DON'T MISS A THING

Reflecting on the previous year of gardening, you might feel like things didn’t go as well as they could’ve. Many gardeners think that winter is too cold to get their hands dirty, but getting prepared as early as possible gives your garden the best chance of success later in the year.

In this article, we’ll share five ways to prepare your garden for spring. 

1. Clean It Up

Cleaning your garden ahead of spring will help it start the growing season in the best condition possible. As part of your preparation, consider enriching the soil with organic fertiliser to restore nutrients lost over winter and give new plants a strong start. Be sure to pick up any dead plant matter that’s fallen to the ground, such as dead leaves and stalks. These harbour diseases and bacteria that can hurt your growing plants. You should also clean up any hard landscaping in your garden like patio or decking. Give these surfaces a wash and a scrub with a brush and plenty of water. But be careful to protect your plants when using any cleaning products. 

2. Tidy Flower Beds and Borders

Now that you’ve cleaned up the dead debris from your garden, you can get to work tidying up your borders and beds. The areas need to be in prime condition if they’re going to support your ambitions for the growing season. So, clear them back to bare soil. Pull out any old grasses and put them into compost. Then remove any weeds and burn them. Finally, work a layer of manure or other organic matter into the soil. Adding a quality mulch layer helps retain moisture, suppress weeds, and improve soil health. For gardeners in Connecticut, it is best to source from a Connecticut mulch supplier that ensures fresh, high-quality materials.

3. Spruce Up Garden Furniture

Your garden furniture will need cleaning after winter, no matter whether it’s made of plastic, wicker, or wood. Plastic and wicker are easy to clean with soapy water and a sponge. But anything made of wood needs sealing as well as cleaning. You should also think about how you can enhance your garden’s aesthetic. From rearranging placements to adding solar lights that keep your garden well lit, there are many small changes you can make to make your outside space more appealing.

4. Remove Garden Pests

Fancy saving yourself a world of trouble come spring and summer? Then you should hunt down and remove any hibernating garden pests in your garden now. Take a close look at the crowns of any perennial plants in your garden and check for any creepy crawlies like slugs, snails, or aphids that have hidden themselves away for the winter. You can simply brush some pests away, but others might call for a specialist treatment.

5. Plant Summer Seeds

If you want your garden to be blooming, come summertime, then you need to start preparing now. Order summer-flowering bulbs and seeds like lilies, gladioli, and ranunculus during the winter so that you’re ready to plant them in early spring. 

Which of these pre-spring gardening tasks will you be starting with?

Feature Image by Markus Spiske | Unsplash

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