How to prepare the garden for spring

If we look around us, it is easy to realize: the season of flowers has already arrived. A real sign that serves as a reminder to start preparing the garden for spring. A vital fact, since the gardening work we do now will depend on how our little piece of nature looks in the sunny months. And it is logical. Although we may not realize it, winter has wreaked havoc on our garden. The cold, the rain and the low temperatures have been the perfect cocktail to spoil it, both visible and invisible.

But let’s not get confused. When we talk about preparing the garden for spring we are not doing great things. Actually, our main mission is to mitigate the effects of the cold on our plants but also on the soil in which they grow. It will only be thanks to these tasks that we will guarantee that the plants sprout again, but also that we will be able to consider planting new plants.

So get to work! Enjoying our garden in full swing is well worth spending a little time on.

5 KEYS TO PREPARE THE GARDEN FOR SPRING

When we think about how to prepare the garden for spring, many times we don’t know where to start. However, it is simple: the priority is to review the state of our plants. If we have taken the necessary precautions, the vast majority of our plants will have survived the rigors of winter. If this is not our case, the starting point should be to remove dead or frosty plants. But, in case you have any doubts about whether or not a plant is alive, it is not superfluous to give it a small barracks period. A way to see if, with the arrival of sunny days, life surpasses even winter.

With that said, let’s take a closer look at what we need to do to prepare the garden for spring. A commitment to savor to the fullest those months of sun that we look forward to so much.

1. Remove weeds

It is the starting point when preparing the garden for spring. Taking advantage of the cold months, weeds tend to proliferate enormously. Something to which is added that, in that same period, we pay less attention to our garden. Eradicating weeds should be the beginning of our gardening work. But be careful: doing so means using ourselves thoroughly. Not only will it be necessary to eliminate them: it is essential to uproot their roots to prevent them from coming out again.

The effort to eliminate them completely is not due to aesthetic reasons. Weeds or adventitious are resource thieves of our plants. And not only that: added, they are a real magnet for pests. Two important reasons why, either by hand or using a herbicide, there is no trace of them.

2. Improve the soil, essential when preparing the garden for spring

Although one of the most visible effects of cold is the death of some plants, things go much further. Low temperatures tend to weigh down the ground, making it very difficult for life to regrow. In addition, the heavy rains have washed away a good part of the nutrients from the substrate. And not only that: the caked ground is a real enemy of the root of our plants. Not only does it not favor the correct absorption of nutrients. In addition, it does not allow excess water to be evacuated, endangering our plant.

For this reason, and without weeds, it is time to take some time. To begin with, we will have to eliminate all those dead leaves, branches and flowers that we find. Having a cleaner soil will make it easier for us to work it as we should.

The next thing we will have to do is start breaking up the clods of land. Those that are created with the cold, and that prevent the entry of oxygen into the earth. To do this, the ideal is to dig between 20 and 30 centimeters from our soil. In this way, we will have the option to aerate it correctly. And not only that: it will also give us the opportunity to add a new substrate and apply both an organic fertilizer and a mineral fertilizer. The idea is to mix the first with the soil, and apply the second on the surface once the task is finished.

And, although we talk about preparing the garden for spring, we can also carry out this same task with our pots. After all, they suffer the same consequences of the winter cold.

3. Review irrigation, a way to anticipate summer

Oh the cold! To him we owe not only the state of our garden. Also, at a given moment, the situation in which our irrigation system is. To avoid being caught by the bull when temperatures rise, it is the perfect time to see if it works fully. The cold and frost have been able to break some of its hoses. And even block the outlet of water in the sprinklers or drippers.

4. Clean up the lawn, another essential aspect to prepare the garden for spring

It’s time to dust off the lawnmower, and start pampering our grass mantle a little. Although during the cold months we have allowed our grass to grow freely, this prelude to spring forces us to tame it again. To do this, the ideal is that we start mowing with some regularity. A task that must be accompanied by resuming, little by little, an irrigation pattern in accordance with the increase in temperatures.

But these are not the only tasks that our lawn will demand. Another fundamental aspect is that we eliminate the weeds that it may have and, also, that we supply the areas in which there is a lack of grass. Something intimately linked to these adventitious plants but also to the accumulation of humidity during the winter months.

5. Plant perennials, bulbous or annuals

And, at this point of preparing the garden for spring, it is time to enjoy. To really enjoy. And it is that planting new plants is always synonymous with joy. If we opt for outdoor plants, we can see their weight in our garden at the same time as planting. The same does not happen with the bulbs, which will take their time to emerge on the ground. Something that does not detract from their beauty and that, without a doubt, is not suitable for the impatient.

Combining one and the other is a wonderful way to create an attractive balance between the immediate and the short term. A way, in fact, to make our space a living and changing one. The best proposal to get even more out of it.

And yes: preparing the garden for spring will take a little time. But it is clear: the effort will have been worth it.