything out of the bed and want to start fresh next year.

I was reading about winterizing the bed and I think that I went in the right direction. After cleaning out the bed, I added 3-4 inches of compost directly over the soil and lightly worked the compost into the top 1-2 inches of soil. I placed 2 rows of overlapping newspaper over the bed and watered it down. Finally, I added 3 inches of mulched leaves to the top and watered that down also.

Now I am unsure if i should cover the bed with plastic. I know once those leaves start to dry they will likely blow away. What should I do?

 

[Chuck]

Hi everyone. I built my wife a 16'x3' raised bed last spring. We are new vegetable gardening so to keep things simple I filled the bed with Natures Care raised bed soil, added bonnie plants for our vegetables/herbs and laid down the soaker hose. We had a great growing season so not much to complain about other then the rookie mistake of overcrowding our garden. As of last week, the remaining vegetable plants had died off but the herbs were in good shape. Knowing we have to downsize the amount of plants for next year, I pulled everything out of the bed and want to start fresh next year.

I was reading about winterizing the bed and I think that I went in the right direction. After cleaning out the bed, I added 3-4 inches of compost directly over the soil and lightly worked the compost into the top 1-2 inches of soil. I placed 2 rows of overlapping newspaper over the bed and watered it down. Finally, I added 3 inches of mulched leaves to the top and watered that down also.

Now I am unsure if i should cover the bed with plastic. I know once those leaves start to dry they will likely blow away. What should I do?

You did great. Forget about the plastic

 

[anthony21078]

You did great. Forget about the plastic

TY....but what can be done about the leaf mulch blowing away? Keep it wet? A layer of weed fabric?

 

[Chuck]

TY....but what can be done about the leaf mulch blowing away? Keep it wet? A layer of weed fabric?

I don't know what kind of leaves you have but leaves don't really blow around that much, at least my oak leaves don't. And when leaves are left on the lawn most of them stay there the entire winter and don't blow away. Covering with plastic is just not a good idea. Your soil needs natural moisture and oxygen. Plastic impairs this.

 

[cntrlwagdnr]

Apparently you do not have the kind of winds we get here - or should I say WINDS! We also get tumble weeds ;-(

 

[Donatello]

My son recommends cardboard and a couple inches of soil on top.. I live in Oklahoma "Where the winds come rushing cross the plains".