Filed under: General Blog Entry's | Tags: Garden Maintenance, Gardening, Spring Gardening, Vegetable gardening
It’s been a long, cold Fall and Winter season! Now it’s February and Spring is right around the corner, and I don’t know about you, but I am ready! And now it’s time to get our gardens ready.
Prepping our Gardens correctly is the #1 thing that will help us to insure success over the upcoming growing season!
It takes a bit of work to do it right, BUT, the doing is my favorite part. It gets you out there, gets your hands dirty and gets you in tune with nature! This late Winter season and the “Pre quill” to Spring are actually my favorite times of the year. Watching how the tree buds swell in anticipation, watching the Daffodils emerge and brighten the landscape, hearing those peepers come out and sing on the first few warm nights, this is really a magical time of the year.
First things first – Clean Up! Get out the pruners, the leaf rake and the hoe. Cut back all last years dead foliage and rake up all the debris and leaf matter. Trim and prune those deciduous trees and shrubs and get rid of all the cuttings! Trim back your roses and vining plants on arbors and fences. Apply a coating of dormant oil to all your deciduous trees. Apply a fresh layer of mulch to your beds and trees, it will look great and it will protect your plants.
If you have a vegetable garden this is also a great time to perform a good clean up. I like to till the soil early and add in LOTS of good, organic soil amendments like Compost, Chicken manure, leaf mold, ash and lime. I always add some epson salt to my tomato beds and till the soil as deep as possible. This is a GREAT time of year to plant some cool season crops too. Turnips are quick to sow and will provide you with some delicious greens and vegetables. Other cool season crops to try : Carrots, lettuce, radishes, Brussels sprouts, beets, spinach and peas. All of these can be cultivated starting in early to mid February in our area and all of them will enhance your life to grow and eat them. If your not into early season gardening, your garden will be ready to re-till and plant come April for our warm season gardeners (Tomato’s, squash, beans, cucumbers, okra, etc…).
So it’s time folks! Get out there and enjoy the Abundance that our gardens bring to our lives! The season is upon us…
~ Mark Carter
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Carter's Water Garden 