A little over a month away, and yet you can almost feel it in the air: spring! While you can’t dive into the garden right now, there’s much you can do to alleviate your restlessness and ensure an upcoming season filled with floral success. Here’s what you can do to prepare the beds for spring…
Clean up
When spring arrives, pick up all fallen branches, and remove all damaged foliage and limbs from your plants. Most trees and shrubs can be pruned in February or March. Remove dead annuals and rake fallen leaves into your compost pile. Replace the old soil in pots, window boxes and containers. If you come across any plant that’s been displaced by thawing snow over the winter, gently push it back in its place. Remove any weeds that are tying to make their way into your garden.
Prepare Your Soil
If you didn’t add compost or other organic material into the soil in fall, it’s advisable that you get to it now. Aerating the soil in the planting beds helps enhance the absorption of nutrients and moisture. It’s also a good idea to get a soil sample so you know what nutrients your soil is lacking. Use a garden fork to loosen the soil in various places, taking care to avoid disturbing the roots. Apply a good fertilizer like Breck’s® Food for Bulbs and Perennials to garden beds to fertilize tulips, daffodils and other spring-flowering bulbs. This also happens to be the ideal time to start shopping for garden décor, repainting fences and trellises, and picking up flower supports for peonies and other bushy, big-blooming plants.
Prune
First, clean your tools! Your tools will have old dirt and debris that could spread disease. Clean with alcohol or a Clorox-water mixture. Cut back the perennials and prune deciduous shrubs, especially shrubs that bloom on new wood such as hydrangeas, butterfly bushes, roses and spirea.
Divide Perennials
Some perennials just get too big for your beds. Early spring or fall is a good time for dividing perennials such as daylilies, sedum, columbine, grasses, peonies and many more. Dig wide so you don’t hurt or cut too much of the roots. Lift the plant out of the ground and shake off the dirt. You can divide by using a knife, although you may need a shovel if the plant is large. Once you are done dividing, replant them as soon as possible. Or, if you are out of room, share with your neighbor!
By the time you’ve gotten these things covered, you won’t need to wonder what’s next—it’ll be time to get busy planting, and enjoying all your spring flowering bulbs!
