7 Gardening Tips to Get your Garden Ready for Spring

Sharing all my gardening ideas, tips & tricks for the 7 things I do every year to get my garden ready for Spring with pictures.

7 Things I Do Every Year to Get My Garden Ready for Spring

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We live near Philadelphia in planting zone 7a & I usually start to get my garden ready for spring in March after the snow melts here.

We have been busy the last two weeks getting my garden ready for Spring!!!

This year with all the snow and cold weather I got started at least 2-3 weeks later than I usually did.  

My March Garden to do list is quite long and with the exception of taking down big trees (that’s Jason’s job)… he hasn’t taught me how to use his chainsaw YET, ha!  

While Jason’s busy with trees and mowing…I get the rest of our garden ready for Spring!

Gardening Tip ONE – Cutting & Pruning Trees Shrubs & Perennials

I leave most of my pruning and cutting till early March before the trees really leaf out.

This is also the time when I cut down all the ornamental grasses, liriope, perennials (like Hosta, daisies, sedum, Lavender, cone flowers, mums) to the ground.  

I also pull off any left over flower buds on my hydrangea shrubs.  (see my tips for how to get the most blooms from your hydrangeas HERE)

I clip my butterfly bushes down to a foot from the ground and saw off one or two old woody stems on my lilacs to help them bloom better.  

I cut off any branches growing in towards the trunks on my fruit trees while they are still sleeping. (see more home orchard tips HERE)

Gardening Tip TWO – Rake Everything Up

Some of our trees still have a full set of leaves when the snow comes so there is a lot of leaves still left on the ground when it comes times to get our garden ready for spring.  

I also like to rake out everything from the beds so I can mulch them up with the mower & lay fresh mulch on top.

Gardening Tip THREE – Raise the Soil’s PH.

We have 2 fireplaces & a wood stove (HERE) that we use pretty regularly for wood fires at our house so we have a lot of wood ash.  

We still have our fireplaces burning in spring so I collect the fireplace ash and sprinkle it on our lawn.  

The ash raises the PH of the soil to make it less acidic thanks to all those lovely pine trees.  

You can use the ash to turn your hydrangeas more pink too!  

The ash is not super fast acting to change the PH but its totally free!!!

Gardening Tip FOUR – Weed the Garden Beds & Lawn

Pretty much from March till November I pull weeds.  

When I am ready to get my garden ready for spring there are A LOT of onion grass & dandelions in my garden beds as well as my lawn.  

My tool of choice is a dandelion puller.  (read more about it HERE)

If you don’t already have one go get one NOW!  

In my opinion the BEST tool for pulling out weeds with very long roots.  

Here is a similar one you can find on Amazon, Hand Weeder

Gardening Tip FIVE – Plant New Trees, Shrubs, Perennials & Veggies

My favorite part of getting my garden ready for spring is… planting new trees, shrubs, perennials & veggies!  

I made out this year at Lowes with their after Easter sales.  $1 hydrangeas!

And $3 pots of spring  bulbs.

I also picked up a 7 foot forsythia bush for $20.  Our farmhouse does not have many plants and shrubs that bloom early so I have slowly been adding some.  

I need those early spring signs here after a LONG winter!  

To see more about finding cheap plants, read about it HERE.

Gardening Tip SIX – Transplant & Divide to Grow Your Spring Garden

Spring is the best time to move plants when they are little and just coming out of the ground or in the case of bushes and trees still dormant.  

It’s also the perfect time to divide daffodil bulbs and hostas and any other plant you want more of.  

It’s also FREE.

Read all my tips for dividing plants & my favorite tool to use HERE.

Gardening Tip SEVEN – Mulch

Lastly when I finished all my gardening tips above to get my garden ready for spring, I mulch.  

To see where I get free mulch, read about it HERE.   

Sharing a few pictures from our Spring Garden. (see them HERE).  

To see more pictures of our home and garden check out our 1st tour of Lehman lane here.  

I hope this inspires you & answers your questions about how to get your garden ready for Spring!

by Tara Lehman

Don’t Forget to Pin this to your Favorite Pinterest Gardening Board so you can be Garden Ready for Spring!

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