Top 5 Ways to Prepare Your Garden for Spring

by Colleen Anderson

Are you ready for spring? Check out these 5 tips to see if you've done everything you need to do to be ready for spring planting!

top 5 ways to prepare your garden for spring, gardening, homesteading

1. Prepare Your Soil - There are several schools of thought on this topic. Some advocate using a tiller. Others say to stay away from the tiller and utilize lasagna gardening or hugelkulturSome people add amendments, like organic fertilizer to their garden. While some simply toss in some compost and/or manure and call it good. Whatever the case, make sure you’ve vetted all your options and decided what works best for you.

Lasagna Gardening - One way to prep your soil

2. New Seeds - The age of your seeds can dramatically impact your germination rates. For the most well prepared garden/gardener, I strongly suggest starting each new season with fresh, unexpired seeds. These can be ones that you saved from your previous season’s garden or seeds that you have purchased from a reputable source.If, on the other hand, you are a tried and true “waste not, want not” type, then make sure you at least perform a simple seed viability test prior to planting.

3. Start Your Seeds Indoors - Now, depending on the size of your plot and the type of set-up you have, this may not be entirely possible. However, I’ve always had the best results from seeds and plants that I have started indoors under my grow lights.That said, if you are unable to start them indoors, work on coming up with some type of simple hoop house or cold frame design that you can use outside to protect your tender seedlings.

4. Harden-Off Your Seedlings - Before planting your seedlings in the ground (if you start them indoors) or removing their protection (if you plant out with a hoop house or cold frame) make sure you harden off your seedlings. This is the process of slowly exposing them to unprotected air temperature and sun so as not to shock and/or kill them. You start by giving them just a little exposure and then increasing the amount of time each day until they are constantly exposed to the air temperature and sun intensity that they will experience in their permanent growing location.

Our simple grow light set-up.

5. PLAN! - This is probably the most important of all 5 tips. Make a good plan for your garden, including crop rotation, companion planting, what you are going to plant, when you are going to plant and where you are going to plant.It is also good to keep a journal of your planting dates, as well as your successes and failure to help in years to come. Depending on the size and complexity of your garden, it may also be beneficial to keep track of expenses.The question is, how do you do this level of planning effectively? I’ve found that using a notebook of some sort can be incredibly beneficial. You can use a simple bound book that you buy for less than a dollar at the store or you can buy a notebook designed specifically for the task of organizing your garden.