Spring garden preparation tips

When you love plants, it’s always exciting when spring comes along. You get to go back to your gardening and watch everything around you bloom. However, before you can enjoy all the new growth, you’ll have a lot of work on your hands. That’s why it’s a good idea to start preparing everything early for planting season. Here are some spring garden preparation tips you can use.

1. Think about what you want to plant.

You know those unusually cold days when you can’t get out of the house? Why not use them to plan your spring garden? Go online and see what you can plant for spring and where you can get the best deals. If you have some gardening catalogs, go over them too. It’s a sure way to find useful gardening ideas. For example, you may discover interesting flower varieties you can include in your spring garden.

These days it’s easy to buy seeds and cuttings online and have them sent to your doorstep. Try purchasing some seeds and cuttings from reputable gardening websites and see how it works out. You could also read on better ways of gardening and organizing your garden from these sites. If nothing else, it’s an excellent way to cheer you up on a cold, gloomy day.

2. Clean up the garden

When the weather gets a bit better, and spring is just around the corner, it’s time to clean up your garden. Clear out any dead plant matter from your flower beds and add it to your compost. Make sure you separate the weeds and burn them first. You don’t want to bring them back to the garden where they will grow again and compete with your other plants for nutrients.

If you have pots, window boxes, and hanging planters, wash them and dry them out, ready for another planting season. It may seem unnecessary to clean pots, but many times pests hibernate there during winter. If you don’t clean them out before using them, you are going to have pests thriving in your spring garden from the start. Cleaning pots is also a great way to get rid of any mildew or moss build up inside them.

3. Compost

There is often a lot of organic material lingering in the garden after the winter. When cleaning up your garden as mentioned above, it’s a good idea to compost any grass clippings, dead leaves, wood chippings, and other organic plant material you clean out of your garden.

You can compost in a bin or dig a hole away from your garden where you throw in organic material. You will be happy later when you can use organic matter from your compost to enrich your garden and watch it thrive. It will also save you from purchasing fertilizer.

4. Prepare the soil

After the frost is over, you can start preparing your soil for planting. Use a spade, hoe, or tiller to turn over the soil. If you find any lingering dead roots, mulching material, or dead leaves, you can work them into the soil or take them out for the compost.

You should till the soil to a depth of 12 -14 inches. Turning over soil aerates it and helps unearth any hibernating pests such as caterpillars so you can exterminate them.

You should also test your soil to determine its state. It will help you decide which soil nutrients to add to it based on what you are planning to plant. Blindly fertilizing your soil without testing will not give you good results. You can find more information about soil testing here. Once you know what to add to your soil, fertilize it or add compost it accordingly. Lastly, water it and let it be until it’s time to plant.

5. Clean your tools

You left your tools in the shed all winter. Some of them may not be in excellent condition. It’s common during the cold and wet season for some tools to get rusty and blunt. Before spring arrives, you should prepare your tools for gardening. For any rusty tools, use this guide to get them back in working order.

You must also clean all your tools thoroughly in warm soapy water with some pine sol or bleach. It will help get rid of any bacteria, fungus, and other harmful pathogens lingering on them. Just make sure you rinse the tools afterwards with clean water thoroughly to get rid of any soap or bleach.

Then dry the tools properly and oil them where necessary. You can then sharpen any cutting tools such as secateurs to keep them in optimum working condition.

6. Start germinating

You don’t have to wait until spring to sprout your seeds; you could do it in your home while you wait for the weather to get better. It’s especially useful to sprout seeds early if they need a long season to grow. Try this with Begonias, and if you are into veggies, you can start with peppers or tomatoes.

Pick a warm area of your home and germinate your seeds of choice in seed trays. Give them some extra warmth using artificial lighting. Water when necessary, and watch out for any pests. Soon you will have some great seedlings to transfer to your garden when it’s time to plant.

7. Start early planting

Once the frost is over, you can start planting some seedlings. Some plants need to establish themselves in the soil before it gets too hot. Think veggies like lettuce, spinach, and onions. You can also plant fruit trees like nectarines and peaches and vines like grapes at this time. Flowers you can plant early include springtime bulbs like tulips.

8. Prune shrubs and trees

As spring approaches, it’s an excellent time to prune any bushes or trees that need it. For example, fruit trees generally need pruning in late winter. Pruning helps to get rid of any dead branches on trees and shrubs. You can identify any dead wood by picking out those branches that do not grow leaves.

After pruning, fertilize, and mulch the trees to give them plenty of nutrients to heal and thrive. Don’t forget to strengthen support for any young trees.

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