Basic gardening steps to spring garden preparation

The arrival of spring prompts gardeners to start planning for the next planting season.

If you’re a gardener, you’ve probably picked out the plants you want to grow this season and already started planning your spring garden in your head.

But before we can plant any of the seeds or seedlings in the soil, a lot of prep work must be done.

For your new seedlings to thrive, you’ll need to take care of a few things before introducing them to their permanent homes in the garden.

Start with a blank slate

Getting the soil ready is the foremost important task of preparing your garden for the upcoming spring planting.

But hold on for a second, don’t dig your hands in the dirt just yet!

Before getting our hands dirty, we got some tidying up to do. Yes, garden cleaning, the chore that makes most gardeners sigh out loud just thinking about it.

It’s time to get rid of the dead leaves, weeds, leftover plant material from the last harvest, and other debris that accumulated during the winter. Don’t waste them by throwing them away; instead, turn them into compost for the upcoming growing season.

Reduce the risk of weeds by plucking them out as soon as they appear.

Also, pay special attention to weeding!

Those weeds will thrive alongside your spring plantings and compete for water and nutrients if you don’t weed carefully.

The most effective way to deal with these pesky little invaders is to pull them out by hand one by one, especially when the soil is soft and loosened.

That’s when you may easily pull their roots out in one piece, leaving them no chance to resprout and continue to grow and spread.

It’s best not to pull weeds when the soil is still moist and dense, as you risk snapping off the stem and leaving the weed’s roots to remain deep in the ground. Then all your effort goes to waste.

If the weeds are growing right through your perennials, try to get rid of as many weed roots as possible by loosening the dirt around the plant using a hand trowel. Just be careful not to disrupt the soil under those perennial plants too much while you’re doing so.

Afterwards, go around the garden and pick up any debris with a shrub rake.

Regardless, because weeds are sneaky little rascals and always seem to find a way to come back, it’s important to double-check a few days later for any weeds that may have sprouted from roots or bulbs you may have missed.

Laying the groundwork

Well-prepared, fertile soil serves as the foundation of your entire garden, as well as giving you a head start on the growing season!

Now let’s head to the important part of spring preparation, nourishing the soil.

When spring comes around, it’s the best time to make up for the loss of organic matter and nutrients that your plants used over the seasons.

Gently loosen up the soil to provide aeration for the young roots to grow. Spread two inches of compost along the row or bed, and then scatter fertilizer on top.

You can also work your cover crops into the soil since they enrich the soil and offer young plants a nutritional kickstart.

Then use the garden fork, break up the soil and work these organic nutritional amendments further into the ground. Continue raking to smooth out the soil until the entire gardening bed has been aerated.

The first spring plants should be ready to be planted after these organic materials have had a couple of weeks to decompose.

It’s also possible that you’ll want to add some more potting soil to your garden bed. After all, you probably lost a fair amount of the old soil when pulling out weeds and leftover harvests.

As soon as the garden beds are ready, you can start your spring planting journey right away!

The seeds you bought at garden centres or saved from your previous harvest can be sown immediately into fertile soil.

Also, don’t forget to move your indoor seedlings outside whenever they’re ready for transplant.

Have a fruitful planting season this spring!

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