Three Easy Steps for Cleaning Up Your Garden

The rising cost of food and the questionable safety of our food supply have helped spur a boom in home gardening.

For those just finishing their first summer of growing vegetables, though, it's important to know that care for your garden doesn't end with the cooling temperatures.

First, cool-weather vegetables—especially dark leafy greens and lettuces—can keep growing well into late fall or early winter, depending on where you live and recent weather patterns. Several years ago I was cutting greens until the first week of December.

Second, proper cleanup is essential for soil health and insuring that next year's crop will be a success. Rodale News just published an informative article offering three easy steps—planting a cover crop, composting and letting certain plants linger—that those of us with gardens should be doing in the next several weeks.

Click here to learn more about proper garden cleanup.