We’re dying to get in the garden!
As we approach spring, the warmer days might have you itching to start gardening.
Jerry Goodspeed, from USU Botanical Gardens, shares a few things we should be doing right now to prepare to get in the garden.
1. Soil Preparation
The first thing on our pre-spring gardening checklist is soil preparation. If your soil has dried out enough, now is the time to start prepping.
“You can tell if your soil is dry enough by grabbing some and squeezing it. If you get a lot of water running out, then it’s not time yet,” Jerry advised.
If it is dry enough, adding any kind of organic matter is the best thing you can do. You can work in leaves, or, go to your local garden center and get compost or seasoned manure.
“Prepping your soil will create better drainage and better structure for your. Plants love structure in the soil, so you’ve go to have that,” Jerry said.
2. Planning Your Garden
The next item on our checklist is something we can do no matter the status of our soil or the weather. We can plan the garden. It doesn’t take much… just do a general plan of where each type of plant will go.
“I keep that garden plan because then when I go to the nursery, I know how much seed I need,” Jerry said.
3. Purchasing Seeds
Once you have your plan and know what you want to buy, you can start getting your seeds. Now is actually a pretty good time to get them before the one’s you want are sold out.
4. Early Planting
Some crops can be planted early. Peas and onions can go in the ground right now.
“Give it about two to three weeks and then we can start looking at lettuce, spinach… what we call hardy vegetables. Then we can get them in the ground,” Jerry explained.
Crops to Plant Now
- Broccoli
- Onions
- Lettuce
- Spinach
- Cauliflower
Whether you want to start from seeds or starters depends on the plant.
“I like to do as much seed as I can because then I can get the varieties I want,” Jerry said.
If you’re starting from seed and you want to start your tomatoes at the end of March, start them in a pot in the house. Then, come the first part of May, you’ve got a plant ready to go in the ground.
If you don’t want to start your own plants, wait until later in the year to hit the nursery and see what starters they have.
Find more gardening advice at extension.usu.edu/garden.
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