Preparing garden beds for Spring
Spring is finally here! I don’ t know about you but I’ve had spring fever for like 3 months. I was so happy to get out into the garden yesterday to prepare my cool season beds for direct seeding.
There’s nothing like being prepared so the first step is to start out with a plan. In my garden I have 3 3x6 beds and 2 2x3 beds that I am devoting (mostly) to cool season crops. The smaller beds and some of the plants in the larger beds will be transplanted in a few weeks but carrots, radish, spinach, lettuce, and tatsoi are all direct seeded in my beds. I decided to just focus on the bigger beds today.
During the winter I layer in compost and cover with leaves. Before I can start planting I’ll need to remove the leaves and send them to the compost.
Each bed has about a wheelbarrow full of leaves.
Don’t throw them out! I move the leaves over to an empty compost bin. By this time next year, they’ll go back into the garden as finished compost.
Gently turn the soil over with a shovel.
Using quality compost or a compost/soil blend is a must. This is a 50/50 screened top soil & compost blend and it’s amazing!! Fill each bed to the top!
Then repeat! Give the beds a good water and you’re ready to plant according to your plan and each vegetable’s proper spacing. When I plant my seeds, I like to sprinkle some home made vermicompost on top, cover with my soil blend to the appropriate depth, and then give a good deep water. Seeds need to stay moist to germinate so I like to go out once a dayish to lightly water them.
Feels good to have seeds in the ground!! Soon it’ll be time to fill the beds out with the seedlings growing in the jugs.
Need help with a plan for your garden? Schedule your info session here to get started.
