As winter approaches, this is a perfect time to take stock and re-assess your home veggie garden.
Since we are based in southern California, we often apply shade cloth above our raised garden beds. This comes off in the winter. The sun is now moving across the skyline at a lower angle and we need all the photons we can receive.
We have pulled out the old tomatoes and put in some winter crops: arugula, cilantro, broccoli and bean bush. In a few weeks we will be pulling our first harvests from these new plants. These plants need much less water in the winter as there is occasional rain and the weakened sun is not driving forward the transpiration process.
I also like to take an annual assessment of my key macro-nutrients. Plants need large amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Below you can see that one of my raised garden beds currently has very low levels of nitrogen. That is a problem. I added compost one year ago, but the rains and plant growth has depleted my levels. We will need to supplement this with fresh composts or fertilizers.
Checking nitrogen level on our garden soil
Recently, I’ve shifted completely off of liquid fertilizers like Miracle Grow and moved on to mulch and compost as main sources of macronutrient.
To be continued….