Have Fun With Spring Garden Planning

“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”

It’s spring, it’s spring, it’s spring! I love this time of year as its when I start to plan and get overly excited about garden planning. Although I’m still relatively new to this gardening thing, I’ve learned a few things these last few years, and it has since become a passion that helps with my anxiety and stress these days.

The last few days the bees have been making their way around my windows, which I take as a good sign to get ready for plants. Even though there may be snow, and my garden beds are covered in it, now is the time to get started. Without a solid plan, the time will come and go for deciding what you’re planting, are you buying seeds, or starting seeds, where will everything go, and so on. So, today I wanted to share my thoughts on prepping for your garden.

Before planning any garden, I highly recommend reviewing these 10 Common Garden Mistakes. I learned most of these the hard way, aka planting and failing at a nearly an entire growing season. It hurt my soul.

Now, on with my tips.

Plan your space
Take your morning coffee or tea outside and walk around your property. Regardless of the space you have available, there are always ways to maximize that space so you can grow as much as your area will allow. If you don’t already have your space created, you’ll want to think about your set up. Do you want traditional rows, raised garden beds, areas for shady plants, sunny spots for your hot crops, etc. You should also think about how you’re going to handle your weeds and ensure you can get in the space easily to keep your bed tidy.

Grow what you love
This seems like a no brainer, but what’s the point of growing vegetables you won’t even eat? Let your palate dictate your choices and plan those foods that you can’t wait to cook up for dinner. You should also consider what will grow well in your environment. Because I live in a difficult growing area, I typically plan for root vegetables and herbs.

Choosing seeds or buying transplants
Over the years I’ve learned that in my location, most of my vegetables grow better when I get transplants from a local nursery. Seeds are delicate in my harsh, bipolar spring weather and I also have a shorter growing season. I will start some flower seeds indoors but transplanting plants for my vegetables works better for me. Benefits of starting from seed allow you to have more diversity of plants, and you will certainly save money. The benefits of buying transplants are that it saves you time, it’s much easier and quicker, and it doesn’t require finding space in your home to manage seeds. So choose wisely friends.  

Understand your average first/last frost dates and zone details
Let’s be honest, plants are super picky about the weather. In some cases, you can get away with planting before or after these dates but a good rule to garden by is to follow the dates in your zone. The more info you can understand from your zone the better. I live in a zone 5 area and have a shorter growing season so I plan my veggies according to the time I have available to grow.  

Think about your watering game plan
If you’re creating a new space, please don’t wait until you’ve planted your garden, hit your first hot sunny day, and realize watering larger areas is a challenge. Depending on the space, will your garden hose work, do you need a sprinkler system, or will a simple watering can do the job? Make sure watering will be easy.

Give your soil a test
If this is your first garden or even second, I love the idea of doing a basic soil test. Having a soil test done will ensure you don’t have any serious issues before getting started. You can buy an at home test online and here are some great tips on how to use a soil test kit.  

Make sure you have all the tools needed for a long gardening day
Inspect those tools ahead of time and take time to repair or replace anything that will make your life harder. Be sure you have a good pair of gloves too. Keep it simple, you don’t need to invest a ton of money on tools. Just the basics.

Keep growing and planting records
I started keeping notes 2 years ago so I could remember all the details for that season. For example, what plants did/didn’t do well, when did I plant and was that enough time, did I start from seed of buy pre-started plants, what bugs did I have to deal with (awful pic below) and what helped get rid of them, what was the weather like, did we get a ton of hailstorms, etc. I even sketched out a drawing of where I planted each crop. The list goes on and on and the important callout here is to just keep track of it all. Get a journal and take copious notes.

Have fun
Yes, gardening can be hard work, but it can also be cathartic. It’s time away from your screen(s) and stress, and even better – it’s time outdoors, which has always been my happy place. There is simply nothing better than growing your own food.

“Plants make people happy.”

Peace & Love,
Nikki