10 Things your Garden Needs this Spring

I miss my garden now that is covered in snow…but that is NOT stopping my planning for this years garden! I have already started my seedlings and charting for where I will put my new plants.

1. Flowers. So many people tell me they do not have flowers in their vegetable/fruit gardens that it truly baffles my mind. Flowers encourage bees to help pollinate your plants. Unless you are lucky enough to have bees plant flowers in and around your gardens! I throw Marigolds all along my garden beds.

2. Toss your coffee grounds and egg shells on your soil. I toss them in my tin and once it is full empty into my garden soil. This really helps my plants and gives them a calcium boost. Again I do not have room for compost bins so this is as good as it gets for me in the city limits!

3. Water collection units. I call them buckets but lets get fancy for a moment here. Having extra water during the dry Summer heat is a GREAT thing!!

4. Invest in a Strawberry patch! I love fresh fruits and these puppies will come back every year. Need ideas on how to create one, enjoy my post here.

5. Rotate your crops. If you planted your tomatoes in that row last year move the row this year. Some people say do it every 3 years I do it every year and find my soil has more yield and less bug problems!

6. Grow upwards. I often find growing up creates less havoc for me. I do not have so many problems with bugs and I can grow more things in a confined space. I use dental floss to tie plants and vies upwards.

7. Try Potato towers. Never heard of them? Check out my How-to post here. These are perfect for those of us who have little space but can container garden or grow plants upwards.

8. Group like minded bushes and plants together. I plant my raspberries, blueberries and grapes near one another (on my fence line outlining my garden). Also search inter-planting, I find this works brilliantly!

9. Plant in shaded areas. I have found the areas I think would never grow a living plant often times are the places that yield the most. Plants want to survive so let them! They will find a way to grow, flourish and produce in even the most unlikely of places.

10. You. They say a watch pot never boils and that could say the same for gardens. If I tend to my garden every single day it’s like the plants know. If I leave my “to do list” for a weekend every now and then suddenly they flourish.