Spring Gardening: A Guide To Build Your Plant Paradise All Over Again!

With the arrival of spring, you’ll be able to witness and feel the undeniable beauty of clear blue skies, longer daylight hours, warmer temperatures, delightful scents, lively bird songs, captivating foliage, and vibrant blooms. Spring is a revitalizing season that gives us the perfect opportunity to connect with nature and nurture ourselves. Among the many things that spring brings, gardening is undoubtedly one of the most rewarding. Spring gardening is the best way to kick-start your garden, your whole year’s treat. So, just as you clean up your wardrobe and home after colder months, do the same with your backyard – prep it for warmer months by starting it today. Here are some insights into how to prepare your backyard for spring gardening.

Preparing your Backyard for Spring Gardening

Gardening is a way to fall in love with a garden. Spring is always an important season to improve your garden and show it some extra love. Follow these steps to help your garden thrive healthily:

1. Plan for Spring Gardening

Planning ahead can make most of the work easier, as it helps you prioritize what needs to be done first, the next steps, and what tasks are unnecessary. Therefore, it’s crucial to plan for a colorful and beautiful display of plants in your garden during spring and summer.

A great way to get started is by creating a list of tasks to complete before diving into your garden project. Research and list down what plants can be grown according to the geographical area, soil texture, soil structure, water availability, and present & upcoming seasons, and buy them online. Check the soil pH & water levels, clear the soil, look for damaged and dead ones, strategize and bring companion plants, buy or order the seeds and seedlings, prep the soil for cultivation, sharpen the tools, create new planting beds, buy the fertilizers, note the areas that receive sunshine, check hardscaping elements, and other requirements. Arrange the required tools and plants, and start your work for spring gardening.

2. Clean your Garden

Cleaning paves the way for new plants to grow and bloom in the upcoming season. To begin the cleaning process, wait until the soil gets dried up. Once the ground is dry, start by raking dried leaves, twigs, sticks, branches, and bulbs. Remove any weeds and rocks, search for hibernating pests, clear the winter mulch, and get rid of any debris. After completing these tasks, your garden will be clean, tidy, and ready for the next.

3. Clean & Sterilize the Gardening Tools

Gardening tools make our work easy, but they must be regularly cleaned to prevent the transmission of infections and diseases to other plants. Neglecting to clean and sterilize tools can also reduce their durability and make them susceptible to wear and tear.

To clean your gardening tools, , start by washing them in hot water and scrubbing any hardened soil with a strong detergent. Next, sterilize your gardening tools with a sterilizer, and finally, apply oil (such as natural oil to metal parts and boiled linseed oil to wooden parts).

4. Prep your Garden Soil

The health of the soil is crucial to plant growth, as soil conditions can greatly impact plant health. To start your spring gardening off on the right foot, it’s important to improve the health of your soil. Begin by testing your garden soil for pH levels, nutrient content, moisture retention capacity, and other important factors.

Winter often leaves soil compacted, so the first step is to plow or turn your garden soil to loosen it and create air pockets. Next, replenish the quality of your garden soil by adding minerals like rock powder or rock dust, and nutrients such as compost and organic fertilizers.

To improve the pH levels of the soil, add lime or wood ash. Manure can be used to improve soil texture while adding soil amendments like compost, cocopeat, and mulch can enhance water retention capacity.

5. Prune the Garden Plants and Trees

One bad apple infects all the good apples in the basket. Likewise, one infected part of a plant or a plant itself can sometimes infect the entire garden. So, trim off all the unwanted, dead, diseased, and damaged parts of the plant or tree to protect it from getting more affected. This process is called pruning.

Pruning should be done for shrubs, herbs, hedges, grasses, perennials, plants, and trees before you make your plants ready for spring gardening. Pruning plays a great role in stimulating plant growth and is done before the plants bloom. However, be cautious not to prune the spring-blooming plants.

6. Plant and Care for them

Whether you’re an expert or a novice, everyone looks forward to this moment: planting your garden. You’ve put in the hard work to prepare your backyard for spring, so why wait? Get started and watch your plants thrive!

