Beginners Guide For Gardening: Spring Gardening Tips 2023

This post is a Beginners Guide For Gardening and Spring Gardening Tips! When early spring finally arrives I get eager to start my garden. Gardening is a great way to exercise, lift your spirits, and produce wholesome food for your family. But where do you start?

*The post; ‘Beginners Guide For Gardening: Spring Gardening Tips’ is a guest post by Brenda Anderson from Little Lost Creations

Planting a garden can be a fun and rewarding hobby that allows you to bring a little bit of nature into your own backyard. It gives you the opportunity to grow food for your family and friends. With a little bit of planning and preparation, you can turn your outdoor space (or indoor space!) into a thriving garden that provides fresh produce, and a sense of satisfaction! 

However, if you are new to gardening it can probably seem a little bit overwhelming. Where do you start? The best way to get started is just one step at a time!

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Beginners Guide For Gardening And Spring Gardening Tips

The first step to starting your garden is to decide where are the best planting area and outdoor space in your yard. Keep in mind you need to plan an area where your garden hose will reach (preferably with a Gilmour hose nozzle attached) and where your plants will get the best sunlight. There are some plants that can grow in the shade but most garden plants need full sunlight and a lot of sunny days.

Once you decide where to plant your spring garden there are many different ways to design your vegetable garden. Some people like container gardens, square gardens, or planters. We prefer to plant directly into the soil in a large area of our yard.

There are 3 important factors to think about when you are planting your garden

*The best condition of your soil. Composting is a great way to build up your soil and make it rich soil.

*The amount of water you have for your garden and how you will water it.

*The quality of the plants or the seeds you will plant.

 

 

The Quality of Your Garden and The Quantity of Food You Get Out Of Your Garden Will Depend On These 3 Things:

Once you decide what type of garden you would like to have it is time to choose your seeds. This can be fun but there are still some very important factors to consider. It is a good idea to do your research before starting your veggie garden.

The first thing to do is choose seeds that fit your area. The altitude in the area we live is 5600 Ft. so the type of seed we choose is essential. My husband says we have a 90-day growing season, too bad, it is not consecutively. We can freeze any day 12 months out of the year and we have to be careful because our last frost still hasn’t come yet.

Spring planting around here can be super tricky! We rarely have spring weather around here and have quite a bit of winter storms, ugh! It is always SO nice when the cold weather goes away and the warmer days of spring show up. Being cooped up in the house most of the LONG winter months can be so overwhelming!

Finding the right time to plant your garden takes a bit of planning and researching, but eventually, you will just know the exact time of year to plant your vegetable garden, tomato plants, and spring vegetables.

We look for seeds that have the shortest growing season possible and hope that it works. It is important to look at the area you live in and the length of you’re growing season. We also choose varieties of foods we know will grow here and avoid the rest. You can find garden seeds at your local garden center, or hardware stores, or order them online. I have bought our garden seeds at all these places and never had any issues.

Once you get your seeds picked out and your garden soil prepped you are ready to plant your seeds and new plants. Remember when planting those tiny seeds into the ground it is important to read the recommended planting instructions so you ensure you are planting them in the right place at the perfect time.

 

Keep in mind the size of the seed. If the seed is tiny you do not want to plant it too deeply. It takes a lot of energy for those young plants to push through the inches of mulch, and soil, and out of the ground. If the seed is large and you don’t plant it deep enough the seed will not sprout properly. Be sure and read the directions on the packet.

Also remember if you are planting carrots, beets, garlic, or anything that grows in the ground your soil needs to be tilled deep. The soil conditions need to be loose so the vegetables will be able to push through it as it grows so you get the optimal plant growth.

When we plant the start seeds in our garden we pack the soil lightly but firmly to ensure the seed will get moisture from the soil. We keep our garden slightly moist (not soggy soil, just moist), enough to water the seeds but not to make deep mud. Soil moisture is extremely important. This helps the seeds germinate.

 

If the soil dries out on the top it will crust making it hard for the seeds to poke through. If the seed gets too dry once it has sprouted it will die. Weeding can become tedious. The trick is to pull a little every day as you see them come up. My husband always says, “One year of weeds, seven years of seeds.” Meaning if you let the weeds go this year they will be worse the next year.

I would love to hear your comments. Do you think a garden is worth all the work? Leave me a comment below! If you liked this post then you will LOVE my newest post about 30 fun facts about gardening!

Good luck with you’re gardening adventure!