With the cold 
weather beginning to hit in many parts of the country, it’s hard to believe that NOW is the time to start planning your garden!  But, truly, it is.  This is the perfect time of year for it.  Here are some helpful ideas:
Start composting. If you are not already doing this, you’ll want to start.  We used an old ice cream pail, set it by the sink,  and dumped in all the scraps from eggshells to coffee grounds, and other odds and ends.  Basically, if you can eat it, you can compost it.  I would leave out fatty meats, though, since they take a long time to decompose.  You can build a compost pile in a small spot in your yard.  Add your bucket each time it fills, and you can put leaves from the yard into it.
Till your soil.  Before the snow, if possible at all.  We add layers of leaves, and we add pinecones to the ground to help aerate it as well.  If you garden mainly in boxes like we do, you can add mulch from the compost, then a layer of leaves, then a layer of pinecones. Repeat until the boxes are about 2″ higher than the sides.  It’ll mulch down in the snow, and the pinecones will help the melting snow get more moisture to the bottom.
Plot your garden.  Especially if you gardened this year.  You’ll want to move the plants around so you don’t have tomatoes in the same spot as last year. Each plant takes something different from the soil, so by moving the planting arrangement around, 
you are helping to give your plants the best start possible.
Start watching for sales. Garden shops are cleaning out their outdoors stuff this time of year for Christmas items (gasp! already?) so this is a great time of year to stock up on tools, seed starters, and even seeds.  Why pay full price next spring?  I personally have never had a problem with “last year’s” seeds sprouting.
With this in mind, you will be giving yourself the best start possible on your garden next Spring!  Happy gardening!
