How to Prepare a Garden for Spring

As our gardens wind down from the summer, it's time to start preparing the beds for next spring. Doing most of the prep work in fall will make lighter work next spring and will give amendments time to work their way into the soil. In spring, you will have more time to spend deciding what new plants to buy, planting seeds and getting an early start to growing your gardens. The following steps will get your gardens into great shape for spring, but you don't have to follow all of them. Pick and choose which tasks suit your needs and schedule.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Standard garden tools: rake, shovel, pruners, gloves
• Yard bags or compost pile
• Soil amendments

1. Begin to shut down your garden when frost is forecast or temperatures begin to drop into the low 40s regularly. If you are growing vegetables, you will notice your summer crops are winding down. Take some time to survey your gardens and decide on any changes you might want to make. Fall is the best time to relocate plants to new areas.
2. Evaluate your perennials and divide if necessary. Plant division is necessary to promote healthy plants. Plant the divisions in new places, or give them to friends. If none of your friends garden, there are plenty of people on Freecycle who would love to have your extras!
3. Fall is a good time to plant flower bulbs, bare-root shrubs and new trees. If you grow dahlias or other plants that need to be stored for winter, it's time to take care of those. I like to cut my dahlias back to about six inches after the first good frost, then allow them to remain in ground for a week. This helps set the eyes for later division.
4. What other plants need to be brought in for the winter? Walk around your home to make sure you haven't forgotten a tropical plant on the patio, or the hibiscus on the front porch. You'll need to inspect them for pests. Before bringing plants indoors for winter, I spray them thoroughly with a weak soap spray, using a few drops of liquid dish soap with water in a spray bottle. That will get rid of any spider mites or other insects you might not notice. Don't forget the undersides of leaves! I also give a light spray to the potting soil. Let the plants sit out for a few hours after spraying, then bring indoors.
5. Next, it's time to begin cleanup. Pull up your annuals (petunias, geraniums, most vegetables), along with any weeds and dispose of them, preferably in your compost pile. If you don't have a compost pile, fall is a great time to start one! There's nothing more exciting than watching steam coming out of a pile in the middle of winter and knowing you're making gardener's gold.
6. You may want to trim back your perennials (and add the trimmings to your compost pile, of course). Some perennials are better left alone, as they go to seed and provide food for the birds in winter.
7. If you have any decorative items and containers that need to be stored, gather and clean them, then store. I rinse containers out with a weak bleach and water solution before storing.
8. By now, the leaves have started to fall. Those make a great mulch for your more tender plants. To discourage pests, wait until the ground begins to freeze before adding mulch. Some gardeners like to rake up their year's mulch (bark chips, for example) and put them in the compost pile or dispose of them. I prefer to leave them on the ground, where they will continue to decompose and add to the soil.
9. Instead of disposing of your leaves or burning them, again, consider the compost pile. To help them decompose more quickly, you can rake them into piles and run over them with the lawn mower.
10. If a compost pile doesn't interest you (yet), another method of using those leaves is to make leaf mold over winter. Rake the leaves into large trash bags (this works even better if the leaves are shredded by the mower or a leaf vac that shreds) and add a source of nitrogen: if you have access to free horse, poultry or rabbit manure, perfect! If not, blood meal works great too but adds to the cost. After you've added your nitrogen source, spray some water into the bag with the hose or watering can (enough to dampen the leaves), punch holes in the trash bag, tie off the top and store it outside, away from the house. Every week, give it a good shake. Add water every now and then. By spring, you will have fantastic leaf mold to add to your garden.
11. Our next step is to improve your soil. If you haven't yet had your soil tested, consider doing it now or in the spring. Your county extension office will be able to test it or give you a recommendation for a lab nearby. Once you know what deficiencies your soil has, you will know what amendments to add. Your extension office will give you recommendations. For example, my soil was lacking calcium, and I added gypsum. This adds needed calcium and also helps loosen clay soil without affecting the pH level of my soil. At this point, I also add a light layer of cornmeal, which provides nitrogen and acts as a fungicide. (Don't do this if planting a fall crop, as cornmeal can inhibit some seeds.)
12. If you prefer to wait until spring to have your soil tested, it's still a good time to put down a layer of compost. You really can't go wrong by adding compost. It is good for all soil types and feeds your garden. That's why it's called gardener's black gold. If you don't have your own, you can buy it in bags at any garden store or even have a truckload delivered. Many areas even have composting facilities nearby.
    
    Put a layer on your gardens and around your plants, approximately two to three inches deep. Whether or not you till it into unplanted beds is personal choice.
13. Some gardeners prepare lasagna beds in fall, which will result in brand new beds without the need for tilling, or will improve the soil of existing beds.
14. Give your trees, shrubs and perennials one final watering before the ground freezes. This will give them plenty of moisture for the winter.
15. Now that you have everything cleaned up, it's time to bring in the garden hoses and tools. Clean, oil and sharpen your shovels, rakes and any other tools you've used. Drain your hoses and store in a shed, garage or basement.
16. Admire your hard work, knowing that garden work next spring will be a breeze...then spend your winter reading seed and plant catalogs!

Tips & Warnings

• Weeds are great to add to compost piles as long as they haven't gone to seed; weeds are often high in nutrients
• An easy way to sharpen shovels and other garden tools is to add clean oil (motor oil, vegetable oil) to a bucket of sand; "stab" the shovel end in and out of the sand several times. The bucket can be covered, stored and used again next year
• Do not add diseased plant trimmings to a compost pile
• Do not add weeds that have gone to seed to a compost pile unless you're an experienced composter