9 Ways to Prepare Your Garden for Spring

When you prepare your garden for spring, you set yourself up for success for the rest of the year. Spring prep is one of the most important tasks for your garden since it sets the stage for beautiful, thriving plants. While it’s easy to get caught up in the “planting” aspect of gardening, let’s take a moment and dive into nine things you can do to get your garden ready for its debut.  

Prune

The first thing you can do is cut back any perennials that you did not cut in the fall. Since pruning takes away any dead or dying parts of the plant, this will encourage your plants to focus on growing what is still alive and well. If not done, the plant will put its energy into reviving those dying limbs and branches. 

You can trim semi-evergreen perennials, like coral bells, and prune shrubs as needed. Shrubs that need to be pruned in spring include hydrangeas, butterfly bushes, roses of Sharon, and roses. Prune just above a growth node and remove dead branches from shrubs when new leaves are budding. 

Transplant

This is the perfect time to move any shrubs or perennials you wish to replant elsewhere. You’ve noticed your plant is not doing well in a certain area of your garden, or you just need to make more space for more plants. Whatever the case, transplanting is great to do in the spring. 

If the ground in workable, it is best to do this before plants break dormancy so they can wake up in their new home and are not thrown too much off course. Be sure to dig around the roots of the plant as much as possible. Handle your plants with care and give them a nice drink of water when placed in their new home.  

Rake

Another great spring task is to clean up your garden beds or landscape areas. Remove any leaves leftover from fall or that you were using as mulch. Be careful not to do this too early because exposing new perennial growth to frost could damage it.  

Weed

Weeds absolutely love the spring! They are at their height this time of year, so it is always a good idea to stay on top of them. Start weeding early to get a jump start. For more info on how to keep weeds from taking over your garden beds, check out this blog post. 

Edge

Cleaning up any landscape or garden bed borders is a great spring task since it’s setting your garden beds up for new plants and established plants to thrive. Plus, edging gives your garden that crisp, clean look, so it is easier to maintain through the season as your trimming, weeding and mowing your lawn.  

Irrigate

Before the rush of spring planting starts it's a great idea to decide on any irrigation you'd like to set up, like WaterWise® Drip Irrigation. It will save you so much time and energy all season. You can learn about different types of irrigation in this blog post.

Stock Up

Save yourself some money in the long run and stock up on soil and any hard goods you may need in the coming months. Now is the time to stock up on mulch, fertilizers, and anything else that can be stored in your garage for a period of time. This will help spread out your gardening budget. For more ways to budget, check out this blog post. 

Take Inventory

Look through all of your garden tools and containers to decide if you need to replace, fix, or add to your collection. You can also use this time to sharpen and clean tools, clean containers, and organize everything. Check out this video to learn how to clean and sharpen tools.

Fertilize

Late spring is the perfect time to apply Continuous Release Plant Food to shrubs and perennials, especially younger, less established plants. This will slowly feed them throughout the season giving them a great jump start.

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