5 Steps to Winterize Your Permaculture Garden

Are you planning to grow a winter garden or are you letting your garden rest and regenerate until spring? Both approaches can support a healthy, resilient garden with the right preparation.

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In this article:

• Clear out weeds to prepare for winter
• Remove dead plant material and enrich your soil for the colder months
• Enhance your soil with amendments before winter sets in
• Use leaf mulch to protect your winter garden and build healthier soil
• How to protect winter crops
• 7 FAQs about winterizing your permaculture garden

Permaculture principles encourage us to make detailed observations and imitate nature in the actions we take. Permaculture principles also encourage us to design efficient processes and flows. Intentionally designing a pre-winter maintenance plan can help us feel connected to the seasons and to our “why” for keeping a garden. 

Whether you’re extending your harvest or putting your garden to rest, a few essential tasks can help set you up for success. Let’s explore five steps that will prepare your garden for winter and also support a thriving ecosystem come spring.

1: Weed Before Preparing the Winter Garden

Permaculture principles encourage us to work with nature as well as produce no waste, and these principles certainly inform how we approach managing weeds in the garden.

If you have one of these 5 beneficial weeds, consider composting them in place by cutting them to the ground rather than pulling them. This allows the roots to feed the soil, enriching it naturally, while the trimmed green parts can serve as a protective mulch. You could also add the trimmed green parts to the compost bin to return them to the garden later as a rich amendment.

On the other hand, many perennial weeds firmly establish their roots over the winter and come back stronger in the spring. Take some time now to remove any aggressive, unwanted plants before they get a head start.

2: Bring Out Your Dead in the Winter Garden (or Put Them to Work)

The next step is to manage dead plant matter thoughtfully. I like to mimic nature by leaving roots of dead plants in the soil to decompose and feed soil organisms. 

Meanwhile, the dead stems and leaves can protect the soil if chopped and dropped as a mulch, which contributes to feeding soil organisms, and create habitat for beneficial insects. Integrating dead plant matter as a mulch rather than removing it from the garden is a great way to recycle nutrients onsite.

I also add some of the plant matter to my compost bin to make rich compost for the spring. Learn about the surprising ways herbicides can contaminate your compost bin, even if you don’t spray your yard.

*Throw away or burn any diseased or pest-infested plants.

Personally, I don’t cut dead flower stalks until spring because the seed heads feed small birds like finches and chickadees—a perfect example of stacking functions in permaculture design.

3: Add Soil Amendments

If you’re growing a winter garden, then hopefully it’s full of overwintering crops. And HOPEFULLY, you added some soil amendments before planting.

If you’re putting your garden to rest for the winter, now is a good time to mix in organic soil amendments so that soil organisms can process them and make them bioavailable to spring crops.

Adding homemade compost is a great way to use and value organic matter (a renewable resource) from your own garden. Keep recycling the nutrients from your soil onsite to reduce the risk of importing potential problems such as herbicides, pests, or diseases. 

You can also encourage soil organisms to take up residence in your garden by transitioning to a no-till garden, a number of steps toward which you can take in the fall.

Would you like to yield delicious harvests while partnering with nature? Check out my mini guide, The Permaculture Inspired Vegetable Garden.

4: Make Leaf Mulch in the Winter Garden

Leaf mulch protects garden soil and creates habitat for beneficial organisms. It keeps nutrients from washing away in rain and melting snow, and it insulates beneficial soil microbes from the cold temps—embodying permaculture’s principle of obtaining a yield while caring for the earth.

Pound for pound, the leaves of most trees contain twice as many minerals as manure, which can be contaminated with herbicides. Fall leaves are both a valuable mulch and soil builder. Leaves that have composted for a full year are called leaf mold, and make a great soil conditioner.

By using fallen leaves as mulch, you’re valuing a free, renewable resource and mimicking nature’s own protection system.

I mulch our leaves with an electric mulching leaf blower. If you don’t have a mulching leaf blower, you can mulch the leaves by running over them with a lawn mower.

Note: I only mulch leaves that have fallen on the lawn, leaving in place those that have fallen in garden and landscaping beds, as they are an important overwintering habitat for many native pollinators and other insects.

Why shred the leaves before using them as mulch?

Non-shredded leaves can form a mat that smothers the plant matter below and prevents excess water from evaporating. It also takes them longer to break down into soil. These pictures show the difference between shredded and non-shredded oak leaves:

Spreading mulch

Whether your garden beds overwinter vegetables or go to sleep for the season, cover them with a thick layer of mulch.

