With spring well on its way, now is the perfect time to prepare your garden for the season ahead. Spring season is a busy season for all gardeners, so these couple of months before spring are ideal for getting the garden spring-ready.
Before planting and sowing, you’ll need to ensure that your garden is well-maintained. To help you with your pre-spring preparations, we decided to gather some essential tips for a flourishing season ahead. Let’s check them out.
1. Clean out your garden beds
The first step in preparing your garden for spring is cleaning. Clean out your garden beds. Throughout fall and winter, garden beds get full of dead leaves, weeds, and debris.
Now is the perfect time to remove weeds from your garden beds before they go to seed. If you don’t do this now, you risk weeds spreading in more favorable conditions and destroying your plants. So, clean the beds, de-weed them, and prepare them for new plants. Also, while you’re at it, clear the borders of garden beds.
2. Clean and wash your greenhouse
If you have a greenhouse in your garden, now is also the ideal time to clean and wash it. Simply, get the greenhouse ready for the following season. Sweep out all the debris, clean out pots and seed trays, and wash them to prevent diseases from spreading to your new plants.
Then, clean the outside of the greenhouse. Remove any algae, moss, or grime with water and detergent. Cleaning the outside will allow more light to get through.
Lastly, don’t forget to inspect your greenhouse and check for broken parts.
3. Prepare soil
After all the garden beds have been cleaned out, it’s time to prepare the soil. The cold weather during the winter causes soil to become compact, so the first thing you’ll need to do is make it workable.
The best way to do this is with a sharp spade or if you have a lot of ground to cover a motor tiller can be of great help. Turning the soil with these tools will help loosen it up.
After that, you can check the pH levels to ensure that it’s suitable for new plants.
4. Lay down mulch
Mulching can be done several times throughout the year. You can also lay it down in the late winter to prevent weeds from germinating and to avoid stepping on emerging bulbs.
However, if you’re going to be laying down mulch in the winter, make sure you choose the mulch that breaks down nicely and improves the soil. Also, don’t over-mulch because too much mulch is a perfect breeding ground for pests and diseases.
5. Prune your plants
Late winter is also a great time to prune your plants. Pruning is done for many different reasons, mostly to remove dead, broken, or injured parts of the plant, tree, or shrub. Pruning also stimulates growth and improves air circulation. On top of that, it has aesthetic qualities.
So, take out your pruning tools such as pruning loppers, shears, saws, and other similar tools. Late winter is a perfect time to prune trees and shrubs because you can the branch structure and you can shape the plant however you want.
Plants you can start pruning at this time of year include hydrangea, honeysuckle, roses, wisteria, butterfly bush, and other similar plants. If you’re not sure which plants you can prune now, consult with a professional gardener.
6. Purchase or order summer flowering bulbs and seeds
Summer–flowering plants such as lilies, dahlias, gladioli, begonias, freesia, and other similar flowers are usually planted in early spring. That’s why right now is the perfect time to start gathering all your bulbs and seeds.
Buying bubs and seeds in advance will also allow you some time to plan how to plant or sow them. For instance, some seeds can be directly seeded, while others need to be started indoors. If you have a lot of seeds and bulbs to keep track of, we suggest making a planting calendar.
7. Clean and organize your shed
Make the most of your pre-spring time and get your shed in order. Check all of your gardening tools, sharpen, and oil them if needed.
Properly cleaning and maintaining your gardening tools will make them last longer. Plus, dirty tools can spread bacteria and diseases to your plants. So, before using your tools, clean them with hot water and detergent, especially bladed tools. You can even disinfect the blades with alcohol if necessary. If you need to replace some of your tools, now is also a great time to do so.
While you’re still in the shed, you can check your supply of fertilizers, soil, herbicides, and other similar substances. You will need all these in the upcoming seasons, so replenish your supplies on time.
8. Maintain fences
Yet another thing you can do in the late winter is fence maintenance. Gates, fences, and fence panels can get damaged during winter due to the extreme weather. If you notice that your fence is a bit worse for wear, now is the perfect time to fix it and do some additional maintenance. Later, when the planting season comes, you’ll be too busy with your garden and the fence will be forgotten.
Fix or replace broken panels or segments of the fence, clean it with a power washer, and repaint or restrain it. And in no time your fence will look as good as new.
9. Set up a compost system
You probably already know this, but having a compost system is a great way to save on fertilizers. Once you’ve set up a composting system, you can compost your garden material, branches, trimmings, and grass clippings. Additionally, you can also compost kitchen scraps.
If you don’t yet have a composting system, now is the time to establish one. The size of your composting system will depend on the amount of compost you will add to it. The best thing is that you can buy the ready-made compost bins.
10. Start collecting rainwater
If you aim to have an eco-friendly garden, gathering rainwater is a good way to achieve that. Winter months are a great time to collect rainwater. So, if you haven’t already, make sure you install a water barrel where you’ll be collecting the rainwater.
Conclusion
Late winter is always a good time to start preparing your garden for spring. It is ideal for clearing garden beds, pruning plants, maintaining tools and fences, and picking out seeds and bulbs for the upcoming planting season. So, if you haven’t still, now is the perfect time to prepare your garden for a flourishing season ahead.