How to Prepare for Spring Gardening

Last year in January I wrote a post along a similar vein to the title of this post you’re about to read. This is the time of year when I yearn for longer and warmer days. My garden is my stress relief and it’s just not as pleasant being out there on those cold grey winter days! In early December, I found myself on our local library system site placing holds on various gardening books. I will be sharing those books later this month but they have given me so much inspiration for my garden which is just what I look for in these early cold months of the year!

After New Year’s Day, I am in planning mode for my Spring and Summer garden and I’ve realized that I wanted to add more to my previous post. So, there will be some repeats from the last post but I’m also adding some new things that I have found useful when planning!

How to Prepare for Spring Gardening

1. Get Inspired

The dark Winter months can feel like the longest of the year. The garden looks as bleak as the weather and I just need some inspiration this time of year. As I mentioned in the intro, I have been checking out lots of gardening books from the library. I wanted to get inspiration and learn at the same time and they have done the trick! I’ve also been watching gardening videos and looking back at photos and videos of my garden!

Getting inspired gets me even more excited about gardening. Inspiration is the thing that kicks off my planning process and keeps me wanting to learn and try new and different things!

2. Start a Gardening Journal

I started my first garden journal a few years ago. Until now, I start the journal but then kind of let it go by the wayside and forget about it until the next gardening season. This year I want to keep up with my journal and fill it with notes and tracking of various things such as the variety of veggies and flowers that I am growing. Gardening journals can help you learn from year to year as your notes are going to be invaluable in the depths of Winter when you are trying to visualize your next gardening season!

I use an old bullet journal I have on hand. It is beautiful and from Archer & Olive.

3. Make a plan

January is the perfect time to start to plan your garden. I like to start with creating some gardening goals for myself. You can see what mine are in my previous 2024 Goals post. This is the time that I make the list of garden projects to do as well.

Next, I decide what I want to grow in the coming year. I look at some seed catalogs and look through my seed stash. I also like to look at my garden plan to ensure I have space for everything. This helps me get a rough idea of where I will be planting everything. I should mention that I do all of this in my gardening journal so that I have all my notes in one place. I even do a rough sketch of the planting areas in the backyard!

January is when the plan for the gardening season ahead takes shape. It helps get me through some of those Wintertime blues.

4. Take inventory of your Gardening Tools

I mentioned this in the previous post but it is super helpful. Make sure you get into your tool shed and check out the state of your gardening tools. This way you know which ones need to be repaired, cleaned, or replaced.

5. Get Your Soil Tested

Getting your soil tested is a great way to know what nutrients it might be lacking. This way you know how to amend it for your future plants in the Spring! We have a community program that will do up to 5 tests for free! You can google soil testing to see what is available in your area!

6. Clean up the Garden Beds and Pots

If you didn’t get around to cleaning up your garden in the Fall, there is no time like the present! Get your beds mulched and de-weeded so that they are ready for planting come Spring!