In this comprehensive video, we dive deep into the art of preparing your garden soil for winter using regenerative practices that not only safeguard your soil but also benefit the entire ecosystem. Join us as we explore the transformative techniques of cover cropping and using leaf mulch to protect your soil during the cold months!
🌱 Cover Cropping:
Discover how to harness the power of cover crops to nurture your soil over the winter. We’ll walk you through selecting the right cover crops, sowing techniques, and the science behind how they improve soil structure, prevent erosion, and enrich the soil with organic matter.
🍂 Leaf Mulch Magic:
Learn the secrets of using fallen leaves from your own garden to create a natural and nutrient-rich protective layer for your soil. We’ll show you how to gather and apply this abundant resource, turning it into a powerful shield against winter’s harsh elements.
🦋 Supporting Pollinators and the Ecosystem:
Dive into the importance of creating a winter habitat for pollinators and beneficial insects, and learn how these small creatures play a vital role in maintaining a healthy garden ecosystem and how you can help them survive the winter.
This video is packed with practical tips behind regenerative gardening practices. By the end, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge and inspiration to prepare your garden for winter in a way that nurtures your soil and supports the entire ecosystem. Don’t miss this opportunity to become a steward of your garden’s well-being and its role in the environment. Join us in making a positive impact this winter! 🌿🌎 #RegenerativeGardening #WinterSoilPrep #EcosystemSupport
36 Comments
That was very helpful and perfect timing! Thank you.
I have an area where I’m battling bindweed, blasting with weed killers has been only solution and it’s not even working. I was thinking of trying alfalfa and hairy vetch as combo cover crop to shade it and smother. Do you think that combo would work in Colorado for bindweed. It’s such a nightmare.
Great tips. Thanks. I've planted a lot of chard since it over winters here. For anyone using rye as a cover crop, make sure you cut it down before it goes to seed!
How do you know there's no pests or pesticides within the donated leaves?
Love the drone shots! So jealous of all tue land you have!
Wow Wonderful Garden ~
Thank you for good sharing LIKE 152
My friend, have a good relationship 😊
Thanks Brie …so much! I just mulch mowed two huge piles of leaves and spread them all over the place in our garden and put the rest in compost bin. Great tip on not mulching crops you want to died back buy spring!
What cover crops would you recommend starting with?
We live an area with a lot of ice and freezing rain. I’m concerned with using leaves and them creating an icy mat which doesn’t melt as quickly as dark colored soil for when I need to plant out hardy annuals in the early spring. What’s your advice in this case? In the past the matted icy leaf layer has always melted slower for me and made early planting difficult.
I planted my first cover crop this year in my raised beds. Buckwheat, austrian peas, mustard and crimson clover. Its very thick and now that we've had several hard frosts most of it is dying. Being very thick and tall, can i cut the tops off and spread the tops to other areas that i had no time to cover crop? I need the mulch for the other beds but will taking the tops off defeat the purpose of the cover crop where its planted? It will still have the roots and a lot of stems and leaves. I really need to take your regenerative gardening course!! Thanks for all your great info!!
You always inspire me to do more to improve the soil of my allotments. Keep producing these videos, please, and don’t be afraid of repetition – most of us need plenty of reminders of what to do, how, when and where! No naughty sheep today.
Thank you!! This info is so helpful!
I worry about getting a heavy load of earwigs and slugs living in the left vegetation. I’m fairly free of these destructive critters and so do t want to breed tons😬 Advice please💚
Great video I’m also in Colorado and noticed this year with the crazy weather wherever I had leaf mulch we had an obscene amount of Rollie pollies. We started to use straw mulch and it helped. Again the weather was much cooler and a lot of things stunted with the rain and colder nights.
You are right! Yes! Some crucial soil good guys, like fingi, won't even show up if there are no roots present. Great video! Thank you for spreading the good word! I'm glad that I found y'all. Good luck with everythihg.
Thanks for this video!
Your farm is a dream.
great video, you talk really fast though, no offence
Thank you for the great tips! And in particular, for relaxed attitude for making life more simple! I can't tell you how grateful I am for the tip earlier on that local arborist might have free mulch. It is a huge cost saver for a bigger yard, and as local as can be
Very informative
Lots of great information in this video, thank you! When is the best time of year to start seeds that I collected from native fall flowering perennial wild flowers that I collected locally? Zone 8.
Do you shred your leaves before putting them on your garden?
Thanks Brianna for all the great tips. This is only my second full year growing flowers in my yard. Last year I cut everything back and this year I didn’t want to do all that work… so nice to hear all the justifications for leaving plants in the ground! Next year I will try cover cropping!
Do you ask people to chop up the leaves first? Yours look chopped. We have a lot of big oak leaves where I live.
One of my favorite cover crops is lentils… I use the ones from the grocery store and rake them in. they sprout and grow in the fall and they easily winter kill.
What growing zone are you in? I liked your content
Thanks as always Bri! I may have missed it somewhere earlier in the video but as you're talking about the mums and perennials, you mentioned the "peonies that we cut down" — did you do this because of powdery mildew or is this an annual practice? This is my first year with several young plants and I'm at a loss of what to do!
Thank you for a great video. I have been told to wait with mulching until the ground is frozen otherwise rodents may hide under the mulch, burrow into the soil and damage plant roots.
It is hard to wait until January to mulch though.
No dig, no till is natural, i.e., what nature does! Emulate it! For example, in the fall, most people throw away their most valuable plant nutrients, e.g., fallen tree leaves/wood chips. Leaves break down best shredded, but that is often done by others who then put them on the curb. Retrieve and spread them, minimum 4" up to 2' deep, keep moist, open to the air, everywhere you want to increase soil fertility. Do it now, before people wise up and recycle them. Don't waste a season! This beats composting because it is much, much easier, more effective, therefore a better use of time.
If you have no such resource, plant a winter cover crop, but NEVER let the ground go unprotected by growth.
For a truly radical growing plan, use every inch of ground to produce food, one way or another. A lawn is a waste of space.
Be frugal, be wise, be independent in every way, but most of all, in your own beliefs, despite what the majority believe. It's self-help, self-defense. You can be a mentor, a beacon of reason in a world of darkness.
I can’t thank you enough for sharing your insights and experience. 😊 A new gardener zone5 Canada
I just cleared a 30 yr old ivy area. I'm just leaving that ground exposed – hopin the soil will just release that toxic stuff English ivy spreads.
Is there a cover crop that helps?
great video! would the pine needles mulch add acidity to the bed?
Hi I’m in Parker. So very interested in what you do. What onions did you grow?
As we say in Ireland your a thundering women, nice vid , one SUB added 😊
I am so excited to find your channel today because you are 10 minutes drive from me:-) I'm a gardener for 20 years, still
your information is very valuable for me ( in same climate!). See you sometime soon. Happy holiday season🎄
Great video