The Vegetable Garden Tips
2009-12-15

Pull up old vines and vegetable plants.  Insect pests that feed on these plants during summer and fall often lay eggs on the old plants.  If the vines are left on the soil surface, insect eggs will survive the winter and hatch in the spring.

If they are not diseased, you can work the old plants back into the garden soil.   This adds valuable organic matter to the soil and, at the same time, destroys insects and their eggs.

In addition to garden debris, other organic material may be added to the soil in fall.   You can use well-rotted manure, compost, peat or leaves.  Soil micro-organisms and beneficial soil insects will help incorporate these materials into the soil before the ground freezes and in the spring after it thaws.

You also can apply a light covering of ammonium sulfate (20-0-0) at the rate of a pound per 1,000 square feet of garden area.  Spade or rototill all these materials into the soil, mixing well to a depth of 8 to 12 inches.

You'll want to leave one part of the garden intact.  The area where you've planted root crops can be mulched instead of dug up and worked. To extend the digging season by weeks or even months, place a straw mulch over root crops such as carrots, beets, parsnips and Jerusalem artichokes.  Parsnips turn sweeter after the ground cools.   Jerusalem artichokes don't store well after they've been dug, so leaving them in the ground until you are ready to use them is the best storage method.

After a light frost nips their vines, harvest winter squash and pumpkins.  Do this before a heavy frost damages the fruits.  Cut from the vines leaving 3 to 4 inches of stem on the fruit.