Although large parts of the country are already under winter’s siege, there are still plenty of areas that are enjoying the cool, dry days of fall. If you live in one of these latter areas, then you don’t want to wait to start preparing your garden for spring because just like those living in snow-covered parts of the country, you’ll soon discover that winter weather doesn’t follow a set schedule.
Plan Your Spring Gardening Strategy
In this guide, you’ll learn how to prepare yourself and your landscape for gardening in early spring by following a few simple tricks. Here are five early spring landscaping tips to help get your New Year’s gardening strategy ahead of the game.
Tidy Up the Garden
Now is the time to remove all the dead plants and debris from your garden beds. This might seem like common sense, but the truth is it’s the most important thing you can do to prepare your garden for early spring planting. Dead plants can foster diseases that can go dormant over winter and bounce back after the thaw. Because of this, getting them out of the garden will reduce the risk of your spring vegetables and plants becoming riddled with disease.
Prepare Your Tools, So They’re Ready for Spring Use
Before storing your garden tools for winter, you will want to clean them, sharpen them, and oil them. This will help keep rust from forming on the tools over winter and ensure that they’re ready for use at the first sign of spring. With this task done, you won’t have to wait to start enjoying gardening in early spring next year.
Add Nutrients and Moisture to the Soil
Garden soil is depleted of its nutrients by the time the final harvest rolls around and this can cause the ground to become dry and hard-packed. One way to improve the quality of your soil for early spring gardening is to add nutrients and moisture to it now. Simply adding some organic compost or manure to the garden and lightly tilling it into the soil will ensure your soil is nutrient-rich come springtime.
Protect Perennials by Adding Mulch
If you want your perennials to come back bigger and better next spring, then you need to protect them this winter. You can do this by adding one to three inches of mulch around the base of the plants. This will help prevent diseases, insulate the roots, and keep early spring weeds to a minimum.
Plan Your Spring Gardening Strategy
Since winter weather can leave you sidelined, it’s the perfect excuse for getting out your notebook and starting to work on your early spring gardening strategy. You can map out your garden landscape, choose the vegetables and flowers you want to plant, and determine where you think the plants will thrive best in your garden.
Need some early spring gardening recommendations? Try planting early harvesters like lettuce, arugula, asparagus, and peas or early bloomers like tulips, snapdragons, pansies, and lilacs, and you’ll reap the rewards of your early spring landscaping tips sooner than you might think.