Growing Herbs at HomeApr 10, 2024
It’s time to wake the soil! After a long winter, the fun of planting can begin. The early bird gets the worm (hopefully they’ll leave some for your beds), and with the effort you’ve put in over fall and winter, you can expect bigger and healthier plants come spring and summer!
Do some spring cleaning on your beds by removing dead plant matter and adding compost to them. Pull any nonbeneficial live weeds before they flower and go to seed, thus spreading further. If you have in-ground beds that border a lawn, make a clean border with a flat spade or lawn edger where they meet to remove any roots from growing over into the beds.
If the plants you pulled haven’t gone to seed, bury them in your garden soil. They’ll add organic biomass to your soil as they break down over time.
Perennials are valuable, especially to fill out garden beds, because they keep coming back year after year. Whose hardworking back doesn’t love when plants show up every year automatically? Some perennials thrive when cut back in the fall to encourage healthy new growth next spring. Those that are prone to winter damage should be cut down to two inches from the ground. However, not all perennials like a haircut, be sure to look up your plants’ preferences.
If your mature, spring-blooming perennials are looking clumpy or have a bald spot in the middle, divide them. This helps their roots spread out to better absorb nutrients and you get bonus plants to fill up other garden areas. Win!
Shape your hedges and shrubs by removing old wood. If the shrub blooms in spring, prune after flowering. Deciduous trees that bloom on new wood can be pruned back to the old wood at this time.
Remember to disinfect your cutting tools before and after pruning, especially before moving on to another plant.
Add a layer of compost on top of the mulch you added back in the fall. The mulch will continue to break down to add nutrients and organic matter. The top layer will prep the soil for spring plantings and replenish lost nutrients from last season. Compost also refills any topsoil lost to erosion, wind, or weather.
If you make your own compost from yard clean up and food scraps, consider adding the gold standards of worms, Red Wigglers.
Young seedlings that were started indoors need to be “hardened off” to slowly acclimate to weather outside of their cozy, warm greenhouse or indoor home. Start 7 to 10 days before you want to plant them outside. Begin with a dappled or shady spot for 1 to 2 hours and after, store them back indoors in their previous spot. The next day, double the time outside in the same shady spot as before, and so on. After a few days, move them to a sunny spot for the same amount of hours as the day before. Then increase by an hour or two and work your way up to all day so as to not shock the plants.
Wait until temps are above 50°F at night and it is past the frost date to harden off any plants. Don’t put them out on extra windy, chilly, or rainy days.
Look around for bare areas that need some new plantings. Take advantage of the regional plant guides from our friends at the Pollinator Partnership to choose any new additions to your beds that are native and attract pollinators. Birds are also pollinators! Find out which native plants attract specific birds on the Audubon’s database.
Bringing more pollinators to your yard can improve fruit and vegetable production, as well as increase biodiversity and food for wildlife.
If you regularly plant the same crops, like those beloved annual crops of Basil, Chamomile, or Cilantro, resist always putting them in the same spot and in the same bed. Instead, rotate it with other plants each year to increase soil nutrients and organic matter, improve harvests, and disrupt pest lifecycles.
Spring soil is ready for hardier herbs and vegetables. Plant seeds for Fava Beans, Chard, and Cilantro, and plant starts like Artichoke, Arugula, and Kale.
Be sure to follow any instructions that came with your starts and seeds to create the best chance of survival for the young plants to establish themselves.
Planting native plants preserves biodiversity by attracting local pollinators. They give your plants a leg up to survive since they are already acclimated to your ecosystem and climate. And once established, they usually require little maintenance.
To keep nonbeneficial weeds at bay throughout the season and cut down on weeding time and effort, add a thick layer of mulch on the beds and paths. In spring, woodchips are great for pathways, perennial flower beds, and shrub borders. For beds, the best options are grass clippings, shredded leaves, or straw.
Be sure to leave space around the shoot of any plantings so that the mulch isn’t touching the stem. If using grass clippings, make sure they haven’t gone to seed.
Originally made of Chamomile or Thyme, lawns began in England as a sign of wealth. They migrated to grasses kept short by sheep grazing, then cut with scythes, and now by mowers in suburbs far and wide. Embrace imperfection (and give yourself less to maintain) by ditching the lawn. You can revitalize the soil by creating more gardening space, a backyard habitat, or if you prefer a flat open space for kids or pets, groundcovers like Yarrow, Roman Chamomile, and creeping Thyme, are great low maintenance alternatives to lawns.
For groundcovers, choose one that is appropriate for your level of foot traffic, light and soil requirements, and height preference. Bonus for ones that smell great when walked on.
It’s nice to get back outside and in the dirt after long winters. However, learning new hobbies can be overwhelming. Don’t feel the need to do all the items on our seasonal gardening lists. These tips are merely suggestions to help you get started or help you expand your knowledge.
Want to learn more about gardening at home? Check out the Growing Herbs at Home section of our Stay Well blog.
While these are general tips that are helpful in our area and climate, always do your research about the specific plants in your space and what’s recommended for the zone you live in.
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