Putting garden to bed.

Gardens in Indiana sleep in the winter.  They need attention now to prepare them for their long winter sleep.  Day before yesterday, I harvested all the red and green tomatoes and all of my sweet green peppers, everything large enough to be useful. 

Then yesterday, we pulled the tomato baskets, the steel fence posts that supported them, and then all of the tomato plants.  We put the tomato plants on the burn pile and then David mowed everything else to the ground.  We burn the tomato plant debris to help prevent the spread of any disease they may harbor.

If you rake leaves, put them on your garden to provide humus and work them in this fall.  Next spring spread a 12-12-12 fertilizer over your garden before working the soil for spring planting.  Decomposing leaves use the nitrogen in the soil and it must be replaced.

Remove debris from your plant beds, too, but leave tall plant stalks with seed heads for winter interest and food for wildlife. 

We have had about 3/4 inch of rain since July 31, so we are very dry and under drought conditions.  There is a no burn order in effect until we get rain.  A few local farmers have experienced combine fires because of dry conditions.  In an adjacent county, farmers used discs to cut up and turn under a corn field that caught fire.  So we are praying that the rain in the forecast for this weekend becomes significant.

Blessings as you prepare your gardens for a long winter sleep.