I always have a hard time starting with my gardening, but it seems like such an overwhelming task. This year, I've made a list of the top 5 things you should do to get your garden started off well. (I'm going through the list still on my garden!)
1) Clean up your beds. They're covered in dead leaves, sticks and other random trash. You never know what you'll find under all of that dead stuff.
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| Here's the day lilies peeking out! |
2) Nip weeds in the bud. You're going to find that a lot of the hardy summer weeds are starting now, and if you can get them (and their roots) out before they really take hold, you'll be very thankful later on.
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| All cleaned out! |
3) Research new plants (or fruits/vegetables) to grow in your garden. Make sure you know what temperatures they can handle, when they will be ready for harvest and when you need to put them in your beds. Order your seeds and have a list of plants you will need to buy.
This year I ordered some fun specialty seeds to try:
4) Start saving seedling containers (if you haven't already). Some creative solutions are Newspaper Seed Pods, Egg Shell starters, toilet paper tube starters, egg cartons, yogurt containers, milk jugs, or pop or water bottles.
5) Start working on your soil. After you've cleared up those beds from weeds and grass, start tilling the ground, testing the soil as you go to make sure it's ready to handle those plants that you want to put in this year. If you need to add fertilizer, now is a great time to do so.
6) Start thinking pest control. If you're like me, you probably have a couple of garden pests that you need to worry about. My two big ones are bunnies and Japanese beetles. I'm going to make a longer post about it, but I'll tell you I use sweet lures and plants that the beetles don't like to keep them away, and I use a pheromone spay to keep the bunnies away.
This year, I hopefully will have a new garden bed. I still have to call and have our gas lines marked to see if it's even possible, but here's the before and the plan for the garden if I'm able to do it. If not, it may just become a container garden, just because I feel like that area needs something!
Do you have big plans for your garden this year? Do you have gardening questions that you would like answered? If so, leave a comment below!