It’s Time to Spring into those Gardening Projects

It’s spring! Time to step outside onto your porch or deck, wander around in your yard, and gaze at your garden area. Now is the time to start to envision your outdoor living areas and ponder the first steps toward creating this year’s garden.

Last fall we talked about weeding, clean up and adding mulch to your garden. If you missed those steps or even if you didn’t, spring is the perfect time to fluff up your soil and add some mulch or compost. Keeping your soil healthy is key to a successful garden: Soil is the foundation that keeps your plants robust and happy, and this helps keep pests and disease at bay, as they find their way to plants that are weak.

So, as spring arrives and our Eastlake gardens awaken, we want to be mindful of our pollinators. Early blooming plants provide food for them after their hibernation or migration. Pollination gives us our fruits, berries and nuts as well as supporting a healthy ecosystem. So, in honor of the faithful pollinators, you may want to consider adding some fruit trees or blueberry bushes to your landscape. If your space is limited, use the columnar apple variety which is a delicious vertical growing apple that I mentioned in the fall article and, if you plant blueberries, plant two of different varieties and keep them near each other – this helps with production.

If you are planting a vegetable garden this year, you will want to wait until after our last freeze. This tends to happen late March or early April and once it has past it’s open season on vegetable planting! So carve out your space now. If you have a parking strip in front of your residence, this can be a perfect place for a raised vegetable bed. If you want to forge ahead before the final freeze, you can plant a variety of perennial herbs such as rosemary, thyme, lavender, marjoram, oregano or mint. You will be glad that you added some of these to your garden. There is nothing better than fresh herbs for cooking or to add a little festivity to a summer beverage. Herbs grow beautifully in pots as well, so consider them and create a little entry potager.

Our local nurseries have lots of textured perennials, bulbs for spring color for porch or deck pots and fragrant Daphne and Sarcococca for your garden. Imagine if we all had one or two of these scented beauties in our yards, Eastlake would smell amazing every February!
Spring is a time of new beginnings, so even if you have never planted or potted your own garden, this could be the time to contribute to our Eastlake ecosystem by adding a few new plants this season.

Happy Gardening, Eastlake!