Home and Garden Edition, 2013

The weeks between harvest and the first hard freeze are crucial for preparing your garden for the next growing season. The following checklist helps ensure a successful garden.

• Remove remaining crops from garden beds. Enrich your compost with this material and help prevent disease and other pests from wintering in the beds.

• Remove poles, trellises and portable frames to avoid winter damage and weathering and use a stake to mark the locations of perennials for spring.

• Apply mulch. Using straw or hay as an insulating layer around perennials helps conserve moisture, reduces erosion, prevent...