Not too early to start your preparing for spring garden work

Even though the current temperatures may not show it, Spring is right around the corner and now is a good time to start thinking about getting your garden ready for planting.

One of the first, and easiest things to do to start preparing is getting out your garden tools and checking them over to make sure they’re in good shape for the start of planting season. Spades and hoes should be sharp to dig more easily and all the tools should be cleaned and ready to go.

A lot of seeds don’t do well simply planted in the garden. Starting seedlings a few weeks before planting can ensure a good start for everything from flowers to tomatoes, and you don’t have to invest a lot of money in getting them started.

You could purchase peat pots or seedling pods, but there are economical and practically free ways to start your seedlings.

For instance, you can use newspaper to make small boxes and fill them with potting soil to plant in. The newspaper will break down in the garden, acting as mulch.

Save your eggshells and use them to plant with. The shells break down adding calcium to your garden soil. You can also use toilet paper rolls, egg cartons, ice cube trays, yogurt containers, paper cups and even orange or grapefruit halves for planting.

The great thing about most of these planting ideas is they can go directly into the ground without disturbing the tiny plants. Planting two or three seeds in each of your chosen containers ups your chances of at least one plant taking root.

If you decide to start your seedlings indoors, its also a good idea to place them all in a pan with an edge, that way, you can water from the top and the bottom, allowing the plants to pull the moisture up at root level.

Its a good idea to keep them covered loosly with plastic wrap or clear plastic bags until the seeds germinate, creating your own little individual green houses. And light is a must, keeping the seedlings between 65 and 75 degrees for germination.

Another right of Spring is working the soil in your garden.

This is something you want to do after the ground has dried a bit. Trying to work the soil when its still soaking wet from melting snow doesn’t work well as it can actually compact the soil further.

So how do we know if the soil is ready to be worked?

Pick up a handful and squeeze it together to form a ball. If the ball easily falls apart by pressing your fingers against it or dropping it, its dry enough to dig. If it keeps its shape or breaks with difficulty into solid sections rather than loose soil, it still has too much water in it.

Once it is dry enough to work you can add whatever you need to the soil to create a nutrient rich environment.

You can add compost, manure or mulch and work it through the soil before putting your seedlings or plants into the ground.

If you want to know exactly what your soil needs for your plants to grow successfully, have a soil test done. They can let you know what the pH is, whether your soil is acidic, neutral or alkaline, and what you need to add to it for proper growth.