Although straw makes a great mulch, it is often laced with herbicides, which is another good reason to use leaves from your site rather than importing organic material from somewhere else.

5: Protect Winter Crops

Permaculture encourages us to use “appropriate technology” when it helps us achieve a goal. If your local climate and site conditions lend themselves to growing a winter garden that yields a good harvest, then having a bit of row cover could support your efforts.

Row cover is a durable investment that can serve your garden for years. The fabric allows light and water through while protecting against frost down to 28°F. 

For best results, combine it with leaf mulch. In my garden, this combination keeps cold-hardy vegetables safe even in single-digit temperatures. Simply mulch your vegetables first, then add the row cover as an extra layer of protection.

There are varying thicknesses based on their ability to hold in heat and allow light through. Here is the row cover that works for me.

I recommend starting with a small winter garden to test how it goes before investing in row cover for your entire garden…gardening can be an expensive hobby if we aren’t careful!

There are also other ways to protect winter crops, such as with a cold frame, low tunnel, or polytunnel.

Blanket Forts Protect the Winter Garden

There is a right way and a wrong way to cover plants with row cover for frost protection. The warmth from the ground protects the plants, so don’t tie the row cover around the base of the plant. If you do, the plant won’t gain warmth from the ground.

Instead, drape the row cover over the plant or row of plants, with extra cloth hanging loosely that can be secured on the ground with bricks or rocks. Picture yourself making a blanket fort for your plants!

Use twice as many bricks and rocks as you think you need—the wind will really give your blanket forts a run for their money.

Putting your garden to bed for the winter?

Follow the same steps as above, minus the extra protection for crops mentioned in step 5.

7 FAQs about Winterizing Your Permaculture Garden

#1: When should I start preparing my garden for winter?
Start preparing your garden for winter in the fall as temperatures start dropping, or prior to your fall frost date. In my zone 6b garden, I start preparing my garden in mid October so that my garden is amended and protected before the frost.

#2: How do I prepare my vegetable garden for winter?
Get your garden ready for winter by weeding, cutting back dead plant matter, adding soil amendments, mulching, and optionally protecting any winter crops. Permaculture principles encourage us to prioritize ecological soil practices that nurture soil organisms, replenish nutrients lost to summer harvests, and protect the soil until spring.

#3: Which weeds should I leave in my permaculture garden over winter?
Beneficial weeds like chickweed and dandelions can actually improve your soil when managed properly. Only remove aggressive perennial weeds that might take over your garden space in spring.

#4: Should I pull out dead plants from my winter garden?
Mimic nature by leaving roots of dead plants in the soil to decompose and feed soil organisms. Meanwhile, the dead stems and leaves can protect the soil as a mulch and also contribute to feeding soil organisms. You should always remove diseased or pest-infested plants to prevent problems next season.

#5: How can I protect my soil fertility over winter without buying amendments?
Permaculture encourages us to use resources already in the garden. You can leave plant roots to decompose in place, use fallen leaves as mulch, and maintain a compost pile. This closes the nutrient cycle and reduces dependence on external inputs.

#6: What’s the best way to use fallen leaves in my permaculture garden?
Fall leaves are both a valuable mulch and soil builder. By using fallen leaves as mulch, you’re valuing a free, renewable resource. Only mulch leaves that have fallen on the lawn, leaving in place those that have fallen in garden and landscaping beds, as they are an important overwintering habitat for many native pollinators and other insects.

#7: How can I protect winter crops in my permaculture garden?
Row cover can protect cold-hardy vegetables by providing an extra layer of protection against frost down to 28°F. When combined with leaf mulch, it can keep vegetables safe even in single-digit temperatures. There are also other ways to protect winter crops, such as with a cold frame, low tunnel, or polytunnel.

Whether you’re growing a winter garden or putting the garden to rest until spring, activities like weeding, cutting back dead plant matter, adding soil amendments, mulching, and protecting winter crops will set you up for success and help you transform your permaculture garden into a four-season ecological system.

Are you growing a winter garden this year or putting your summer garden to rest?

READ NEXT:

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• Harvesting, Curing, and Storing Sweet Potatoes
• Growing and Harvesting Beets Year-Round

>>> Get my free 19-page Guide to Organic Soil Amendments for more ideas: