Hey everyone! Last fall, I learned that trimming my plants at the soil level and leaving the root balls in the ground could be beneficial for the soil microbes during winter, so that's what I did. Now that spring is here, I'm unsure about the next steps. Should I remove the root balls completely? Is it better to break them up and mix them back into the soil, or can I plant around them? Just to give you some context, I have small raised beds and I plan to rotate my plants this year. Luckily, none of my plants showed any significant disease other than some powdery mildew and blossom end rot, which I believe is due to watering issues. Any advice would be appreciated!
1 Answer
You could try twisting out the remaining stem of the root balls. Usually, the larger part of the root will come out, leaving behind the smaller roots that might have already broken down into the soil. It might be easier once the soil warms up a bit!
That sounds like a plan! I’ll wait a couple weeks to let the soil warm up and decompose a bit more. Cheers to Zone 3 gardening and our short growing season!