The days are getting longer and warmer, and you can feel the approach of spring in the air. For avid gardeners, that can only mean one thing: Gardening season has begun! For newcomers, it’s important to point out that the season doesn’t kick off with planting, but with planning and prepping.
Plan Your Vegetable or Ornamental Garden
It’s never too early to think about what you want to plant. Different plants – whether they’re fruits, vegetables, or ornamentals – have different growing requirements. For example, some plants, like lettuce and other leafy greens, cannot tolerate the heat of summer and are best suited to the spring (and fall) garden.
By planning early, you can make smart choices about the plants you’ll start with and which ones you’ll add as summer approaches. It even allows you to get a jump on the growing season by starting some plants indoors from seed.
Consider Having a Soil Test Done
As an organic lawn care provider, we offer soil testing for customers whose lawns fail to thrive despite receiving proper care. The test tells us what improvements need to be made to the soil to support a healthy lawn.
The same applies to garden soil. If some plants in your flower or vegetable garden haven’t done as well as they should have in recent years, consider getting your soil tested. It may show that your soil is lacking in certain nutrients or that the pH is off. Generally, plants prefer slightly acidic soil, with a pH value in the range of 6.0 to 6.5. When the pH is off, even the best care and sufficient nutrients won’t give you the results you want.
Give Your Gardening Tools a Good Cleaning
Fungi and other pathogens can persist on tools through the winter and spread to this year’s garden. At the very least, wash them in warm, soapy water. If you suspect that some of last year’s plants might have been diseased, you should also disinfect the tools in a bleach solution.
Thoroughly rinse and dry the tools before you use them. Letting them dry in the sun is a great idea since ultraviolet light has sanitizing properties.
Get Outside and Play in the Dirt!
So long as the ground is no longer frozen, or wet from recent rain, you can start cleaning up your garden beds. Why wait until it’s thawed and dry? Healthy soil has a certain structure, and working the soil when it’s frozen or wet breaks down the structure.
Start by clearing away debris, such as sticks and remnants of last year’s annual plants. Next, rake up any mulch and check for weeds. Once you’ve pulled those, replenish the topsoil if needed, or add a layer of compost to improve moisture retention and add nutrients. If you’re not quite ready to start planting, reapply mulch. This will prevent new weeds from gaining a foothold.
Need to prevent weeds from gaining a foothold in your lawn? Contact Simply Organic Turf Care. Along with providing natural lawn care in Atlanta and beyond, we offer spot and blanket treatment for grassy and broadleaf weeds.