Spring is coming in just a few weeks! And soon all gardeners are busy sowing, growing and raising their plants. Exhaust these soft winter months to make your garden back to life. Get a head start for your gardening year.
Here are the top 10 Tips In Preparing Your Garden For Spring:
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Make An Order of Summer-flowering bulbs and seeds
Spring is the perfect time for summer-flowering bulbs and seeds. Order flowers like lilies, gladioli, and ranunculi seeds while its winter to be ready for early-spring setting.
Make the most of your time indoors in the winter time. Browse catalogs or search on the internet for new ideas for your garden. List down new varieties of seeds you want to grow this year.
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Clean up your Flower Beds and Borders
Make a general cleaning of your garden. Remove dried leaves, debris, and other unnecessary clutters. You can remove the dead deciduous grasses and herbaceous perennials but you can leave it until spring if you’d like to be wildlife friendly.
Clear out borders and bedding back to bare soil. You can use the dead organic matters as your compost pile. Eliminate weed and burn them or throw it in the brown bin. Do not add weeds on your compost as they will cause germination.
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Clean and Wash Your Green House
This is the perfect time to tidy up your greenhouse to prepare for your new seedlings. Wash out and disinfect the surroundings to remove algae, mosses, and general grime. In this way, light has more space to come in while preventing pests and other plant diseases during growing time.
Wipe up any plant debris and wash out with a hot solution of garden disinfectant. Also, wash pots and seed trays to avoid diseases that can infect young plants. Make sure to make room for ventilation so the whole greenhouse dries up completely.
Once your greenhouse is clean, you’ll be able to see clearly if there are any broken glasses or vents that need replacement.
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Plant any Seeds that Need a Long Season
You can start planting seeds that need a longer season to grow in January and February. Plants like geraniums, begonias, antirrhinums, peppers, and aubergines can be your good choice. They’ll have to be started in a heated propagator to ensure growth.
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Hunt down and Eliminate Garden Pests
As much as possible hunt down and eliminate hibernating pests. This will save you a lot of trouble in the coming spring and summer. As pests tend to be dormant in cold season. It will be easy for you to eliminate them.
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Install Water Butts to Collect Rainwater
Most rain falls in winter. So it is a perfect time to install water butts and start gathering rainwater. When hot summer time comes in and there is a water shortage, water company provider resort to groundwater reserves and even streams. Which is harmful to the environment and equally costly for the consumer. Storing rainwater do not only let you save up money but is environmentally friendly at the same time.
By the way, rainwater is the best water for plants such as camellias, rhododendrons, and blueberries, since tap water is somewhat alkaline.
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Transfer Deciduous Shrubs
Relocating deciduous shrubs is a good task in winter as they are still dormant. Make sure to transfer them on a still day time to avoid wind from drying our the roots.
Make sure to take as much root as possible when transferring your plant so it can re-establish itself quickly as possible on its new location. Keep in mind to bore it the same level at it was and water it well.
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Check out Fences, Gates, and Trellis
Before spring comes in, give your fences, gates, and trellis maintenance. Winter is an ideal time to check out those niggly fences for any damages or decay. Fixing your structures ahead of time will give you more time for your garden in spring.
Replace any broken or damaged structures. Then clean your gates to remove dirt and mildew. Let the wood dry completely before applying any paint or wood preservatives.
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Give Your Gardening Tools a Sharpening
Clean and sharpen your tools in winter to keep it prepared before springtime. Maintaining your tools helps to preserve them and save you money in the long run. Dirty tools are a place for bacteria and fungi to live in.
You can use a strong solution to give your blades a thorough cleaning. Sharpened tools also give improved performance.
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Build a Composting Area
You can buy a compost bin or you can DIY it using spare materials on your garden. A compost area is a specific place for you to put your organic waste. It keeps your garden organized. Just make sure to have a good mixture of grass clippings, papers, prunings, and vegetable peels. Your plants will benefit greatly from it. Always turn your compost with a garden fork each month to help the process.
Bonus Tip!
As you jot down the lists of the new varieties you want to nurture, be sure also to prepare your markers to keep you posted on what you have just sowed.
MCG BioMarkers® are a great choice for marking. Since these markers are organic, steady, has weatherproof labels, easy to move and reusable, it does not only help you keep track of your plant but also help you save money in the long run. It also adds color and art to your garden.
Be sure to visit MCG BioMarkers® website to have the colors of your choice. Happy Gardening!
