Whether you’re new to gardening or not, the early Spring is an exciting time. The changes in the air and temperature, the extending daylight hours can definitely trigger a cascade of notions and ideas.
In order to be able to grab a hold of those notions and set into motion the abundance of ideas, before we tend to the soil, we first must organize our thoughts, organize our space and make a plan.
First and foremost, create a sitemap of where our plants live, both annual and perennial. Make one for the entire garden, and make a specific one for each of our garden beds. For novices to green thumbs alike, the square foot garden method is great for planning the spaces of annual vegetables. Attending the VINES gardening 101 Green Thumb workshop is a great way to get more information!
Just as necessary, we want to clean our tools for the trade, and organize the shed, cellar or whatever the garden supply space you have.
If we have a compost pile/bin, we’ll need to tend to that. Organize, sift, use.
Next we’ll clear the garden of weeds, debris, and manage the cover crop if needed. This step is incorporated with working the soil if it isn’t too soggy or still frozen. Loosen and turn the top several inches using a spading fork, incorporating any well-composted organic matter (broken down leaves, cover crop residue, etc.). If it is necessary and we’ve got the ambition we can also amend the soil using our homemade compost and potentially any other soil nutrients that might have been suggested based on a previous soil test.
After the soil is properly prepared, we’ll plant our early season seeds, most likely peas, spinach, arugula and the like.
Concurrently we’ll start our longer season plants (tomatoes, peppers, squashes, melons, etc.) inside in a warmer more climate controlled environment for planting out many weeks from now.
Moreover, for the beginning of the season here, we’ll be patient and continuously curious about the abundance and challenges we will witness.