Right now your garden is probably at its peak. You are enjoying a bountiful harvest of vegetables and keeping a close eye on tree fruits as they ripen. Dahlia lovers are in heaven as these flowers are regal bloomers at the end of summer. But what’s next? If you are content to put your garden to bed, soon you will begin to do this. If not here are some ideas to extend your harvest and add color during the cooler months.

Bed Preparation

Replanting beds will require augmenting the soil for your new crops or ornamentals. Consider rotating vegetables if you are reseeding the same plants. Fall is the best time to prepare the beds whether it’s for planting in Winter or for Spring. This is because the earth will be wet and heavy after Winter rains. Incorporating organic additives now will make them more available for early season starts. Bark should not be used in vegetable gardens because it is treated. Use compost, straw, leaves, or arborist chips to cover soil in vegetable gardens for the winter. Winter crops benefit from light cover when frost threatens.

Flowers

To add visual interest with color, flowers are always welcome. There are many winter flowers to choose from: Lenten rose(Helleborus hybrid), Hardy Cyclamen (Cyclamen coum), Euphorbia (Spurge), Snowdrop (Galanthus), Witch hazel (Hamamelis Intermedia Pallida), Manzanita  (Manzanita), and Oregon grape(Mahonia aquifolium). Sedum Autumn Joy first flowers pale pink, turns copper, then red through the winter. Hellebores come in several varieties, shapes, and colors.

Your rock garden need not be bare either. Candy tuft(Iberis sempervirens) can spread in a lush carpet of white flowers as wide as two feet. Another low flowering plant, in many bright colors with an urn-shaped flower, is Winter Heath(Erica carnea).

Shrubs add structure as well as color. Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum), Ovens Wattle (Acacia pravissima), and some Mahonias, such as Leatherleaf Mahonia (Mahonia belei), will grace your landscape year after year. After blooming Rosa Rugosa forms large “hips” which hang in red globes all winter long.

Foliage

Winter showcases the variety of shapes and colors of foliage. We are blessed with a climate that supports many evergreen broadleaf shrubs and trees. The variation of greens in rhododendron and azalea bushes becomes more apparent as maples and oaks lose their leaves.

Large ornamental grasses will add color if pruning is minimized or postponed to spring. Some of these include: Sedge (Carex), Maiden grass (Miscanthus), Feather Reed Grass (Calamagrostis), and Giant Pheasant’s Tail Grass (Stipa gigantea). Some smaller evergreen varieties don’t require pruning: Sweet flag (Acorus), Blue Oat Grass (Helictotrichon), Mexican Leather Grass (Nacelle tenuissima), LilyTurf (Liriope), Mondo Grass (Ophiopogon).

For color think Black Mondo Grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus) or for chartreuse considerSweet Flag (Acorus gramineus). Kale comes in red, blue, grey, green, curly, and flat. Know whether you are planting ornamental or edible kale.

Vegetables

You can keep planting winter vegetables into September as summer crops are finished. Be sure to clear all vines, stems and root systems and add appropriate soil amendments such as compost. Winter vegetables include: beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, lettuce, onions, parsnips, peas, rutabagas, spinach, and turnips. Even if you’re not planning to use a particular bed until spring; now is the time to use a protective cover against weeds.

Want to be a Master Gardener? Applications from WSU Extension office, 425-357-6010. Classes Thursdays, January 5 – March 2, 2017.

Photography by: Richelle Taylor