What About Your Spring Garden?

Written by Karen @ To Work With My Hands, Contributing Writer

What about your spring garden?

Even though it’s still cold outside, it’s not too early to think about and start planning! Starting now gives you a fun distraction from the chilly temperatures, lays the foundation for a more successful garden, and can save you a lot of money.

Let’s Get Distracted:

I’m sure there are those who adore winter. I am not one of those people. While I’m grateful we have seasons and there are wonderful celebrations and beautiful scenery in each of them – even winter – I personally spend most of every winter very uncomfortable. I’m ridiculously cold-natured and if we keep the house temperature where I like it, some of my family is sweating! This is true.

I’ve learned a few ways to cope, however, and focusing on spring is one of them. If you’re a gardener, you can’t even mention spring without thinking of tender green growing plants. Getting a head start on the garden now is a great way to be distracted from the bone-chilling cold and sometimes bleak days of winter.

Lay the Foundation for Success:

As with most anything, good planning lays the foundation for a more successful gardening year. Deciding what you want to grow, learning their preferred growing conditions, finding out when to start indoors and when to move outdoors, choosing any special growing structures that may be needed, and calculating when you can expect a harvest are all things to take into consideration before spring arrives.

Determining all of these aspects of the spring garden and pulling out your calendar will keep you on track for maximum yield by having your plants and garden ready at the optimal time.

Save some Money

Gardening in and of itself is a great way to save money on your grocery budget, but if you aren’t deliberate about how you do it, you could actually end up still spending quite a bit of money.

One of the very best ways to save money on garden plants is to start them yourself from seeds, and if you grow open-pollinated varieties of plants, you can save even more money by saving seeds from your own garden year after year.

Planning ahead can also save money by giving you the time to find unconventional supplies. Will you need trellis supports or growing cages? If you wait until spring you probably will only have enough time to purchase whatever your home improvement store or nursery sells. Start planning in winter, and you have time to consider what you may already have (or what you can find in a thrift store now that you are thinking about gardening structures) that would work well for a fraction of the cost.

So how to start planning now?

First, consider your growing plans. Do you already have a garden area? Will you need to start one from scratch? Will you garden on a deck or patio? Will you grow some or all of your garden in containers? How much sunlight will your garden get? How will you water? Do you need to amend your soil?

The answers to these questions will shape your plans.

Next, decide what you’ll grow. Peruse online garden suppliers or seed catalogs and choose vegetables, herbs, and flowers you want to grow based on your growing plans. Two of my favorite suppliers are:

Both companies offer open-pollinated and organic seeds and have a large selection to choose from.

Once you have your seeds selected and purchased, get out your calendar and determine when you’ll need to move your plants outdoors. Check your seed packets for information on how long seeds take to germinate, and when they can be transplanted into the garden.

Using the last frost date for your garden zone, count backwards on your calendar for the specific requirements of each plant. Then you’ll know when to start them.

I’ve just finished a 4-part series on starting herbs from seed and it contains detailed information on how to start with a packet of seeds and end with strong and vibrant herb plants that are ready for the spring garden.

Finally, you can go ahead and get started growing your garden! Gardening has some basic principles, but each garden is as unique as the gardener. Spend some time now planning and dreaming about your spring garden and before you know it, you’ll be enjoying the results of your efforts during the frosty days of winter!