You can start with planting shrubs, herbs, trees, veggies, flowers, ornamental plants, or anything you wish for. But, before you plant or sow, consider the seasonality, plant requirements, and soil conditions for the healthy growth of plants. Be gentle while planting, and shower some love with compost, manure, fertilizers, mulch, or other soil amendments, and water. Maintain enough distance between plants so roots won’t fight for nutrients and space. You can even buy containers and plant succulents, herbs, and flowering plants within the planters.

Finally, don’t forget to check the hardscapes and provide support structures, such as staking, for your plants. Taking these extra steps will ensure excellent and healthy plant growth.

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Essential Gardening Tools to Make Your Work Easy

Gardening tools are a true blessing for garden lovers and plant growers, as your work becomes easier when you work with the tools. Here is a list of gardening tools you need to invest in to make your spring gardening easy:

1. Garden Rakes

After winter, your garden will have fallen leaves, twigs, branches, mulch, and other debris. Garden Rake is the tool to clear all this mess with ease. Garden Rakes come in different shapes & sizes according to their usability – Adjustable rakes, plastic rakes, small rakes, heavy-duty rakes, leaf rakes, and lightweight rakes and help in scooping, scraping, gathering, and leveling the debris and cleaning the area.

2. Pruners/ Secateurs

Pruning your garden is a way to refresh it from all the older, damaged, deceased, dead, and infectious parts of the plant. Pruners help in trimming and shaping your plants for healthy growth. Equip yourself with pruners to cut unwanted branches, twigs, and grasses.

Investing in good-quality pruners, secateurs, or loppers is crucial as they are essential garden tools. There are different types of pruners available in the market with various functionalities, such as Anvil pruners, Bypass pruners, and Ratcheting pruners. Choose the one that suits you better.

3. Trowels & Shovels

Digging is an important task as it lies in the heart of gardening and plantation. Digging soil needs extra care and effort, and these efforts are made easier with the prerequisite gardening tools – trowels and shovels. They are used for digging, lifting, transferring, smoothing, transplanting, seed sowing, weeding, scooping, measuring depths, breaking soil clumps, and unearthing rocks.

Trowels, also known as mini shovels, and spades, which are short-handled square shovels, are available in various shapes and sizes. Choose the one that fits your requirements best when buying them.

4. Hand Cultivator

You have to loosen the land and mix soil amendments before planting, and you can use a hand cultivator for this purpose. Cultivator is a hand-held tool with 3-5 prongs or tines (just like claws). A hand cultivator helps break up the hardened soil, dislodge the rocks, remove the weeds, tilt the soil, unearth deeply rooted plants, and perform other works related to the soil.

On occasion, a hand fork can be a suitable substitute for a cultivator. Furthermore, some garden tools can serve as both a cultivator and a hand fork or a cultivator and a garden hoe, providing dual functionality.

5. Garden Hose with Nozzle (Adjustable)

One bad apple can spoil the whole basket, and the same goes for plants in your entire garden. Therefore, it’s essential to prune and remove all dead, diseased, damaged, and unwanted parts of the plant to prevent further damage.

The amount of water required by each plant differs, so add an adjustable nozzle or sprayer to the hose for controlled water flow. Consider the length of the hose pipe and nozzle dimensions for the water pressure. Choose a sprinkler or drip irrigation system based on your garden size and lawns.

Safety accessories for you while preparing your garden

Gardening is all about nurturing plants, but don’t forget to take care of yourself too! It’s important to stay hydrated, wear protective clothing and gear, and take breaks when needed. After all, a healthy and happy gardener makes for healthy and happy plants!

This love for plants and gardens can wreak havoc on your body, eyes, skin, hands, and legs, as gardening involves clearing the soil, pruning, weeding, watering, planting, waste removal, composting, and other chores. During these chores, you will encounter thorns, harmful fertilizers, pollen, dirt, dust, splinters & insects. And also, your skin might suffer blisters, rashes, soreness, scratches, and irritation while your body suffers from pain and aches. So, have your protection on with gardening accessories to enjoy the pleasure of spring gardening as a fun and productive activity. Put on a garden mask, wear a thick & dark colored cotton dress, good & durable garden gloves, and breathable & flexible shoes. Also, add Kneeling pads to your knees during gardening chores. Shop now for these gardening accessories.

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Spring sprouts up excitement for you and your garden buddies. Go out and shower your love towards plants that you kept in for a while during winters.

Happy Spring Gardening!