You may be tempted to skip some of these last-minute chores, but they're worth doing because they can make a big difference to the success of next year's garden. While these tasks can be put off until the start of the growing season, you can expect to be busy with the vegetable garden in the spring. You'll find it useful to have some of the work out of the way ahead of time.
As you finish harvesting crops and rows of garden space become available, it's a good idea to plant a cover crop, or green manure, as part of your preparation for the following year. This is a crop that you don't intend to harvest. It's simply to provide protection for the soil underneath. When you prepare for your spring planting, you dig the whole crop into the soil. A cover crop will keep your precious topsoil from blowing or washing away, and tilling it into the soil in the spring will provide valuable organic matter to enrich the soil.
The cover crop will also shade the soil, preventing many cool-season weeds from germinating. It's not necessary to plant the whole cover crop at one time to cover the entire garden; you can plant in each area of the garden as space becomes available.
Cover crops are not exclusively used over the winter. If you have a space in the garden that will be vacant for several weeks between plantings, a summer cover of buckwheat makes an ideal green manure. The buckwheat germinates quickly and covers the soil, preventing summer weeds from germinating. It's hollow-stemmed and easy to turn into the soil when you plant your next vegetable.
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