Seasonal Sunday: Prepping Your Vegetable Garden

Last week we talked about harvesting your compost and you may have that ready to go.  If you don't compost for some reason you can buy compost or manure to add to your garden.  Today we are going to talk about getting your garden ready for the season.  I've broken it down into five easy steps and next week we will talk about toughening up your seedlings and preparing them to be planted outdoors.

1. Fix

Depending on what sort of garden setup you have this may not apply to you.  I have four 4' x 12' raised garden beds that my husband built several years ago.  The boards can warp and the screws may need replacing.  I don't take care of any of this maintenance, we have an unspoken rule in our relationship that this falls solely into the "man's work" category so I'm fortunate that the handsome husband does all of this type of manual labor. 

2. Clean

Even if you did an amazing job cleaning up your garden before winter rolled into town, you are invariably going to have something to clean up.  Clean up any sticks, leaves, or debris that has found its way into your garden.  Pull any weeds that snuck up in there and just get your beds nice and tidy.  Give your tools a once over and see if they need repair or cleaning.  Make a list of anything you may need to buy.

3. Till

I really wanted to name number 3 'Tear That B!tch Up!" but Seasonal Sunday is supposed to have a lighter feel to it.  Winter takes a toll on soil and compacts it something awful.  You need to mix it up and make it light and fluffy.  You can do this by hand but I prefer to pass this off as man's work.  Handsome Husband has something or other with a motor and a tiller attachment so he makes short work of tilling the garden beds.  You want to get down about 12 to 14 inches to really lighten up that compacted soil.  Use a rake to level out the top and give the top of the soil a little misting to help it settle into place and remove any air pockets that may have formed. 

4. Add

After tilling the soil you want to go ahead and add compost or manure to the garden.  You can go ahead and spread it out on the top and let it mix into the soil on its own over a couple of weeks.  I've never added manure to my gardens but I understand that you should wait a couple of weeks before planting because it can be harsh on the roots of new plants. 

5. Water

Before you go ahead and get things planted you should address your watering system or lack thereof.  My husband put in a watering system a couple of years ago and it is amazing.  He programs it to water on a timer and it works like a dream.  If you don't already have a watering system consider making asking your husband to install one for you.