What’s in the ground:

Although I’ve not woken early enough to see an actual frost, with the weather reports dipping down into the mid thirties over night in Philadelphia, the fall frosts will be upon us at any time. So, if you haven’t already, it’s time to give up on those tomatoes and pepper plants. I know they may still have some little unripe fruits on the vines, but sometimes in life, you just have to let go. So, enough cliche advice, I owe you all something a bit more useful.

What’s going on in sustainability:

As I said, you can definitely plant hearty greens in the place of these fragile summer plants. However, no matter how hearty the plant, when the ground freezes, there’s no getting around that compacted soil. To keep the soil loose and fresh and manageable, sheet mulching is always a very effective method. Sheet mulching is a method sometimes incorporated by urban farmers on very disturbed soil. But it is great to use anywhere for the winter months.

It’s actually quite simple. If you have cardboard boxes laying around the house, just waiting to be recycled by the city, you can skip the middleman and recycle them yourself. Take a cardboard box with no tape and that is not waxed (very important, you don’t want wax in your soil), cut it to flatten it out, and lay it down over a low area of soil you’ve been working for some time. On top of this initial layer you want to place layers upon layers of compost soil, hopefully from your very own compost pile. Once you’ve reached the desired amount, your soil will be ripe for planting. In this soil you can plant spinach or other hearty greens, anything that’s not going to need deep root settings like carrots.

If you are saying to yourself, “You know I love summer gardening, but being out there in the winter is just not something I’m in to.” Well, I say sorry to hear that. it will be hard going back to buying your greens in little plastic containers from the grocer. But I understand, no judgment. If you just want your land to lay fallow, meaning not in use, you can pile on top of your cardboard compost and leaves, to help fix nitrogen and carbon in your soil. Next week we’ll talk about cover crop.

But for now, sheet mulching is actually a great way to let your land go fallow. Because as with everything in life, organisms need a break, and winter is such a great hibernation period. By sheet mulching, your land takes the break by the layer of cardboard separating your land from above ground activities. Through out the season of rain, and let’s hope for some snow, the cardboard will begin to decompose, and whatever is on top, be it greens or just compost, will slowly break down into your soil, giving it further nutrients while it rests, and getting ready for the next season.

As my first gardening mentor once showed me, it takes years of working the same soil before you can get it to produce and yield the kind of crop you want. The soil is the manifestation of the hard work and mindfulness it takes to reflect the kind of gardener and person you are. So, treat your soil well, and in return, you’ll do the same for the rest of the world.

Until next week, this is the note from the urban homestead.