Hi christyinco,

If you didn't want to garden until next Spring,you could "compost in place" as you described, but since you referred to fall plantings, you will want to separately compost all your dead and dying crops and then rake in finished compost into the top 6 inches of your beds and start planting.... Have Fun and God Bless You ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Mixing it all together ;-) Watch all nine video's

Is your soil sand or clay? It is easier to compost on top if the soil is loose. If it is clay, best to spade it in. I prefer to take away tomato, potato and cucurbita plants, to minimize the spread of disease. I just mow them into the lawn at a safe distance.

You can add all compost you want, slightly unfinished is even better (it will finish by next year, and it will activate eathworms). Large amounts of mulch, in my case, attract overwintering rodents.

I take all the garden debris away instead of composting it, to reduce the spread of disease.

First I till to open the soil, then I pile on chopped leaves and grass from the fall lawn mowing, then till it in.

I leave legume roots in the ground. Any diseased-buggy plants go in the pile. I fork in compost in the fall. I use excelsior on the surface over winter to hold soil down because of our winds. You can move some 'over a row' save the toms-potatoes and virus-prone crops. You'll want to rotate them according to how you figured out to rotate them to minimize chances of disease spread.

Dan

I remove every little piece of this years garden. Disease can be lurking and not visible. By the time I'm finished, my gardens look like they're ready to plant. :)

Depending on what you planted, this year...will determine where you plant what, next year. IMO, of course. I like to rotate as far away as possible.

Compost is best turned in, reduced nutrient loss and works to improve the depth of soil structure. I tend to leave most of the plants unless signs of disease. The diseased plants get tossed in the green bin for disposal.

I favor a cover crop of rye or clover for over winter. It reduces erosion and add to organic matter with spring tillage. I vary my tillage depth to reduce compaction; actually only till the three foot wide beds. Add the compost, soil amendments and leaves in the fall.

My rotation moves each planting at least ten feet. I follow a four year rotation. More disease prone planting are moved 25 feet; potatoes, tomatoes and vines. Having two vegetable plots separated by miles simplifies the rotation. Work out your rotation on paper for the full four years of rotation.

I remove all dead plants, and only put them in compost if they had no disease. This year cucumbers vine and leaves are not going into compost - too much mold.

I then plant cover crop.

Dead plants into the compost bin. Diseased plants burned.

I'm going to cover the entire veggie garden with several inches of horse manure and let it sit over the winter.

I never till or turn the soil over. Any disturbed soils gets covered with noxious weeds in my area. Mulch gets added to the top and seems to work it's way down on it's own.

I'll be building an asparagus bed this winter, so a load of compost is going to be piled where that will be built. I'll build the raised bed around it and then layer dirt and assorted goodies over it. That, in the raised beds, does get turned to mix it together as it is being added, but that will be the last time it is turned.

In the spring, black plastic will be laid out where I will put the pumpkins, squash, and melons. That's to help get the soil warmed up so I can put the plants out as early as possible.

This in interesting. We have always composted our garden waste and added fresh compost to thetop of our fall garden . We let it rest until spring and then plant. We have raised beds and never till. Our Asparagus bed is cut off and the ferns are layed in the yard and run over by the lawn mowrer.

Asparagus fern makes a good strawberry mulch.