Five Gardening Tips To Prepare For Spring

Oct 03rd 2019

Planning for a spring garden starts early, especially for those with a green thumb itching to get back to gardening. There are a few key steps both amateurs and experts alike can take during the winter to get their gardens ready for the onset of the spring season. 

Follow these five tips from Evergreen Lawn Care, a lawn service in Gainesville, FL, to ensure your garden looks the very best for spring! For additional information about lawn maintenance or to schedule landscaping services, contact us today!

Test The Soil

Perfect spring gardens start with the best soil. It’s important to test your soil to see if it needs any additional minerals or nutrients or an adjustment in the acidity or alkalinity levels. These levels are measured through pH, and a pH reading under 7 is acidic and above 7 is alkaline. Knowing the pH of your soil is important because it influences the availability of nutrients. To test the soil, gardeners can use an at-home kit or contact a local lawn care company for a more detailed analysis. 

Clean Your Garden

Fall and winter mean dead leaves and branches strewn all over the ground, leaving a messy garden for you to deal with. Before planting any new bulbs, it’s vital to clear all the debris from the garden, including leaves, sticks, branches, and other heavy objects that could prevent new plants and foliage from growing in the springtime. 

Plant Perennials & Biennials Early

Get a head start on planting your favorite native perennial and biennial plant species so their roots can properly establish into the ground. Perennial plants last more than two or three years while biennials take two years to grow and flourish, though the exact time period is commonly debated among plant enthusiasts. Some recommended perennials and biennials for Florida landscapes include bougainvillea, firebrush, and beach sunflower. 

Scatter Seeds

Don’t wait till it’s too late to scatter seeds — get started early while winter is in full swing. Many seeds require a period of cold before they sprout. The optimal seeds to use during the wintertime are onions (green and shallot), radishes, turnips, and peas. By the time spring arrives, the seedlings will be ready to sprout. You can also sow seeds in a container serving as a miniature greenhouse, then later put the seeds into the ground. While this is more intensive than direct sowing, using the containers ensures the soil will warm faster.

Prepare Soil For Planting

Once the soil is dry enough and ready for planting, the fun begins. There are a few key steps to preparing the soil before planting bulbs or spring plants. First, make sure to edge all the beds with a flat-bladed spade or lawn edger. It’s important to cut clean edges where the beds meet the lawn and cut deeply enough to separate grass roots in the bed. Weeds are a bad time for everyone so be sure to apply a weed preventer to eliminate new weeds before they pop up. Be proactive about trimming trees that lose their leaves each year and do it while they’re dormant. If you have fruit trees in your garden, make sure to prune them as late in winter as possible and remember young trees are more prone to damage. 

If you need help getting everything ready for the spring season, Evergreen Lawn Care offers a myriad of lawn services that can help you achieve your perfect Florida garden.