Late Fall Tilling

Tilling your soil in the late fall can be very beneficial, but there can also be some drawbacks.

Benefits:

1. It can help control insects, such as corn borer, corn earworm, cucumber beetle, squash bug, slug eggs, and vine borer because it exposes overwintering insects to winter conditions.

2. It can also make spring soil preparation easier because by adding organic matter now, your soil will be in better condition in a few months and will be easier to dig and plant.

3. Tilling in the fall allows a large amount of organic matter such as guano, compost, bark, and manures to be turned into the soil. This organic matter will start decomposing because the microbes are active currently and ready to start breaking everything down.

Drawbacks:

While all of the above are very good benefits, tilling in the fall should be done with some thought.

1. Soil erosion can be a problem if your area gets huge rain or winds during the fall and winter months. If that is the case, think about the tradeoffs of losing good topsoil to waiting and doing your tilling in the spring.

2. Be careful not to ruin your soil structure. Never work wet soil, especially clay. You may ruin the soil structure for years to come. Here's how to best determine How To Care For Your Soil Structure with this step-by-step article: Care For Your Soil Structure

For more Gardening Tips and Gardening Advice visit our main gardening website at Weekend Gardener Monthly Web Magazine

Have great week!

Make a Mini Toolshed!

Keeping tools handy can be hard if you live on a large lot, or have a good sized garden. To save time from walking back and forth to the garage for small hand tools, you can create a mini "Toolshed" near your garden using a mailbox.

Mailboxes come in different sizes and shapes, are very strong, weatherproof, and can fit several small tools in them like: hand pruners, small folding saws, trowels, gloves, seed packets, string, green tape, files, etc.

Just set the mailbox on a post or a fence near your garden or field. You can even paint it to fit your own style.

Now you can have your tools handy without the expense of building a real toolshed.