Winter tasks to get your garden ready for spring

While you might not think about winter gardening, there are projects you can work on to set your garden up for success next growing season. A great late fall and early winter task is starting a compost pile. Composting is the process of converting yard and kitchen waste into a usable amendment in your vegetable garden and flower beds. By alternating layers of carbon-rich materials (dried lawn clippings, fallen leaves, shredded paper) and nitrogen-rich materials (fresh lawn clippings, vegetable peelings, etc.) and keeping them moist, you will be left with a dark, earthy material to boost fertility and improve heavy clay soils for better plant growth. K-State has some great materials on starting a compost pile, including our publication Making Compost: A Beginner’s Guide. The Rodale Book of Composting is a great library resource. If you have questions about the process of making compost, please feel free to reach out to me at 785-232-0062 or lwwiens@ksu.edu.

Testing the fertility of your soil is also a fantastic task for the late fall and early winter. A soil test through the Shawnee County Extension Office will offer recommendations for what fertilizers and other amendments should be applied to your lawn, flower bed or vegetable garden to keep it productive. Knowing how much of a fertilizer needs applied will save you money and help prevent excess nutrients from running off into our environment. To take a test, take multiple soil samples from the area you want tested from the top 3-6 inches, remove as much of the organic matter like lawn clippings or pieces of mulch, combine that series of soil samples into a clean plastic bag, and bring that to the Shawnee County Extension Office at 1740 SW Western Ave, Topeka, KS on the back side of the Stormont Vail Events Center. We’ll send your sample to KSU and you’ll receive your test results and recommendations in approximately two weeks. Learn more about our soil testing procedure.

If you’ve gardened in Shawnee County before, you know how much of an issue pests like squirrels, rabbits and raccoons can be. On Thu, Jan 8, 7-8pm, Master Gardener Kevin Siek will show you proven strategies to control these nuisance pests. A good resource for a deeper dive in this topic is The Guide to Humane Critter Control by Theresa Rooney. A new service from the Shawnee County Extension Office is trap rentals for controlling these species. With a $20 cash or check refundable deposit, you can take home a trap to remove these mammal pests from your home.

While February is still too cold to start working in the vegetable garden, it’s a great time to start planning! There are several things to think about before digging in the dirt including what to grow, where to put your garden and where to get plants. Master Gardeners Becky Harwick and Carol Bragdon are ready to help make these decisions on Thu, Feb 12 from 7-8pm with their presentation Planning a Vegetable Garden. Find more information on this topic in Vegetable Gardening by Jane Courtier and in the KSU publication Kansas Garden Guide. The Garden Guide includes information on pest and disease control, soil, water and fertility management, and recommendations on common vegetable crop species to help you be successful.

I also invite you to call into the Extension Office with any gardening questions. While things are definitely starting to slow down, you may still have questions on your houseplants, landscape or with pests coming into your home to stay warm. Call into the office at 785-232-0062, come into the office  at 1740 SW Western Ave) or use our new online question submission form.