With the snow melting, the grass growing, and the birds chirping, we’re in the mood for some Spring Gardening! How about you? Are you itching to get outside and play in the dirt? To start planting?
Gardening is a great way to relieve stress, increase mindfulness, and connect with nature, all while getting a tan!
We’ve compiled our 8 Best Spring Gardening Tips to get you in the mood to get outside!
1. Mulch - Blueberries’ Best Friend
Blueberries love mulch. Period. Mulch keeps the blueberry plant moist this gives the plant the acidic environment it knows and loves. Get a truckload of mulch delivered to your property today! It even helps to tidy up the look of your garden!
Too much mulch? Not to worry! Rhododendrons and Azaleas love mulch just as much as Blueberries do!
2. Save your eggshells!
3. Put your Old Copper Pennies to Use!
Pennies are the 1 cent coin of Canada… or they were. They’re no longer of use in the Canadian economy. Luckily, we still have a use for them. Our old copper pennies go straight to the Hosta flowers - they work wonders at keeping slugs away! If you don’t have old copper pennies laying around, copper tape will do! Just circle the base of your plant with it and the slugs will stay away.
4. Lasagna Gardening is your best friend
Lasagna what? Yup, you heard me… lasagna gardening. Its an old trick where you essentially make layers in your garden. Start with a layer of old newspaper or cardboard directly on the ground. Then you simply add dirt and/or mulch on top. The idea is the layers keep the weeds away. When the weeds do grow up (as we know they will), just continue the lasagna. Grab your newspaper or cardboard and layer away.
You can also use a variety of other layers including old leaves, chicken poop, peat, grass clippings or pine needles!
Spring is a great time to start planning and planting your veggie garden. The secret to great veggies year after year? Rotate your veggie beds. This means change the crop you planted in each bed. For example, if you planted carrots at the top of your garden last year, plant zucchini there this year. Some expert gardeners will say to rotate the type of crop in each bed… but for us, we’re happy enough just rotating randomly.
6. Boost your buds
Want your roses to light up the garden? If you’re planting a new rose plant this year, don’t plant until you have an egg and a banana by your side. Once you have a hole dug, place your banana and egg side by side. Then, plant the rose plant on top. Cover with soil and let the magic happen!
The combination of an egg and a banana provide all the nutrients for the plant. This secret even works well for buds of the green variety.
7. Raise your Beds
A raised bed is simply just that - a garden bed that is raised. Often times people will pull the soil into a pile and then surround it with a wooden barrier. For us, we love making a large rectangle wooden box, and then piling soil into it. We’ve even used fallen trees for the barriers of our raised beds.
Raised beds are a fantastic way to grow flowers where the underground is less than ideal for growing - AKA rocks. Raised beds allow water to filter through the bed easily and less weeds grow as it is more contained. We love our raised beds for planting our cosmos and pansies!
8. Start up your Compost
One way or another, we suggest getting a compost pile going this Spring! Add your food leftovers, fruit/veggie peels, coffee grounds, tea leaves, grass clippings. Add some plant prunings and even some cardboard egg containers. I assure you, with little effort you’ll have a bragg-worthy compost in no time!
I hope our 8 Best Spring Gardening Tips have got you all excited about getting outside and playing in the dirt. May the gardening gods be forever in your favour…
BONUS TIP: This one is from pappy-o. His #1 Spring Gardening Tip is to grab a cold beer after a hard day’s work in the gardens and to admire your accomplishments.