3 Tips to Build Garden Soil Easily Over the Fall & Winter (Compost, Alfalfa, Wood Ash, & Mulch)

Timestamps. Put your fall and winter beds to rest following these simple principles and you will have amazing soil that is ready to plant come spring. Ways to use compost, organic fertilizer, alfalfa pellets, wood ash, and grass clippings/mulch to prep garden beds.

0:00 Overview
0:51 Compost is Best... If You Have It
1:37 Cut the Plants & Leave The Roots
2:41 General Principles of Fall Bed Prep
3:38 Do You Need Crop Rotation?
5:17 Granular Fertilizer, Alfalfa, Compost are Keys
7:43 Basic Use of Granular Fertilizer
8:14 Basic Use of Alfalfa Pellets
9:25 Basic Use of 'Limited' Compost
10:04 No Dig Method to Aerate Soil in Beds
12:13 Mulch Layer is Great Organic Matter for Worms
14:35 Just Don't Have to Spend a Lot of Money or Time
15:24 Setting Up a Raised Bed for Fall Slumber
16:35 No Compost... No Problem
18:30 Using Wood Ash Lightly for Potassium & Calcium
19:41 Raised Bed is Done (Example)
20:30 Using Wood Ash Example 2

Thanks so much for your support! Cheers & Thanks, Gary!

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[THERUSTEDGARDEN]

Thanks so much for your support! Cheers & Thanks, Gary!
Visit My Seed and Garden Shop

Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop

Popular Items from My Seed and Garden Shop...


Seed Starting, Growing, and Pest Management
Seed Starting Flats with Drainage Holes: Coming Soon

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The Rusted Garden 'Scan and Grow' Collection



My Amazon Garden Store Front
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
I put the products I use and discuss, in videos, there and have gardening products set up by categories. Such as Grow Lights, Fertilizers, Pest Control, and More.


My 2nd YouTube Channel Geared Towards Brand New Gardeners

My Podcasts

My Blogs

Join this channel to get access to Perk Memberships which focus on providing small live garden mentoring Q & A sessions, classes, and member influenced videos:


My Books:
The Modern Homestead Garden: Growing Self-Sufficiency in Any Size Backyard

Growing An Edible Landscape: How to Transform Your Outdoor Space Into a Food Garden


Products I Use and Recommend and I have an affiliation with them:

GreenStalk Vertical Gardening Towers

AgroThrive Organic Bio-Fertilizers

Vegega Metal Raised Beds
There is often free shipping and my code does NOT stack when current sales are active and equal to or above 10% off.



#gardening
#gardeningtips
#garden
#gardentips
@THERUSTEDGARDEN

[mjb]

I will try your rabbit pellet fertilizer idea. So clean and easy. Here’s to spring 2025. ❤ thank you from Montana zone 5b

[PleasantPrickles]

I really love that you always take into consideration that people have different budgets. Great demo, thanks. 😀🌱🌱🌱

[bigrich]

I love alfalfa pellets. Using your advice, I found some organic, “Palm Fertilizer, ” and organic, “Herb Fertilizer, ” all at a deep discount and bought a bunch of bags. Upon looking at the ingredients, it was nearly exactly the same as Tomato and Vegetable fertilizer. Had I not listened to you, I would have passed on the deal, and spent a lot more money.

[lorrainedurgee]

Step by step on how to prepare my veggie & flower beds for winter is fantastic - that’s what all of us needs —love this show & tell — thanks u..

[rickjay]

Organic alfalfa is very easy to come by. No worries about pesticides

[BonnieKennedy-pjtn]

There is my rotation question answered before I asked, thx!

[deepdabbler]

You got me excited to go out and prep my beds, without getting stuck in overthinking every decision!! Thanks.

[wyominghome]

No alfalfa for me. The deer would be all over my garden - more than they are already! Composted steer manure and grass/leaves, any leftover peat moss and potting soil. No wood ash as my soil is highly alkaline. Trying to lower the pH, so I add pelleted sulfur twice a year. Thank you for recognizing that some people want to save as much money gardening as possible.

[MicroUrbanGardenWonders]

It's great to see you recreating a small garden full of life and bringing in greenery. Your videos not only inspire gardening but also ignite a love of nature in everyone. Hopefully that garden will become more and more lush, and your channel continues to bring green things to life!"

[trishbishop]

Thanks for this! I bought some alfalfa yesterday and today I did everything except the grass. Don’t have any. Waiting for dry Leaves to drop. Good timing on my part because it’s storming outside!

[chandrikatilwalli]

Thank you Gary! Very good info for beginners and all gardeners.

[jaytoney]

Hi Gary. Frost tonight here in Sylacauga Alabama. It is forecasted to be 31F tonight. I did a big pepper harvest yesterday, but not a clean up harvest. II am still hoping for two or three more weeks of life from them. Either they will be wlting and I'll be doing a final harvest, or they will survive. They are in GreenStalk towers, so there is biomass that will provide some warmth for them. If they don't surviive, I have plenty of diced peppers to make salsa, and use throughout the year.
The rest of my garden is doing very well, growing parsnips, carrots, beets, turnips, red cabbbage, Dutch Cabbage, Swis Chard, Komatsuna, Tatsoi, Yellow Heart Winter Choy, Nappa Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and Pak Choy. In my herb garden, the peppermint, spearmint, oregano, chicory, rosemary, parsley, and comfrey are thrivng. The basil is near its end, but will probably survive the first frost. I'm using ten of sixteen raised beds for my fall garden. In the winter, that number will increase to fifteen, and sixteen in the spriing.
Next year, I am going to switch over from growng potatoes to sweet potatoes. The climate in my area is better for them. Parsnips and ground cherres were my expertiments this year. I have to think of something else to experiment with for next year's garden. I am goiing to try some new varieties of zucchini, particularly the round zucchini, but I need something else, not exotic, and it has to be tasty. I hate it when my experiiments don't taste good.

[juliethorn]

I plan on making at least two new compost bin areas this fall, so hopefully one day I will have enough to cover my 5 raised beds. Your videos are always so helpful. I started cleaning up a couple of the beds today. I had a great garden this summer, but I am so thankful for the fall garden season....less watering. We could possibly have a frost tonight here in Northeast MS. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!!

[stephenmoberg]

Hi Gary - your alfalfa and wood pellet compost combo is the bomb! Ready in 2 months - thanks for your imput- Steve zone 6 b

[BonnieKennedy-pjtn]

Ok, just used up my morning browsing your blog and your shop, lol. I will be back for seeds!

[KR-osnn]

Yay! Super stoked for the seed starting tips. This is a great, simple and encouraging video.

[BonnieKennedy-pjtn]

I just visted your new blog! It is way more than I expected. Thank you.❤

[rockyusa]

Great tips. I have not tried alfalfa pellets before.

[waynerutledge]

A couple of questions Gary. I have a fire pit and a wood shop, any specific species of wood ash that would be bad in the garden soil? I add ground egg shells for fall treatment, How much would be too much? Finally, how long will it take for those tomato plant roots to decompose? Love your videos and have learned a lot over the last couple of years, thank you.