Fall Care for Vegetable Gardens

Q. When I clean up my vegetable garden this fall, should I add any amendments to the soil?

A. Fall is an ideal time to give a little something back to your garden soil after it has produced so generously for you this past growing season. After removing all the plant material from your bed, cultivate the soil and add 2 to 3 inches of a mixture of compost, shredded leaves, leaf mold, aged horse manure and garden sulfur. Be sure to use granular sulfur at the rate of three to four pounds per 100 square feet of soil. Because sulfur takes time to react and become available to plants, a fall application makes sense. To prevent the shredded leaves from blowing around, spread a few inches of soil over them.