Getting Your Outdoor Garden Ready For Spring

The months of spring are almost upon us. This means getting ready to plant new seeds in your herb garden for the upcoming season. While some people will simply plant their seeds directly into the soil, it is a good idea to prepare your soil first. Remember, the more preparation you invest in before planting, the better your herbs will grow. This is a good idea whether you are preparing for a new planting, or your garden is ready to sprout for a new season.

Digging in for a New Planting

If you are planting for a new herb garden, take the time to completely dig up the soil. You only want to dig down about a foot. You need enough depth to prepare the ground completely. After the soil is out of the ground, line the bottom of the trench with small to medium sized rocks. River rocks are really good for this because they stack tightly enough to keep soil from getting in between them. The importance of the rocks is to allow excess water to drain away from you're her garden.
The next thing to do is mix the soil. You should make sure the soil has the right amount of nutrients in it by mixing the dirt with potting soil. You should also mix in sand and a few tablespoons of lime. The sand will make sure just the right amount of water is being retained. The lime will give the soil the right amount of acidity. This mixture of soil will make sure your herbs will have just the right environment to be able to grow.

Planting New Seeds

When you fill in the trench for your herb garden, make sure you leave the last inch open. Follow the specific instructions for the herbs you are planting. If there are no instructions, make sure you plant all seeds at least an inch and a half apart. This will give the roots of the plants enough room to grow. Crowded herbs will choke the others out and steal the nutrients from the soil. When covering the seeds, do not pack the soil tightly. This will give the sprouts a chance to poke through the soil once they germinate.

Soil Cover is Important

No matter is you are planting new, or maintaining an existing herb garden, you need to invest in good soil cover. This prevents top soil from being washed away. It also helps to prevent pests from invading your plants. There is no better way to help you grow your herbs organically. Use something like light straw which has been stripped of seeds and possible pests. If you have old straw, clear it away before placing new straw. If you keep piling more straw in your herb garden, you will choke your plants.
Once spring is in full effect, you will be able to enjoy your new herb garden as it sprouts from the Earth. By following this advice every year, you will have a garden you will be able to keep enjoying year after year.

Developing Perfect Garden Soil for Herbs

When looking to grow herbs, one of the most important elements is the garden soil you will be using. Not enough can be said about preparing a bed in order to plant a successful garden. This is just as important whether you are starting your first herb garden, or preparing your existing garden for the spring and summer to come. This is dedicated to the growing of herbs outdoors. I will get into pot gardening in a later blog post. Stay tuned for that. In order to make things easier, this post is separated into a section on preparing a new bed and a section on preparing existing beds. Follow these instructions and you will be ready to get started with your herb garden come spring time.

Preparing a New Bed

 The first thing needed when preparing a new bed is to completely eliminate weed seed from the garden soil. This is important so you will not have to be weeding your garden right after planting when it can disrupt the ability of your herbs to create proper root structures. The process to get rid of weeds does not have to include a lot of weed killer. This will develop a bed which is wrought with chemicals. The herbs you grow will have reminisces of the chemicals left in them. Since this is unnecessary, there is no need to even go this route.

Consider the soil you have before getting started. If you have a hardy soil, attack it right after an early winter rain. Use a shovel to dig deeply. Remove any weeds you see right away and dispose of them properly to protect the rest of your garden. If you have light soil, you will do better to wait until the early spring in order to do the same thing. After digging up the soil, cover the entire area with a 400 grade black plastic sheet. This will prevent light from getting to any weed seeds which persist. Make sure to cover for at least one month before planting.

Preparing an Existing BedThe best time to remove weeds from existing garden soil for herbs is during spring. You will do best to wait until the weather has warmed up a little bit. This will make it easier to remove the weeds without disturbing your herbs too much. This is also a good time to check the nutrient content of your soil. While herb plants prefer a low nutrient soil, there still needs to be some nutrients available. A good idea to get your soil tested is to take it in to your local nursery.

Once your garden is free of weeds you can see, cover the soil bed in order to prevent seeds from growing. This is easily accomplished with mulch. Over this, apply a barrier to keep even more weeds from growing. This can consist of a permeable plastic film, gravel, coconut coir, cocoa shells or leaf mold. No matter what you use, make sure you leave room around the stem in order for the root system to be able to breathe. Once the garden soil is properly prepared, you will develop a much better harvest.