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Grow Your Garden Radio: Where It’s Easy to Be Green 

Episode 4: End of Season Gardening Tasks for New England

Welcome to today’s episode of Grow Your Garden Radio: Where It’s Easy to Be Green.

Today We’ll be talking about essential end of season gardening tasks focusing on home gardeners in the northeast.

It’s important to remember that in western Massachusetts where this broadcast originates, elevations can change tremendously from town to town which can have an impact on how early you get your first frost and how severe the effects can be.   

For example, being located on the top of a hill, in a valley, or even on a specific side of a hill can determine whether your garden is affected by frost, while your neighbor just down the road might remain untouched. ¹

If you know when you could be getting a frost you can schedule backwards from that date for various gardening tasks. The most important of course would be to harvest any tender crops such as tomatoes, peppers, and beans that could be badly affected or maybe Protecting them so you can get a little bit more growing time.

How do you protect crops from frost?

For this year the university of Massachusetts agricultural extension office sets the frost date for stock bridge mass, as an example, at about September 27th for a 36° temperature. October 22 is when a 28° frost could possibly happen. Often called a hard frost or killing frost.

These dates and temperatures are not hard dates that you can make an appointment for because it’s based on probability from data obtained in the past and predictions of what the weather’s gonna be like at the time when the charts are created, sometimes  months in advance. ²   So they’re more of a suggestion. It’s important to keep a close eye on the weather forecasts at this time of year.

Additionally, the old farmer’s Almanac has their own frost prediction algorithm that allows you to input your zip code for potential freeze dates. A link to these resources are in the show notes, or do a search for frost dates in your area.

I think the frost is going to be early this year because I’m already getting nighttime temperatures in the upper 40s at about 1900 foot elevation in the Hill towns. Many of my tomatoes are still green which are a stark contrast to some plants I gave to a friend in Lee who is having a fairly substantial crop of ripened tomatoes now. For reference Lee is at about 1000 feet elevation. This illustrates the difference 900 feet of altitude can make to a growing season. And these plants were from the same exact seed lot that I sewed.

OK So what are some specific tasks that should be completed?

Clearing out spent plants and weeds is crucial. Pull up any diseased or pest infested plants and dispose of them properly to prevent future issues. Healthy plant debris can be added to your compost pile. Never compost plants that you think could be diseased. Most of the time the temperatures attained in a properly maintain compost pile can kill most pathogens. However some viruses which can affect tomato plants For example,  can survive the compost process.

One of the most important end of season tasks is soil preparation. Add compost, leaf mold, or well-rotted manure to your garden beds. This boosts soil fertility and structure, ensuring your garden is ready for planting in the spring.

Consider planting cover crops such as clover or rye. These “green manures” help prevent soil erosion, suppress weeds, and improve soil structure. Come spring, these crops can be turned into   

Plan for Next Year

Reflect on this year’s garden season and start planning for next year. Take notes on what worked well and what didn’t. I Have decades of gardening journals that I found invaluable especially if I had some type of a problem to solve. Such as pest control or nutrient issues.

I’ll have a much larger segment on gardening journals and collecting data and ideas on it’s use soon. In general, I find the process of keeping records to be fun and very useful.  Being able to measure outcomes against metrics such as seed strains, irrigation levels, weather, and organic soil amendments give me a better understanding of how my actions affect my crop harvest.

One of the more useful items in my journal is a map of where I have planted various crops over the years. Many experts agree that it’s important to rotate your crops so you don’t have the same species in the same location more than once every say four years.

Rotating even a home vegetable garden can help increase the health and production of various plants notably tomatoes, which are susceptible to alternaria and verticillium wilt. Alternaria is a fungal spore whose germination can be reduced tremendously by not having one of its favorites plants available year after year In the same infected soil. Same thing with verticillium wilt. By not letting them get a foothold in a specific area it reduces the viability of the spores and reduces the probability that you will have an issue.

I have a link to a great article by the Iowa State University extension and outreach program. It’s called crop rotation and the vegetable garden. Go to the provided link or look for the Iowa State University extension and outreach program yard and garden.

The next thing is to take care of your gardening tools

Clean and store gardening tools to extend their lifespan. Remove any soil, sharpen the blades, and oil metal parts to prevent rust.

If you have had an outbreak of any diseases in your garden I would take extra care to wash those tools with soap and water in an area away from your garden because sometimes the pathogen would be resistant to the climate that you’re storing them in which could potentially allow you to reinfect some areas that you thought could be clean.

For beginners, this is an invaluable lesson in tool maintenance, an often overlooked aspect of gardening. Teach children about the importance of caring for their tools just as they care for plants.

Wrapping up the gardening season is a combination of hard work and celebration. By completing these tasks, you’re setting up for a successful and productive garden next year. Each step you take in your garden not only increases food security and personal empowerment but also instills a love of nature especially if you have any children. 

Thank you for joining today’s episode. Keep cultivating, keep growing, and remember: it’s always easy to be green!

As always thank you so much for your time and your interest in this show. Go to growyourgardenradio.com to listen to past episodes, leave comments, or access free show notes and other resources for further exploration. Thank you for listening to grow yourradio.com where it’s easy to be green.