This is when I usually add stuff like chopped up leaves and any compost I have left over if any at all. Any unused beds are covered then with cardboard. I live in a windy area that is bordered with horse farms, so if I don't cover it......weed city in the spring! I do make sure I poke holes in the cardboard so some water gets through.
Being in a mild climate, this is when I tend to take care of my compost. I take my leaf sucker over to the neighbors' and suck up all their leaves (keeps them happy!), get buckets of UCGs and hopefully this year an unlimited amount of rabbit poop! Another neighbor has a bale of alfalfa for me!
I also have a couple of beds of winter stuff. These days about 1/4 of my regular garden.
I don't know much about your cold, cold places! Nancy

I don't know much about Illinois, either, but I do similar to Nancy. I put down lime and composted manure and I have settled on spreading hay over that as my winter routine (I gave cover crops a try, but it didn't quite pan out, will likely try again some year). That way the ammendments can work their way into the soil over the winter and hopefully the winter-growing weeds can be surpressed. So hopefully that gives you some ideas. Cheers!

Winter is here.
Just look at this temperature map , from ocean to the ocean. It is all BLUE. Except FL. and S.CAL.

Better believe it. Season is over.

I concur with nancyjane_gardener and sunnibel7. I add a bunch of organic matter to the soil and then top it with mulch. It will be ready to plant in next spring.

Rodney

Sorry to say, Seyson...... Just north of San Francisco is still at 75*, SF is about 65* We haven't had a killing frost, but most of my pumpkins and maters are gone. Oh my! My FIL in Pasadena is still in the 80s! Nancy

Sorry to say, Seyson...... Just north of San Francisco is still at 75*,
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No problems Nancy. Southern half of California is different. I did not make the map. It is Weather Channel snap shot map at 12.:45 GMT

We get one last day today, into the 50s. After that, time to work outside will be limited by the cold. It's getting hard to find time for the ground to dry out enough to work.

We might get our first frost this Thursday. I'm scrambling to find room for all of my plants inside. I only have the dining room and the master bathroom to put them. My cat loves to nibble on plant leaves, so I have limited space to put them. We decided not to run the heater in the greenhouse this year to try and save some $$.

O ' ole Man Winter !

According to the Weather Channel forecast, we are going to get our FF this coming Tuesday and the following two days(3 in a row), hitting 26F mark. Then after that I will have a major clean up to do, mostly with the flower beds and shrubs.

I clean out all my beds and then sow cover crops on the ones that will not be growing winter crops. The winter cropped beds get a nice fresh layer of mulch, which will be followed by compost in early spring. Before I started cover cropping I always put down thick mulch on everything. Mulch is the answer to weed control (with a little hand pulling to supplement, of course).

I would be interested to hear what some of you all think about adding compost in the fall, as opposed to the spring. Do you think there are advantages to one over the other?

I would be interested to hear what some of you all think about adding compost in the fall
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In general, I think adding anything with nutrients (including fertilizers and compost) in the fall is not a good idea because the rain (snow melt) will take them down further beyond the reach of the plants to be planted, This is especially true in our climate here st PNW that we will have 6 months of almost continuous rain and drizzle. UNLESS, in the spring time you turn the soil over, a good shovel depth.

But I do add half finished compost and fall leave to my garden beds.

Actually, Seyson, your map may have been for the coolest temps! Ours North of SF have been down into the upper 30s, but bounce back into the 70s! A few weeks ago it was the 80s!
I've pulled the tomatoes (could have gone another couple of weeks, but things were looking pretty yucky), the pumpkin/ghord thingy's up on the mound look great, but the plants themselves are dead!
Time to cut back the asparagus and dump a load of compost on that bed! I keep adding to that bed spring and fall because I can't really dig or till it! I'll top it with a load of shredded leaves from the neighbors' houses.
Finally, I will dig out my other 2 raised up containers I bought from a neighbor who was moving and put some way too rich soil into the containers! (4x8x1ft deep) and figure out what should go in there without breaking the bank! (and yes I know about the container board) Nancy

Nancy
The map was just a snapshot in the early morning hour. The date an time is on the map.

My point was is that winter is inevitable, by a wide spread of BLUE from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Exceptions are : parts of CA, FL, Southwest.

4' x 8' x 1 ft deep: Is that a container ? It sounds like a large raised bed to me.

This post was edited by seysonn on Sun, Nov 10, 13 at 4:07

It is a box raised up off of the ground to save my aching back.
Whatever the neighbors put in it (they said really good soil) started my spring plants, then either burned them up or something was missing cause they all yellowed up and stopped producing! I kept them watered and gave them slow release fert like the container people said, but they insisted I had the wrong type of soil.
I couldn't afford all new soil for all 3 beds, so I mostly emptied one and filled it with the 1/2 truckload I had and all is well in that container now.
Anyway, yes, winter is on it's way. Supposed to get our first rain Tuesday. Nancy