Gardeners rejoice! Your fall front porch decor is actually future garden gold. Your pumpkins and straw hay bales are the perfect addition to your garden once the holidays are over. This means you can have a fun, seasonal front porch that can transition directly into feeding your garden. This is a classic gardeners dream. Being able to use items to their fullest. Now you can decorate your porch, guilt free, knowing that you’re money is stretching twice as far.
Did you know many farmers use pumpkins specifically to fertilize their soil? Or that straw makes for an amazing mulch that breaks down and feeds your soil? It seems too perfect that your autumn home decor is also the perfect end of season garden amendment.
So let’s talk about how your festive front porch can feed your soil all through the winter, giving you a healthy start to the spring garden season. By the end of this article you’ll know exactly how to use your holiday decor in your garden, and avoid having to put it in the city landfill!
Those perfect decorative hay bales sitting on your front porch are also an amazing soil amendment. Before adding them to your garden there are a couple items to note. If you grow organically, you’ll want to make sure when you’re buying the bale to ask if it’s been treated with any chemicals. Also, depending on if it’s straw or hay, hay tends to have seeds in it that will grow in your garden. But if you’re okay with picking out some plants here and there, it shouldn’t be an issue!
Use your bale of straw or hay as mulch! Mulching your garden at the end of the season covers up and protects your soil, which helps keep the microorganisms nice and comfy over winter. As the hay or straw breaks down it provides food for these microorganisms which is helping build healthy soil for the spring. This is the perfect mulch to help protect strawberry plants, cover your freshly planted garlic and protect your unused garden soil for the next season. In the spring time, either turn the straw into the first couple of inches of soil or cover it with new compost. From there just let it break down during the remainder of the season!
One year we were on a trip in the countryside of Turkiye where we saw a farmers field that was filled with smashed pumpkins. Ever curious, I decided to do some research as to why they were there. This is where I first learned that pumpkins are a natural fertilizer that are used to give nutrients back to the soil and it taught me that we should be doing it as home gardeners as well! This seems to be a more common practice or knowledge in Europe than it is here in Canada, but now you know this information as well.
Plus, how convenient is it that pumpkins are in season, they make a great garden fertilizer and it all happens at the same time as the holidays and the time we’re closing down our gardens for the season. Whether you have pumpkins from your Thanksgiving decorations, fall porch decorations, or Jack-o-lanterns from Halloween, don’t throw your pumpkins into the garbage or city compost – keep them for your garden!
The first thing you want to know is that you don’t want to bury the seeds unless you want to start a pumpkin farm in your backyard. You can, however, save the seeds and toast them in the oven for a nutritious snack.
To use the rest of the pumpkin in your garden you have two choices. You can either keep it on top of the soil to rot down over winter, or you can bury it under your soil. If you choose to keep it on top of your soil, you may be visited by animals who are looking to enjoy the pumpkin. If you bury it, you’re lowering your chances of unwanted visitors, so it depends on your tolerance for garden guests.
The main thing you’re going to do is – smash that pumpkin! Did you also hear a game show chant when you read that? Hit it with a hammer or a shovel to break it into smaller pieces and drop it in the garden. Over the winter it will start to break down enriching your soil with different nutrients and vitamins that were used up over the season.
Can you believe it’s that simple? We still can’t get over the fact that all the decor pieces you need to decorate for fall and Thanksgiving can give back to the soil and promise you a better garden for next season. It’s amazing how nature can work together with us.
