If you have visions of a beautiful garden this year, it’s time to add “prepare garden for spring planting” to your to-do list. Especially if you’re home for the season, you’ll find gardening to be one of the most fulfilling hobbies as an empty-nester or at any stage in your life.
Plus, gardening gets you moving and out in the fresh air after a sedentary winter.
So, we’ve put together these spring gardening tips to match your enthusiasm. They offer easy, quick rewards in the garden to get you ready for spring!
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure for more information. As an affiliate, I earn a small commission every time you make a qualifying purchase through one of my affiliate links (if applicable) at no additional cost to you.
CONTENTS: In this article, you will learn easy tips that will help you prepare the garden for spring planting, including:
- Easy Steps to Prepare Garden for Spring
- 1. Get Your Seeds Ready & Make A Planting Plan
- 2. Amend Your Soil
- 3. Order Summer Flowering Bulbs
- 4. Tidy Up Some Flower Beds
- 5. Clean Your Greenhouse & Tools
- Final Thoughts on Preparing Your Garden for Spring
Easy Steps to Prepare Garden for Spring
When you have a garden, it’s important to keep it well-maintained. But even before that, you’ve got to do some solid planning and set it up to succeed, first.
This can be an overwhelming task in spring.
You may feel as though you have so much to do but crappy spring weather stops you from getting it done. Either it’s too cold, or it’s raining. (Tip: Get yourself some proper gardening gear for the season.)
Maybe you worry about making these common gardening mistakes.
Or maybe you’re over-enthusiastic and don’t know where to begin.
If any of this sounds like you, you are in good company, And, you have nothing to worry about. We’ll help you take those first important steps so that you can really ramp up your garden in time for the good weather. Better yet, you’ll learn to enjoy planning the garden as most experienced gardeners do.
Are you ready? Ok.
Ready, Set, Go!
1 .Get Your Seeds Ready & Make a Plan
Spring is nearly underway and soon you will find yourself caught up with seed sowing and growing.
First, you must take the time to organize everything so you know what needs to be planted and when.
So do the following to prepare the garden for spring planting:
- Unpack any seeds you stored from last year.
- Gather any newly purchased seed packets.
- Decide on any seedlings (and how many) you will purchase at the nursery or farm stand.
- Make a chart of each variety, when they need to be started indoors, direct sown, or set out.
This will become your planting guide.
Next, make note of where you’ll be planting your vegetables, herbs, perennials, and annual flowers.
You can simply write it up as a table on graph paper.
Or you can track it in your gardening journal if you have one. Keeping a journal will help you plan and look back on progress for future reference. It’s a great way to continuously learn about gardening and the plants in your landscape. Plus, some journals have planting timelines, tips, and garden planning pages, too.
The important thing is to write it all down, and keep track for so you can learn from your gardening experiences.
2. Amend Your Soil
You can make good use of the quieter days so that you can get a head start on your soil preparation if the soil isn’t too wet.
Turn out any old soil in your beds and then dig in some compost. You’ll need to amend the soil to a certain depth, depending on the plants that you intend to grow.
Itโs helpful to take your time and do a thorough job when preparing the soil.
Not only will the physical activity improve your mood and keep you feeling young, but your plants will thank you. Because if you donโt replace or dig in enough compost, you may find that some of your plants end up wilting before theyโve been able to bloom.
Good soil is at the “root” of much gardening success.
While you’re at it, fire up the string trimmer and create a clean edge along your garden beds. You don’t want the grass creeping into your newly prepared beds.
4. Order Summer Flowering Bulbs
If you haven’t done so already, you may still have time to order some flowering bulbs and seeds right now.
Or, seek out your local garden store or nursery for summer flowering bulbs to take home with you.
This is an ideal task for you to do if the weather is wet and windy.
Flowers such as lilies or even gladioli can easily be planted early in spring, so now is the best time for you to get started with all that.
Itโs important that you make use of the days when you can’t spend time outdoors but are itching to garden.
List of Summer Flowering Bulbs to Plant in Spring
You might be surprised to learn there are quite a few flowering bulbs from which to choose, including:
- Alliums
- Agapanthus
- Anemone
- Calla Lilies
- Canna Lilies
- Crocosmia
- Dahlias
- Foxtail Lilies
- Freesia
- Gladiolus
- Lilies
- Ranunculus
- Picotee Begonias
- Tiger Flowers
Let your imagination go wild here because bulbs are almost always easy to grow – aside from a few obnoxious pests that affect lilies. (For that, there’s Organic Neem Oil.)
4. Tidy Up Some Flower Beds
Have a good tidy-up and make the effort to remove any weeds from your flower beds or your borders. This is an excellent time to remove weeds in the garden because:
- They are small
- The roots are shallow
- Wet, loose soil makes them easy to pull by hand
- They are not hidden by garden plants yet
Remove the weeds that you can see and either burn them or of course, put them in your brown bin.
You can also cut back on the growth of deciduous grasses and perennials now if you want. (To be as wildlife-friendly as possible, leave this task until mid-spring.)
Put any dead matter that you cleared into your compost bin. This will help it to break down.
Now is also a great time for you to invest in your yard’s hardscaping and infrastructure, like building a new fence. Sierra Fence is a great option if you want to get this done.
6. Clean Your Greenhouse & Tools
If you’re lucky enough to have a greenhouse, now is the ideal time for you to give it a thorough cleaning.
While your greenhouse is empty, power wash it with soap and water. Spray the greenhouse with some disinfectant if you want to remove any algae, moss, or grime in general. You might also need to give the outside of your greenhouse a good wash.
Then, you will have a nice home for the seedlings and any cuttings of spring.
Remember to wash it down well if you intend on planting soon, though.
While you’re cleaning, give your garden tools a once over to see if any of them need to be sharpened or replaced.
Soak those tools you will keep in a bucket of two cups of chlorine bleach mixed with one gallon of water for about 10-15 minutes. This will kill any lingering kill bacteria and fungi.
Then be sure to rinse and dry them thoroughly.
Final Thoughts on Preparing Your Garden for Spring
It can be tough not to jump the gun during this in-between time when the weather is unpredictable but you’ve got spring fever on your mind. But, with these easy tips to prepare your garden, you’ll be all set to plant your spring garden as soon as the time is right.
A trusted guide that will turn you on to some old-fashioned gardening wisdom, including when to plant and other useful tips, is The Old Farmer’s Almanac. You can find out more about that here.
Don’t forget to save this article for later on Pinterest!
Photo credits – potting plants – cottonbro, Greenhouse – Gary Barnes (Pexels); Gladiolas – monicore, Calla Lilies – Jan Haerer, Rununculus – Capri123auto, Weeding – summa, trowel – Lisa Fotios (Pixabay), Seed packets – Eco Warrior Princess (Unsplash)
This article is a collaborative post and may contain affiliate links. As always, all opinions expressed are my own. For more information, please see the following Disclosure.