Wondering when the perfect time to begin thinking about what needs to be done to prepare your garden for spring?
Now is the PERFECT time! While the snow and ice are still visible and barely started to melt!
Before you can start your spring gardening for the year you have to first take some steps to prep for the season.
Ensuring you properly prepare your garden for spring will guarantee it will thrive all year.
1. Plan
Use the time, while the ice and snow are starting to melt, to plan the steps you will need to follow.
This includes ensuring you know the last frost date for your area.
Draw out the garden you plan on making, draw in the flowers, the vegetables, the ornamentals, the decorations, etc. that you’d like in your garden this year, in their exact places.
Look over on the inventory of all your supplies, including bulbs, seeds, plant supports, and garden decor. List what you have, and what you’ll need for this year’s garden.
Having this information will allow you to create a plan with the steps you will need to follow to ensure your garden is ready for the growing season!
2. Start With A Budget In Mind
If you know what your budget allowance is for your garden from the very beginning, you will have something strict to stick to.
Having a clear budget will assist you with overspending on things you don’t need.
Keep your budget in check and if there is money left over, you can reward yourself with something extra.
3. Check your tools
Tools are essential items when it comes to gardening.
One important gardening tip is to check if you have all the tools needed and ready.
This will also help with your budget for your garden. Make sure you know what tools you already have so you won’t buy unnecessary equipment.
Sharpen Your Tools
Ensure all your gardening tools are sharpened for the coming season. These include clippers, shears, pruners, saws, and mower blades to name a few.
4. Clean the beds
Make sure your gardening beds are cleaned of debris from the fall and winter. Pick up all twigs, branches, and rake the leaves and old mulch out of the beds. Also, remove all the annuals left from the last growing season.
Bonus Tip: If you had an indoor winter garden, once the frost has cleared, take your gardening outdoors. Keep watering your seedlings in their trays. Do this for a week or two, to help them transition from the indoor environment to the outdoor one.
5. Prune
A crucial step is to make sure your perennials, roses, trees, and shrubs are trimmed. Different plants require pruning at different times of the year.
Some will need to be pruned in the fall after all growth has stopped and the plants are in hibernation.
Others need to be pruned in early spring when you see growth at the base of the plant. Ornamental grasses, on the other hand, do not require new growth to be seen prior to pruning.
6.Weed/Fertilize/Mulch
Once the snow and ice are gone for good, weed your gardens. This is easily accomplished with wet soil.
Wetting the soil will ensure you are able to pull the entire root, instead of breaking it off at ground level.
After weeding, it is time to till your soil. Add fertilizer or compost and till again. Lay your paper, if you choose to use it, then, mulch your beds.
7. Divide & Transplant
Perennials should be divided and transplanted in the early spring. If you divide and transplant in the spring, your plants will grow more robustly and will result in healthier plants.
You will need to do a little research to determine when, how, and how often your specific variety of plants will need to be divided and transplanted.
8. Start Your Seeds
Using the information you learned regarding your last frost date, you can start your seeds indoors. Using the growing time for the plants you choose to add to your garden and count back based on that information and your estimated last frost date, to determine the right time to start flower and vegetable seeds.
By following the above gardening tips for spring is sure to make your garden bloom wonderfully.
What are some tips you’ve used in the past for your gardens? Drop a line below.
