Prepare The Spring Garden !
Some Ideas For Your Spring Garden Preparations.
Here in my zone, it won’t be long until the cold weather goes away for a while, and will be replaced with the scorching temps that Southeast Texas is known for. In between those two extremes is the three week period known as Spring, when fair weather and sunshine prevail.
Until then the time is nye to make the preps for the long gardening season ahead. So here are some ideas to get you jump started. Oh and If your are still under the 6 week sentence of Punxsutawny Phil, adjust you times accordingly.
1. Order Some Seeds!
Get your seed catalogs out and order your new crops, get the beans, get the lettuce, get the melons , just get something! Also make sure you get the right crops for the right season! There is no way I can grow lettuce anytime after June in my area, its just way to hot.
2. Prepare the Planting Beds.
No matter if you till , or follow the no till, lasagna methods of bed prep, now is the time to start. I have loads of unraked leaves that haven’t made it to the compost pile yet, If you till, now is the time to work them in to the soil, They need time to break down properly.
Set up some raised beds, I have used concrete blocks landscape timbers, old tires, the possibilities are endless. Also set up any fencing to keep the pests and varmints out! Bird netting too, don’t forget the bird netting! Its a life saver.
3. Start Some Seeds!
When the seeds you ordered come in, or the seeds you saved from last years garden, you did save some seeds didn’t you? You’ll need to start the seeds. Some plants do better being direct seeded, others do better with a head start, tomatoes are one example.
You can use the “Mini-Greenhouse” kits you get at the box stores, or if you have a florescent light , and some space you can make a better homemade set up…Look for my post on this coming soon! Anyway, use some loose seed starting soil and get to it, In five to fifteen days the seeds will begin to sprout, keep the grow light close to the seedlings so they don’t get to leggy!
Before you plant the seedlings, let them acclimate outside for a few days, wait till the weather will cooperate, this will keep the new tender plants from getting “weather shock”.
Well I hope these ideas get you started on the way to a great garden this year, lemme know what you get planted when the time comes, I’ll keep ya’ll up to date too!
And as always , thanks for stopping by!
