What to do in your garden in Winter....

While you're tucked up inside in a warm spot take a moment to think ahead - Spring is less than three months away!  Here's some planning ideas so you're not left planting your garden last minute.

Remove any finished or rotting plants from the garden and have a good look at the soil. In a raised bed has the level lowered? Dig around - are there worms and is the soil friable? Winter is a great time to reassess and prepare your garden beds for Spring planting. Sow a cover crop such as mustard to suppress weeds and add nutrients to the soil. Or start adding more soil, compost and sheep pellets or chook poo. If your soil has become hydrophobic over Summer then these are important steps to regaining healthy soil that your vegetables will want to grow in.

Start planning your Spring garden - it is astonishing what will grow in a square metre of soil. I've said before that planting things closer together both suppresses weeds and provides shade and moisture around the roots of plants, but do check what you are planting to make sure growth won't be affected. I tend to plant most things closer together than recommended but not so close as to be detrimental to plant and fruit growth.

When thinking about your food crops don't forget your pollinators - it's a great idea to get these started earlier so they're ready to do the heavy lifting of pollination and attracting beneficial bugs.

Think ahead about mulching requirement too.  It doesn't seem like it at the moment but the predicted super El Niño will affect our temperatures and mulching is a great way to keep moisture in the garden.

And if you're like me, plan your garden and then cut the number of plants in half, I always plant way too much.  A bit like overpacking to go on holiday!