Late fall is the time of year when the growing season comes to an end. It is also the time of year when savvy gardeners begin their soil season which means feeding and nurturing it and treating it like the living thing that it is.

Fall is also the ideal times to start any new garden beds so that the beds will have time to completely settle and your winter cover crop of annual rye will have time to mature and provide organic matter when dug into the ground in the spring. In the fall, your body is used to the great exercise you have received all summer by tending your garden and therefore, building a new bed is not the chore it is in the spring when you have been sitting around all winter with little movement. By spring, the only digging required is to turn under your cover crop, which is certainly easier than busting up sod for a new bed.

Whether new bed or old, it is a good idea to get a soil test through the extension service each fall to determine your soil’s needs so that the soil can be emended at that time to give the added items time to break down before spring. Amendments to be added in the fall include limestone if your soil has a low pH (below 6.2) and sulfur if your soil has a high pH (above 7.0). When your soil is said to need: Calcium-add gypsum in small amounts; magnesium-add dolomitic lime (also a calcium source); phosphorus-bonemeal or rock phosphate; potassium-greensand; sulfur-gypsum; and for nitrogen, add quantities of compost and other organic green matter in the spring.

It is a good idea from time to time to determine your soil type. Do this by collecting soil from several places in your garden, placing it in a pot, mixing well and then removing about 1 cup of this combined soil. Remove stones, roots and debris and place it in a one pint jar. Fill two-thirds with water and add one teaspoon of non-sudsing soap (dishwasher liquid). Shake well and allow to rest for one minute. After one minute, use a crayon to mark the amount of soil that has settled. This is your sand layer.

Wait 3 hours and then mark the next settled layer. This is your silt layer. Wait several days and the last layer to settle will be the clay layer. If the three layers are about equal, your soil is loamy-the most fertile kind. Soil with either excess clay or excess sand can be corrected by adding compost, digging under a winter cover crop or by continually adding organic matter such as grass clippings, shredded leaves or other kinds of mulch.

Before adding any amendments to your garden beds, be sure to remove dead leaves, stalks, roots and fruit, places where disease and insects can over-winter and come back to haunt you next year. When tilling amendments into the soil for winter, till shallowly-no more than 4-5 inches deep so that beneficial soil organisms such as earthworms are not disrupted. You may use a hand ‘scratcher” type tiller, which will barely put the matter under the surface. The only time that deep tilling is necessary in the fall is when you have poor soil (as mentioned above) that needs a lot of nutrients and organic matter worked in, when you have a new garden, or when you need to loosen heavy soil.

EDITOR’S NOTE: To assist gardeners and others that wish to can their excess produce, Pat Biggerstaff will be conducting canning seminars on August 4 (Drying-Salting – Sauerkraut) and August 11 (Dehydrating (Dry Tomatoes, Sulphur Apples, String Beans) at 10 a.m. in front of the Food City store. Admission is free. Many door prizes will be distributed.

Pat Biggerstaff is Middlesboro’s own organic gardener, columnist and author. Have a question or comment for her? Call her at (606) 242.2906.