The winter months are finally behind us, and it is time to start planning, preparing, and planting our vegetable Garden or flower garden!
It’s the perfect time to start thinking about your garden plans.
Getting a head start on planning is always a good idea. Late winter or early spring is a great time to start deciding how you want to plant your garden, what you want to plant, and how you will take care of your garden.
Growing season is so much fun, so let’s get started!
What if I don’t have much Space?
There are plenty of ways to grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers no matter the size of your space.
If you are interested in gardening, don’t let having a small area keep you from planting a garden this year!
Where Should I Put the Garden?
Location matters a lot when deciding where to put your garden.
You want it to be in the full sun considering most vegetables need 8 or more hours of sun each day.
Planting a garden somewhere with awful soil can be detrimental to your garden! You want to avoid harsh soil, clay soil, or sand (although some plants thrive in sandy soil).
If you want to make sure you have healthy soil, you can send a garden soil sample off for testing.
Another aspect you want to consider is your access to water.
Unfortunately, we cannot always rely on the rain to water our plants. In Georgia, we go through heavy droughts and have to water our plants.
Having easy access to water to set up a sprinkler system or be able to water your plants by hand is important.
Related Post: 17 Essential Gardening Tools Every Beginner Needs
What Style of Garden Should I Make?
There are several styles of gardens you can make around your home depending on the space you have.
Garden beds are great for planting herbs and making smaller vegetable gardens.
If you have a lot of land or space in your yard, a larger vegetable garden is a great idea!
If you only have space on your front porch or in your home, there are options to grow plants indoors as well!
We started out with a small vegetable garden using a raised bed. Each year, we added more and more to our garden and made a space in our backyard for a much larger one.
Whatever you start with doesn’t have to be the style you end up with!
What Garden Tools Do I Need?
As a beginner gardener, there are several tools you will need. The best way to get the tools you need is to buy a gardening tool set.
Some of the tools you will need will depend on the size of your garden, but there are tools every gardener needs no matter the size of their garden.
You can also check out my post about the best gardening tools for beginners. You can find everything you need to get started here!
How to Prepare Your Garden for Spring Planting
1. Decide What You Want to PLant
This is the exciting part for me!
I love deciding each year what we want to plant. We have many of the same plants every year in our garden, but we do add new things and try them out each year.
This year we have added spinach, onions, and celery!
Decide which plants would benefit you to plant in your garden.
Which plants will you be able to use for cooking, canning, freezing, selling, giving away, and herbs? Whatever you want to do with your harvest, make sure you pick the best plants!
Also, be sure to decide if you want to grow your plants from seed or if you want to buy young plants from your local garden center.
2. Decide Where You Want Your Garden
The first step to starting a garden is to figure out where you want to put it.
The location of your garden is important for sunlight, soil, and watering purposes.
Deciding where to put your garden relies heavily on the type of plants you are wanting to plant in your garden. Some types of plants require partial shade, partial sunlight, or full sunlight.
Once you have decided on the plants you want, you can find the perfect spot for them!
Start by looking at the areas in your yard and around your home.
Which of these areas would be the best place for a spring garden? You want to make sure you pick a spot that gets ample sunlight for your vegetables that need full sun.
You want to make sure that there is good soil for your plants to grow in.
Also, having easy access to a watering source will make things easier for you when watering your garden throughout the dry spells of summer.
One thing you want to avoid is planting near large trees. Large trees can drain the soil of water and nutrients that your plants need.
Related Post: 5 Life Lessons I Learned From Gardening
3. Prepare Your Garden
Once you have decided where you want to plant your garden, it’s time to prepare your garden for planting!
Clear out any dead leaves, plant debris, and any big rocks that are in the way.
If the soil has never been disturbed, you will need to disturb it. The best way to do this with a large garden area is to till the area. For smaller spaces, you can use a garden rake.
Once you have disturbed the soil, it is best to add plenty of organic matter to the soil. You can add some form of compost (now would be a good time to start a compost pile for next year’s garden- we love our compost bin), aged manure, or use an organic fertilizer.
Proper soil preparation will help your new plants grow beautifully!
If you want to make sure you aren’t working with poor soil, you can get a soil test kit or send off a soil sample through your county extension agency to be tested.
Soil testing will determine the PH levels of the soil. If you need to improve your soil you can make soil amendments by adding organic materials to the soil. To learn which amendments are best based on the type of soil you have check out this post.
4. Decide Where Each Plant Will Go
Now that your garden is prepared you can decide where you want the plants to go.
It’s important to plan out where you want your plants to go so that you have adequate room for all your plants.
There are also companion plants that grow well next to each other.
Once you have prepared your garden, it’s time to start planting!
Related Post: A Simple Gift Guide for the Gardener in Your Life
Do you want to join me on my expedition to a simple lifestyle?
Be sure to sign up for weekly email with updates, freebies, and lots of fun!
Most of your plants should produce a harvest until late summer. So, grab your garden tools and get started planning, preparing, and planting!
You have a lot of gardening fun ahead of you for the next few months.
Do you have any tips for preparing your new garden? I would love to know what you do to prepare your garden for spring planting.
Until next time,
Catherine
The post How to Prepare Your Garden for Spring Planting first appeared on KISS Expedition.
