Sounds like you have all the right ideas. I wouldn't fixate on adding micronutrients back in the soil. Compost is a fine way to supply micronutrients, but a garden that hasn't been used in a while isn't going to lose them.

Not sure where the requirement of covering comes from. Unless the soil is going to blow away, it's still going to be there in the spring. Are you trying to suppress weeds?

I would however get the soil tested to see where you stand on major nutrients. You have plenty of time to think about how to remedy any problems you come up with.

You do have a big job with amending with compost and tilling. True that if you're amending in the fall, for use in the spring, you can just plow in needles and (ideally chopped up) leaves. You have plenty of time for that stuff to compost in situ.

I hope you have a tiller. I gather that if the bed was used to garden before, you're assured your soil has useful depth.

I love the idea of using a tarp on a veggie garden. Where I live, it is pretty darned chilly (for me) early in the season, yet the weeds don't seem to mind at all. Using a tarp means that my garden is pretty much weed free (as I left it in the fall) when I remove the tarp.

For me, Landscape fabric is more for permanent gardens (and it has its drawbacks). For veggie gardens, I prefer to use mulches that will degrade like newspaper, leaves, grass clippings and bark chips. I do use black plastic over my tomatoes though as it warms the soil early on and keeps moisture in too.

For nutrients, I like to use aged manure and compost.

Linda

I've never heard of covering the soil in winter! If nothing's growing, what's the point? No need to "winterize" the garden. Most people just clean up the dead stuff and remove any diseased plant material. I spread compost for the winter.

I use cedar chips in pathways and add to it every 2 years as it breaks down.

Make it easy on yourself.

If the soil has had compost added over the years and you till in the weeds (or compost them) then the garden is good to plant in the spring.

Start your own compost pile for next year, study gardening 101 and have fun with it.

I don't use pine needles on my garden because they don't break down quickly and they are acidic. I use grass clippings and autumn leaves plus any garden plants that aren't weedy or diseased. Food in compost attracts rodents.

It is somewhat of a myth that pine needles make garden beds acidic. Fresh and green on the tree, they are somewhat acidic. Once they fall, they are largely not. Any residual acidity in the soil from them will disappear pretty fast. True, they take a while to break down, but we're talking many months, aren't we?

I agree with Susan that not only is tarping a garden not a common practice by any means but can also be a damaging one. One good sunny day even in mid-winter and the soil temp can often reach deadly levels for beneficial soil bacteria and other soil residents while providing an ideal survival ward for pests. And you lose all the ground water benefits of snow melt. Most important any organic mater in the top few inches of the soil can turn anaerobic.

A thick layer of any good organic mulch - shredded leaves, straw, old hay, grass clippings, compost, etc. - can provide all the weed control benefits PLUS soil improvement with none of the hazards of plastic tarps.

Dave

Covering the soil in winter can be useful in some climates. In mine where there is a lot of rain and no snow open soil can get compacted. But I wouldn't use tarp. Compost, winter crops or even seedling weeds protect the soil. Weeds can be turned in in spring. As usual lots of compost is a universal answer to pretty much anything.

When you get your soil tested, I would suggest that as much as possible you ask that biological results be returned as well as the detailed chemistry. This is just because it is the first go at it and being in the yard, the difference in soil pathogens versus the hydroponic setup might be something that could sneak up and bite your tomato. The idea that the garden has not been used in a number of seasons is a very good thing in this regard though. It should not be a big deal.

For this time in the season, I am adding partly composted materials and till in some. I already know where things are going next year and here in the more northern part of the country I find that ridging the soil up higher where rows of crops are going to be planted makes the soil warmer and dryer for spring planting.

Smart idea about ridging. That increases the surface area of the bed, so it will better track the air temperature. Of course, in the winter, the bed will get colder than it would without ridging, but in the spring it'll warm up faster.

I was interested to read the negative comments on using a tarp over the winter. I didn't realize that it would be a bad thing for those who live in the south! Perhaps it makes a difference that mine is a raised bed, and that I live in a cold climate. It's worked for me for many years. I like the idea of not having all the soil nutrients washed away by rains and melted snow, the tarp warms the soil in the spring, and it's lovely to have a weed-free garden when I'm ready to plant. I'm not as young as I used to be and it takes a lot of time and effort to pull all those spring weeds!

Linda

I think it is true that in principle huge amounts of precipitation can over-leach nutrients, especially the more mobile nutrients like potassium, nitrogen, and sulfur. On farms that have received unusually large amounts of rain, such deficiencies can occur. But in well amended soil, with organics breaking down steadily, I don't think you end up with deficiencies. I'm not aware that in regions that get more rainfall, soil nutrient levels are necessarily poorer, and in my blistering summer I water a lot, and yet my nutrient levels are right up there where they should be. If anything, that leaching can distribute nutrients better, as organics degrade most rapidly near the surface where there is air, and you'd really like to get those nutrients to depth. Percolating water also brings oxygen to the lower layers to aid aerobic degradation there.

But yes, to warm soil, there is nothing like a tarp, especially a transparent one. I should add that a tarp provides some insulation, so the soil doesn't even get quite as cold in the winter.