Little Furrow How to Prepare Raised Beds for Winter

If you’re like me, there comes a point in the harvest season where I let my garden go. It starts wilting, it starts drooping, and I stop watering it regularly. It creeps up on me, then all of a sudden snow is on the forecast and I don’t have a plan. This year, I tried to put an end to the madness, and to learn how to prepare raised beds for winter. By the way, here are some handy tips for garden preparation during the winter.

Depending on where you are at in your gardening journey, there are many plants that you can preserve through the winter months, depending on where you live. For me, my garden was pretty experimental and I felt like I learned a lot of things from what I grew. I learned which plants needed more space, which plants worked well growing together, and which plants didn’t. So, for me it was worthwhile to uproot all of the old stuff and fill my raised beds with lots of healing organic materials to get them ready for the next season.

The Importance of Preparing Raised Beds

Since plants eat up the nutrients in soil, garden soil must be tended to at least annually. Soil requires delicate care and attention. Even if you filled your raised beds with the healthiest most beautiful organic fertilizer and compost mixture the previous spring, over the course of the garden season, the soil becomes depleted. Fall is the perfect time to replenish your soil so that it’s ready to grow another season of beautiful plants and harvest. (Pssst– here’s everything you need to know about raised beds.)

harvest spread on cement, squash, tomatoes, parsley, squash blossom, radish, swiss chard

Uproot

First, uproot any plants that aren’t going to make it through the winter. Most plants fall neatly into two categories: hardy or non-hardy. In more simple terms: frost tolerant and frost intolerant.

Some common frost tolerant vegetable plants include:

onions
garlic
broccoli
brussel sprouts

Some common frost intolerant plants are:

tomatoes
peppers
summer squashes

When removing plants from your garden, it is essential that you uproot these plants entirely. Don’t wait for them to die, as this invites disease and icky pests to come make a home in your raised beds. Pick a weekend toward the very beginning of your chilly season and uproot all plants that are non-hardy.

Pro Tip: You can uproot healthy plants and add them to a compost pile! (Here’s how to compost.)

Consider adding some fall vegetables

If it’s early enough in the season, learn how to plant fall bulbs and seeds. Read more about what to grow in September, zone by zone.

yellow leaves in a terracotta pot held up

Add Shredded Leaves

If you’re like me, and you spend countless hours raking up leaves and then not knowing what to do with them, (or maybe you just like to collect pretty leaves as they fall around your neighborhood) we have exciting news for you! Leaves are a great way to increase your soil quality over the cold winter months.

Similar to composting, leaves are organic materials that can break down and provide nutrients to soil. Additionally, the coverage of leaves prevents soil erosion from wind and snow by providing a cover. To add shredded leaves to your soil, make sure to shred them or break them down if they aren’t already shredded, then mix these in a bit.

organic potting soil being poured into a raised bed

Add Compost to Your Raised Beds

Scoop some healthy compost atop your raised beds to provide energy for your soil. Composting is a way to repurpose food scraps and organic materials through breaking them down and using them as nutrients for soil. Compost contains important nutrients like calcium, nitrogen, and potassium. These all work together to provide shape and enrichment to the soil that is in your garden.

Whether you go with a store-bought bag of compost or work to produce your own compost blend, simply add a layer to the top of the soil. There is no need to mix it in.

Add a Cover Crop

Once you’ve added in some nutritious materials, it’s time to plant a cover crop. Now that you’ve added all the nutrients you need and your soil is in good shape, you want to seal the soil from losing any nutrients to the wind. Planting something that will prevent weeds and secure the nutrients is the final step in how to prepare raised beds for winter.

Popular cover crops include:

oilseed radish
field peas
oats

If this ain’t your first rodeo, and you have access to animal manure, this is also a great way to add mulch to your soil throughout the winter. Remember: only add animal manure in the fall so that it has time to mix into the soil over the winter. If you add manure before planting in the spring, it will likely kill the plants.

hand holding soil above a bed of wood chips

Cover Perennial Plants

Last but not least, cover any perennials (frost tolerant, hardy plants) with a protective barrier. Stake a plastic sheet over the top of your beds to keep them healthy through the cold season.

Finally, enjoy the slower season of fall and winter. No more daily watering or weekly weeding. It’s a time to rest and recharge alongside the natural world and let go of things that don’t serve you any longer. If you didn’t get a chance to build raised beds last season, but would like to, here are instructions for how to build raised beds.

Tips for Preparing Raised Beds for Winter

Should I cover my raised beds for winter?

If you live in a snowy area, after preparing your raised beds for winter with mulch, leaves, and compost, you can cover your raised beds with a plastic protective tarp.

How do you insulate a raised garden bed in winter?

Yes! Insulate your beds with mulch, wood chips, leaves, and compost to protect them from snow and hail. If you live in an area with snowy winters, it’s a good idea to cover your raised beds with a plastic protective tarp.