Spring Cleaning in the Garden!

It’s been a while since I’ve written a post, but now spring has basically arrived so hopefully the posts will become more frequent as a result. I’m happy to report that spring cleaning in the garden has officially begun. I have spent a few days cleaning out beds. The garden has looked awful all winter, but the plants had rooted themselves so much that they couldn’t be yanked out of the ground very easily last fall. Now that the ground has defrosted, pulling the old vegetable plants and new weeds is a breeze. 

I am one of those people who is tired of the garden once the first freeze in the fall hits, but am reinvigorated by the next spring. Excited is the best way to explain my current mindset, so I’m diving in with both feet.

For anyone who read last year’s blogs about seeds, you might remember that I swore I would never buy seeds at box stores or commercial outdoor stores ever again. I did buy some flower seeds to experiment with in a bed by the house, but all of my vegetable seeds came from Seed Savers Exchange. I feel like their prices were good and not much more than those of the box stores. The only thing I did forget to order were squash seeds, but am comfortable getting those at my local nursery. 

The vegetable seeds consist of those I would plant directly in the garden as I did not opt to start tomatoes or peppers from seed this year. The plan is to buy plant starts instead. (My husband didn’t want to deal with maneuvering around the seed trays and grow lights in our garage this year.) In addition to seeds, I wanted to add more strawberries and new blueberry plants. I’m not sure if the strawberries I planted last year will come back or not. On the flip side, I am certain the blueberries were choked out by weeds as they were not planted in the raised beds, but along some fencing. Even though the real estate in the raised beds is precious, I have decided to utilize space there for the blueberries. Before making my order, I checked the local extension office to understand which varieties grow best in this area and chose to purchase those versus what is sold at my local garden centers. This is a fantastic resource for anyone unsure of what species work best in their area. There were articles regarding just about any kind of fruit or vegetable someone might want to grow and the information extends far beyond recommended species to include lots of detail around growing, harvesting, etc. I wish I had thought to research their articles sooner! We have learned some expense lessons over the years and found that unless the garden center is “Mom and Pop”, the plants for sale may not be ideal for the local environment. More to come on all of this. 

Last year, I did not have near enough compost throughout the season, so tomorrow, there is a dump truck load of compost being delivered. According to the landscaping company it was purchased through, the truckload equates to 15 square yards. The woman on the phone stated that 1 square yard will cover about 100 square feet, 2 inches depth. I felt like I needed much more than that, not just for preparing the beds initially, but throughout the gardening season. We shall see.