What to do with your raised beds at the end of December

Of course it would be ideal to say that at the end of harvest, the raised beds were cleared and prepped for winter. Alas, if you're anything like me, they are not. So, what to do if you've procrastinated with the best of us?

First - dig in.

Clear all the debris you can see on top, removing spent plants and any leaves that might have blown in when fall came our way.

Now is a good time to get an assessment of your soil done, too.  Contact your local Cooperative Extension office for further instructions on how to get your soil tested for FREE.Ideally now is the time to do this, because when spring arrives, the offices will be very busy and your results will take longer to come back.Whether you intend to plant some early cool crops or wait to plant the main summer crops, the results of your soil test will determine what it may need if anything.

I was pleased to see this worm in the dirt!

The hardest part of this is cleaning up the piles of your labor. Currently mine are still where I left them. I had to come inside and devour a bowl of homemade version of pasta e fagioli soup leftover from yesterday.

And so dear fellow slackers, there you have it.

And, photo-bombed, bigtime, by Bob. Thanks, Bob.

And then, here came the dogs:

And this one, in particular, was very serious....

And another dog is not quite so serious....

Whatever lofty things you might accomplish today, you will do them only because you first ate something that grew out of dirt.
- Barbara Kingsolver