Whether you are planting up a few things to grow over the winter or winding down until next spring, nurturing your soil in autumn will make all the difference to your veggies next year.
It’s a great time to mulch heavily – you could use leaf mould, fresh compost, or well-rotted manure – which will not only help to suppress weeds but will also break down over winter, feeding the soil with nutrients and improving texture and consistency ready for your spring plantings.
Even if you are planning to cover empty beds with cardboard or polythene etc over winter, it is still worth doing this, and in our opinion it is more beneficial to do it now than to wait until spring as it gives everything a chance to break down and become more easily usable for plants in spring.