In bloom: how to prepare your garden to flourish this spring

Posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2019

If you have grown fed up of feeling the chill more than a few times recently, you should take comfort in the fact that winter will soon be gone once again, leaving the balmier feel of spring in its place. However, spring can be even pleasanter with a blooming garden waiting to greet you.

Whether you have your mind set on growing colourful flowers, lush foliage or even perhaps some vegetables, you can start acting now to help ensure it will all go well – or, ahem, bloom.

Clear winter debris from your garden beds and lawn

If you have not paid diligent attention to your garden during winter, then a variety of debris – including broken branches and leaves – could have accumulated in that outdoor space.

However, if you have planted bulbs and plants now set to emerge from the ground, you should clear that now to help to prevent yourself accidentally stepping on the fledgeling plants, says Real Simple. You could also trim broken or dead branches off your trees and bushes.

Restore your garden tools to usable condition

As you have probably also long left your garden tools untouched throughout the winter, you need to check that you can still practically and effectively use them. Therefore, if they are dirty, you should use soap and water to clean them, which you ought to do every spring anyway.

Those tools should be sharp as well; otherwise, over the long term, you could lose precious time and effort when trying to use them. Oh, and your lawnmower blade will need to be sharpened, too.

Prime your soil for planting

You can get underway with this by using a pitchfork to turn over the soil before raking it out. If weeds have grown, now is the time to clear them before you proceed to add fresh compost.

Do not have compost? To produce some quickly, you could pick up a worm-powered compost bin – although if the presence of worms would put you off, blending old food scraps is another way of speedily creating compost, says Lifehacker.

Carefully decide what to plant

Which flowers and vegetables would be especially suited to your garden? You might not be certain – in which case, you could ask for some pointers from experts at your local garden centre.

While it remains ultimately your decision what exactly you plant, mixing perennial flowers with annuals could help you to keep your outdoor space colourful for longer. Also, consider planting indoors at first so that you can get ahead of the growing season before moving the plants outdoors.

Ask your kids for their help

Roping in your children could reap many meaningful benefits for your garden’s look and condition this spring. The kids themselves could also enjoy the whole experience, which could prove educational, fun and the impetus for them to become healthy eaters.

However, even if you do not have kids, sprucing up your garden can undoubtedly feel soothing, which is a major plus point before you even consider how the garden itself will turn out.