Great Suggestions for the Perfect Spring Garden
Staring to care for a garden is always a shock to the system and organisation of everyone. There are a lot of new ideas and questions that appear and if you don’t know the basics, you risk ruining not only the experience but also the soil for months to come. This is why we have accumulated our experience and knowledge and listed the very true rules of spring gardening for you!
Prepare the Yard and Yourself for What’s Coming
Before planting and seeding, there are some things that need to be done in order to be certain that your garden can in fact take all that is coming to it. One of the main things is to give yourself some time to survey and observe the yard and the soil themselves. You should check the pathways and fences for frostbit plants that are left from the winter, for frozen seeds that weren’t collected and have gone bad, cut out the foliage and larger dry branches so that they don’t put your new greenery in danger. Roses, hydrangea and Butterfly bushes need to be trimmed right before the spring comes. You can make it all along or call specialists – it just needs to be done. Also, keep in mind that if something has frozen in the winter, its place might not have been chosen correctly.
When you are ready, you need to sort out every tool and instrument you might need and have them easy to reach and always available. Organise, organise, organise. This includes oiling the mower, sharpening its blades and those of your pruning instruments (you might get them to someone who can do this if you never had done it yourself) and so on. Being prepared is very important.
The last part of preparing your garden and yourself for the seeding and planting period is taking a soil test. It is important to know that the pH levels of the soil can really help your plants or, on the other hand, ruin them. There are soil-test kits sold in most gardening stores and you can always get one. Every section of the spring garden needs to be tested. At a later point, you should choose where to put which plant. You can use dolomitic lime for making the soil more acidic or elemental sulfur to lower the acid levels.
The final step of preparing your garden for the spring is clearing it off useless debris, weeds and everything that cannot be used as a fertiliser. In order to liven up the soil and make it more prone to growing healthy plants, you need to cover it with compost or manure and cultivate it for about 36cm with a spreading fork.
Planting the Flowers and Shrubs
Planting is no longer the worst part of gardening. Things cannot go wrong if you’ve prepared yourself well enough and if you’ve taken care of both your yard’s soil and the seeds you’ll be using.
Bare-root plants such as shrubs, trees and perennials (including the Hostas, Daililies) need to be put into the soil during the first days of the spring season. Cooler days are preferred for this than warmer ones, even though it would be more uncomfortable for the gardener him or herself. Seeds of the cool-season flowers and vegetables (including lettuce, parsely and poppies, calendula) need to be sown.
Take notice of what is the shadow over different plants and keep in mind that trees tend to use up all the water under their shade and plants tend to not grow well under or next to a large tree.
Caring for the Spring Garden after Planting
Fertilising is the gardener’s best friend and that of their plants. Balanced fertilisers, emulsion of fish and similar can be used when needed if growth appears near a tree or a larger shrub. Azaleas and Camellias love acid soils and what has been prepared before planting needs to be cared for – spread high-acid fertiliser and pine needles around them to keep the soil favourable.
If you haven’t got one already, start making one now – the compost pile. Debris from trees and plants as well as rotten leaves, pinched suckers and everything similar can be put in one place and left to rot for some weeks. It is faster if you chop them before setting in the pile or bin. You need to layer green parts (freshly cut grass for example) and brown ones (rotten leaves or tree bark) and turn the pile occasionally, so that the rotting is spread equally.
Clean up the bird and insect feeders. As these animals and bugs help your garden a lot and protect it as well as pollinate it, you should always take care for what’s actually bringing them to your yard – the water containers and feeders. Cleanse them off anything unpleasant hat might have been stored there during the winter – rotten leaves, mould and similar. You can use a weak bleach solution (quarter of a cup bleach to ten litres of water) and scrub the containers. Rinse thoroughly afterwards and refill with fresh and chemical-free water and food.