Early spring is a perfect time to start preparing for spring vegetable gardening. Do these 8 spring vegetable garden preparations before your last frost date and be prepared for a successful vegetable gardening season!
Feeling excited about Spring? Here is what you should do when you’re getting excited about spring gardening but the snow is still on the ground.
I know every winter I plan the perfect vegetable garden, then spring comes, life get’s super busy and my plan never comes full circle. I know this is true for you too because every beginner gardener feels this way!
So you want this year’s vegetable garden to be better, I get it. Here’s some of the things I recommend you start doing today to make your spring garden a success.
SPRING VEGETABLE GARDEN PREPARATIONS
I’m going to show you how to get organized and save time energy and money on your gardening efforts this year! Ready, let’s do this!
SAVE YOUR RECYCLABLES
Don’t waste your money on seed starting materials and pots this year. Be smart with your recyclables in winter and early spring by saving them for growing season. Here are some things you need to keep for seed starters!
PLASTIC 4 LITRE MILK JUGS
Have you tried winter sowing yet? We did this last year and it was a great way to beat the winter blues and get excited for the spring season!
Read how to do winter sowing here.
YOGHURT CONTAINERS
EGG CARTONS
PLASTIC CLAM SHELL CONTAINERS
SOAP BOXES
Learn how you can use recycled soap boxes for a DIY Seed Starter
SAVE KITCHEN SCRAPS
Although it’s advised to add compost and manure to soil in the fall for winter mulching it can still be added before planting. Adding kitchen scraps to your soil is a great way to add nutrients and improve germination.
BANANA PEELS– blend to increase decomposition
COFFEE GRINDS– Store in an airtight container
EGG SHELLS – blend and store in an airtight container
ORGANIZE SEEDS
Organizing your seeds now will help you be prepared come planting season. Some ways you can organize your seeds is by category and planting time.
- I like to start organizing my seeds by placing them in piles on my kitchen table. Lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, beans, peas etc.
- Then I sort them into rows of when I can plant them.
- Then I sort them into rows of direct sowing and indoor seed starting
This is the ultimate seed storage solution!
I love the colour coding!
Red- Heat Loving Plants; Tomatoes, Peppers to start indoors
Orange/Yellow: Direct Sow after last frost, Zucchini, Pumpkin, Squash,
Green: Early Starts like Lettuce, Peas, Kale, Collards ….
Blue: Fall/Winter Garden
Turquoise: Butterfly Garden
Purple: Herbs
BUY IT HERE!
WRITE SEED SCHEDULE
I then use these piles to write out my seed schedule.
Not sure where your seeds fit, when to plant what and how to plant it?
I highly recommend downloading this Excel Seed Starting Schedule using your last frost date.
SEED STARTING PLANNER FOR ANY ZONE
ORDER SEEDS
Use your gardening zone guide to determine what you want to plant and when you should plant it. If you don’t have enough seeds then I’ll place an order for heirloom seeds or add it to your shopping list for your local seed swap.
These are the seeds I plant every year!
PLAN GARDEN LAYOUT
Once you’ve determined what you want to plant and when it plant it, it’s time to figure out where you’re going to plant those vegetables!
More about our no till gardening method
START SEEDS INDOORS
Now you can start planting those indoor seeds and also start making some DIY seed projects to make spring planting much easier.
Learn how to make DIY seed paper here
ATTEND A SEEDY SATURDAY
Have you attended a seed swap event? They are thrilling! It’s a super social, educational and exciting way to get prepared for vegetable gardening season. But, it’s super easy to get overwhelmed. Trust me I know, last year I left with nothing because I wasn’t prepared and didn’t know where to start.
Don’t let that be you. Use the worksheets I’ve created to go through this process and BE PREPARED for a successful vegetable gardening season!
DOWNLOAD THE VEGGIE GARDEN WORKBOOK NOW
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