With spring so close and the cold season about to end, it’s time to get your garden ready for new plants and the resurgence of your perennials. The following is a list of steps you should take to make sure that your garden is ready for the changing season, and that your tools and spaces are equally well-prepared for it.
If you’re only starting up your garden, then you should also look up a guide on how to do many of the things we’re telling you here, considering they’re not explicitly described in our guideline. With that out of the way, let’s get gardening!
Clean up your flower beds and borders
Not sure when to start spring cleaning your garden? Two weeks before winter ends are a perfect time to tidy up your flower beds and remove dead leaves and other debris, and clean the borders as well, until you have them as bare soil again. You can put all the dear organic matter you clean up into your compost pile, and while its a good time to cut back on the dead growth of grasses and herbs, leaving them until spring arrives is the most environmentally friendly option.
Going back to the compost pile, however, make sure not to put in any of the weeds you remove, because their seeds will germinate and that will bring its own difficulties later on. Put them instead in your brown bin, or burn them.
Time to get rid of pests
This is the time of the year where many pests are hibernating, so getting rid of them before spring will save you a ton of problems down the road. For example, snails and slugs like to wait out the winter in the crowns of perennial plants, so it’s a good starting point to start the hunt.
When it comes to summer bedding, now is the moment to clear them and check for pests that feed on the roots of plants, like the white vine weevil larvae. Use a plant-friendly method to eliminate them, or your efforts this winter might not pay off this spring.
Keep your tools clean, sharp and ready
Make sure that your tools are clean and in top working condition for spring by sharpening and disinfecting them before the winter ends. This will help preserve them for much longer, and you will save money while also preventing the spread of bacteria and fungi when you use them.
Wash them with hot water and strong detergent for all, and use a scourer for your bladed tools. After sharpening them, put some WD40 on blades and hinges to slow down dulling and decay.
Time to get rid of pests
We mentioned in a point above that you should put the leaves and other organic waste that you clean up from your flower bed in your compost bin or pile. However, you might not have one yet, and if that’s the case, then you should tackle that before spring comes. A compost bin will make sure you have enough rich compost to help your plants thrive for the rest of the year.
You can look up many different guides on how to achieve a rich, balanced, nutritious compost, but make sure that you cover the basics of grass clippings, vegetable waste, paper, and wood prunings. Keep the mix aerated by turning it over once a month.
Plant your seeds indoors
Plant your seed indoors to avoid having them gobbled up by slugs and snails. Move them afterwards outside in the early days of spring. You can also try heavy planters protected with beer traps to stop these pests after they become active when spring comes. This will also make it easier to finish raking and clearing your beds without the danger of damaging your seeds. Careful about spilling soil all over your floors; however, that’s a whole other world of cleaning.
Take the time to prune
After you’ve disinfected your pruners, prune your trees and shrubs taking advantage of the fact that you can see the structure of the branch and thus can shape how the plant will grow, and this also applies to woody ornamentals. There are, however, many types of plants that you shouldn’t prune around this time of the year.
Also, be sure to fertilize the soil where your soon-to-be-pruned plants are to help them heal quickly and blossom beautifully come spring.
Getting your garden ready for spring means a lot of hard work, but that work will be rewarded by a beautiful, rich and blossoming collection of flowers and trees, so it’s well worth all the effort!
