7 Steps To Prepare Before Garden Season

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How do you prepare before the garden season begins? After a long winter, the initial beginning of the garden season can seem a bit overwhelming. But by following these simple steps, you can prepare before the garden season begins to reduce the overwhelm and get into the rhythm.

With just a bit of organizing and preparing, all the garden prepping can happen really smoothly. Preparing ahead will reduce stress and overwhelm.

7 Steps to Better Prepare Before Garden Season

1) Start Early and Create a plan

Garden season doesn’t just begin in late March or early April. Depending on where you live, there will be a specific time when you should start planting. But before you can plant, other garden chores should be in order.

Here in Tennessee, I begin prepping for the garden season right after Christmas and New Year’s. We can start cool planting season crops such as cabbages, onions, and beets as early as mid-February.

Planning ahead is key to avoiding the overwhelm when the garden season finally arrives. Make a plan or list of gardening chores that you can think of and write them down.

Using a garden checklist, you may be able to do, on sunny winter days, some things ahead of time to get them out of the way. For example:

• Cleaning debris off the top of garden soil
• Picking up fallen limbs and such in the garden area
• Check on fencing parameters for signs of needed repair
• Take a look and make a list of items, such as cages, trellises, tools, etc., that may need to be replaced or repaired. These could go on sale closer to garden season to save money.
• Stock up on strings, twines, fencing materials, etc

Remember, working on items for only 15 minutes daily can go a long way in getting things done on time.

2) Choose the Best Vegetables to Grow

Deciding in advance and making a list of what to grow in your spring garden will get you way ahead in preparing for garden season.

Order seeds early and have them on hand, so when it’s time to start them indoors, you will have them.

RELATED: Even if you’ve never gardened before, this Vegetable Gardening for Beginners Ultimate Guide is for you! Learn everything you need to know from over 60 resources, all in one place, to be a successful gardener, including improving soil, cover crops, warm and cool season crops, organic amendments, fertilizing, watering, garden pests and diseases and so much more.

Thumb through and take a look at your favorite seed catalogs and get your order in early. Many good reputable companies often run out of seeds if you wait too late. The best seed to buy and grow are Heirloom seeds.

Decide how many plants you need to grow. How Much To Plant Per Person For A Vegetable Garden will come in handy for helping you decide. Here is a list of 13 easy-grow vegetables you may be interested in.

What should be considered when deciding which vegetables to plant? Remember, if your family doesn’t eat it, don’t bother growing it—no need to take up valuable garden space for something that will not be eaten.

3) Have a Garden Journal Prepared

This is a must-do to prepare before the garden season. The first two items – 1) start early and create a written plan and 2) choose the best garden vegetable to grow. These notes should be kept inside a notebook or garden journal to refer back to each year.

It’s impossible to keep all the necessary records in our memory. So make a list of all your gardening jobs and plan them out.

In my garden diary, I’m always making notes. I keep planting maps of the garden each year so I can keep up with a proper crop rotation schedule.

I keep a list of rain amounts. This helps to know when I need to water the garden with irrigation. And anything else that is pertinent to the garden season. I make a new journal every year to help me keep and compare from year to year.

Here’s a list of 20 things to keep in your garden journal that can be helpful. And keeping all these records in one place will help to save money and time each gardening season.

As the years pass, you’ll learn what to track and keep in your daily garden diary.

Of course, some call them garden log books or garden trackers, too, so what you choose to call it is perfect. The most important thing is to keep one every year.

4) Start Seeds Indoors On Time

Another way to prepare before the garden season is to start seeds indoors. You’ve already ordered them and have them on hand. So there is no need to run late and cause overwhelm.

You can save a lot of money each year by starting your own seeds. The seed packet your seeds came in will tell you how many weeks prior to the last frost you should start them.

5). Repair & Ready Garden tools

If you have never started seeds indoors, you will need a grow light system, which can be pretty costly. But they don’t have to be if you build your own. By prepping early for garden season, you will have time to build one.

Another way to prepare for the garden season in advance is to closely inspect your garden equipment and make needed repairs or replacements.

Look garden tools over thoroughly. If a tool is broken, decide if it can be repaired or if it should be replaced.

If a tool is rusty, an easy way to remove rust is with a good stiff-bristle brush. And if it is too bad, it can be easily removed with this process. Rust can spread disease in your garden, so be sure to remove it. Otherwise, replace it.

Garden tools should also be sharp and not bent. If it is beyond repair, recycle it and put it in your garden journal to replace it when garden sales are taking place closer to spring. You’ll save yourself some money.

Your chores in the vegetable garden will be much smoother and easier with reliable garden tools and equipment to work with.

6). Organize and prepare Garden Shed

I’m guilty- our garage stays a horrible mess! And all my gardening supplies and equipment are inside it. So before the gardening season begins, I’m out there cleaning and moving things around to claim “my gardening corner.”

All those cardboard boxes and piles of stuff that have just been tossed in over the winter months have to move.

Digging through a bunch of broken-down cardboard boxes once the season begins is not a good thing. Trust me… I have learned this valuable lesson.

Taking the time to organize your small garden tools and equipment is a must. Otherwise, you’ll spend more time looking and searching only to realize what you are looking for is nowhere to be found!

7). Organize storage for fertilizers, Small Tools And Such

Keeping all your organic fertilizers such as Kelp Meals, Fish Emulsions, Bone Fish Meal, Neem Oils, and such in one place will also help to save time when you need them.

Down To Earth All Natural Fertilizers 07826 Down to Earth Fish Bone Meal-5 lb Fertilizer, BrownBonide 037321000242 Neem Oil Fungicide Miticide Insecticide Concentrate 16 fl. ozVIVOSUN Gardening Hand Pruner Pruning Shear with Straight Stailess Steel Blades (2Pack Orange)

 

There is nothing worse than digging around to find that bag of worm castings or organic compost, and when you do finally find it, there’s not enough!

Organizing these items in one place and checking to see what you need to purchase will help to prepare you for the gardening season.

Having a well-organized and decluttered garden shed/storage is a must.

Keeping everything in one place will save a lot of time when you are outside working in the vegetable garden and need a tool – you’ll know right where it is.

So there you have it! Isn’t it amazing how big of a deal simple things can make? Just a little bit of prepping ahead, and the garden season will be even more enjoyable.

What do you do to prepare before the garden season begins? I’d love to know.

more gardening tips you may like:

• How To Start A Garden in 10 Easy Steps
• How To Give Your Garden A Calcium Boost
• Create Healthy Soil For Your Garden
• 31 Best Flowers to Grow For The Vegetable Garden

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