Not much else is more satisfying that digging carrots and beets.

I did my final plot clean up today. Years ago when I was a naive gardener ( I am still a naive gardener but just not as naive), I took pride in my tidy, bare, tucked-in beds by the time the snow flew. But I learned in my master gardening class from the amazing Helen Atthowe that I was creating way more work for myself; that leaving all that organic matter to rot and protect the soil from weed seed germination over the winter was key.

So, today I pulled all my soaker hose, garden staples, plant markers and bamboo stakes. I then yanked all the saggy basil, tomato, squash, pepper, carrot and beet plants and just left them sloppily spread among the fertile soil. As I type, tiny microorganisms are settling in to munch on all that luscious, nitrogen-rich material. yum.