How to Prepare for Spring Gardening
While you may not think about gardening during the winter, it’s actually the perfect time to get ready for spring by assembling your tool kit, prepping your vegetable garden and raised beds and cutting any ornamental grass. Learn how to prepare for spring gardening in this video by P. Allen Smith:
Gathering Garden Tools
The following seven tools are useful whether your garden is large or small, in your yard or in containers: shovel, fork, trowel, watering wand, clippers, jute or cotton string and trellises, and bamboo stakes.
Prepping a Vegetable Garden
Clean up your garden by stripping out winter grass and weeds. Cut furrows with a hoe to prepare for seeding. Rotate the vegetables in your yard so you’re not planting the same vegetables in the same location. Work in compost, lime and fertilizer as needed. Plant the seeds and cover with dirt, then build mounds over the furrows using a hoe.
Growing Asparagus
If you’ve previously planted asparagus, let the foliage grow throughout the entire growing season so it will recharge the roots and yield big juicy stalks in the spring. Before they start shooting, cut them off at about one inch above the ground. If you’re starting from scratch, you can plant two-year old crowns, spreading manure evenly around them; the shoots can be harvested in the second year.
Getting the Soil Ready
Combine two parts existing soil and one part compost and mix thoroughly. Replace soil in the bed. Rake the bed. Spray with weed control. Wait five days before replanting. Apply organic fertilizer. Your bed is now ready to plant.
Cutting Ornamental Grass
Ornamental grasses are beautiful and very easy to grow. Take one variety and plant a big drift of 10-12 (3-5 if you have a small garden). When winter comes, cut them back using a good pair of sharp pruners. To make the job easier, take some twine, come up about 10 inches on the plant, draw it up as tightly as possible, then cut the grass at about 6-8 inches high. The cut grass remains in the bundle, making cleanup a snap.
