For those of you putting your garden beds to sleep for the winter this month, this is a great time to build nutrition and humus in your soil. This can be accomplished by simply leaving all garden debris (as long as it’s disease-free) to break down on your beds or by adding leaves, pine shavings, pine needles, or manure from your animals. For those working on a small scale, this can be as easy as digging a hole and burying your vegetable scraps and coffee grounds a couple of times a week in different spots throughout your garden bed.

Our first garden in the High Desert was in Adelanto, and by simply digging in our scraps and adding a little manure, the garden bed—the southern one-third of the yard—stood eight inches higher than the lawn by the time we moved. The soil was lush, fluffy, and full of nutrients by employing what I call “lazy composting methods.” I was raising three little girls and running a daycare, so I needed Mother Nature to do most of the work.

Here at Moonstruck, we are watching the tomato plants closely to see which beds I can clear for our tulip bulbs that will be arriving in mid-October. Tulips, along with our fruit trees, require a certain number of chill hours, which are the total hours of the day below 45 degrees. Tulips need to be planted in the fall to achieve these chill hours, and in warmer climates, the bulbs should be prechilled. All our tulip bulbs are placed into our 45-degree cool room upon arrival to ensure they receive the proper number of chill hours no matter what winter may bring. The same high-quality premium bulbs we source from the Netherlands are available at our online store, www.fablesbulbsandseeds.com. Order soon for the best selection—the favorites are already selling out.

The local farmers markets will be on summer hours until the time change during the first week of November, but shop a little earlier since darkness will still encroach as we get closer to that date, especially in Wrightwood, where the sun goes down behind the mountain earlier than in Phelan. The Phelan Certified Farmers Market runs a monthly raffle on the first Monday of each month, giving away a basket with a $50 value with a different theme each month. To enter, you will receive a free raffle ticket for every $5 you spend at the market. The Phelan Certified Farmers Market accepts EBT and administers the Market Match grant, gifting up to $15 in free farm-fresh produce to EBT customers each Monday. The Phelan Farmers Market is open from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. each Monday at 4128 Warbler Road in Phelan and will close at 5 p.m. after the time change. Part of the market will move inside for the winter. See the manager at the first farm booth for details. The Wrightwood Farmers Market also accepts EBT. Please see the manager in the blue EZ-up on the west side of the market. The Wrightwood Farmers Market resides in the Wrightwood Community Center parking lot and is open from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., with hours changing after the time change. The market will move inside the community center once deep winter sets in. Thank you for supporting your local farmers markets.