5 Ways Pro Gardeners Prepare Veg Beds for Spring, to Have Super-Healthy Soil, and the Best Harvests
Discover how to prepare a vegetable garden for spring
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Late winter can be an ideal time to prepare a vegetable garden for spring. Doing these five tasks in February, provided the conditions are right, is guaranteed to help get your beds primed and ready for spring.
I have grown vegetables for over a decade, including for Michelin-star restaurants. From raised beds to two-acre walled gardens, I have prepared many different types of vegetable beds and know how nurturing them in late winter sets you on the right foot for the rest of the season.
Here, I look at how to prepare a vegetable garden for spring. To take care of soil health, fertility, and structure, and combat pests and diseases, I spoke to expert vegetable growers to put together this list of the five essential tasks that’ll help you have thriving plants and whopping harvests.
1. Add Organic Matter
To prepare a vegetable garden for spring, add organic matter, as it improves soil structure, fertility, and moisture retention. Whether you add it as a mulching layer or incorporate it when turning over the soil, it helps prepare beds for planting.
‘The soil in February in many areas is starting to wake up - it’s a great time to add compost or mulch to your beds to build fertility while you still have time for these amendments to do their job,’ says Stacey Hill, one of the founders of Gooseberry Bright Farm.
‘Adding compost, mulched leaves, manure, minerals, etc., will help build and protect your soil, along with getting it ready for spring planting.’
The types of mulch mentioned above are the best organic mulches for a vegetable garden. Spreading a 2-4 inch layer will help to smother weeds, protect bare soil, and boost soil nutrients as it breaks down.
Stacey adds that putting fresh compost onto cleared vegetable beds will warm the soil earlier in the spring, which can bring forward early spring planting.
Staci Hill and Jeremy Hill are farmers, educators, and the authors of The Preserver’s Garden, available at Amazon. They are the founders of Gooseberry Bridge Farm, a family-run farm in rural Missouri dedicated to organic and regenerative growing practices, community education, and food self-sufficiency.
2. Remove Any Remaining Debris
Any vegetable garden preparation for spring needs to include removing the last of any debris or residue remaining from last year’s season.
Old plants, leaves, and debris can all be hiding places for pests and diseases over winter. If left, they can simply wait until the temperatures rise again in spring to trouble new plants.
Clear away any weeds, dead plants, and debris where pests, bacteria, or fungi may be lingering. If the material is disease-free, use it to make compost.
Natalie Bogwalker and Chloe Lieberman, the co-authors of The New Natural Food Garden, add that common pests enjoy warm, moist conditions, and it can be a good time to remove these hiding spots to deter them.
‘In early spring, look for protected places where pests might be hiding, like underneath watering cans, boards, or buckets,’ they recommend. ‘Remove these items from the garden to reduce habitat for pests, especially slugs.’
To combat diseases, Stacey Hill adds: ‘February is also a great time to sanitize your gardening tools so you don’t overwinter any diseases that way.’
You can clean garden tools with warm water and some detergent, and santize them with a solution of one part bleach to nine parts water or a common household disinfectant (you can get household disinfectant at Walmart). This, along with sharpening tools, means your garden tools are prepared for spring.
Natalie Bogwalker and Chloe Lieberman are the co-authors of The New Natural Food Garden, available at Amazon, co-founders and co-directors of the Growing Wise gardening school, and Natalie is the founder of Wild Abundance, a school for permaculture, carpentry, and rewilding. Together, they've taught gardening to thousands of students around the United States.
3. Remove All Weeds
I have mentioned clearing debris, but you also want to get rid of weeds. To fully prepare a vegetable garden for spring, you should remove all existing weeds. This isn’t the most glamorous task, but getting on top of weeds earlier in the year can reduce weed pressure later in the season.
‘Weed pressure is low in February; it is easier to pull out those pesky perennial weeds in late winter so they can’t take hold for another season,’ says Stacey Hill. You can weed annuals quickly, but be careful to remove all the roots of perennial weeds, or they’ll resprout. A long-handled weed puller like this on Amazon can make removing weeds easier.
‘If weeds are bad, consider adding a layer of cardboard under your new compost or mulch,' adds Stacey. 'The cardboard will smother the weeds and break down before you need to plant.’
To use cardboard as a mulch to smother weeds, remove any staples or tape from the packaging and lay it over the ground, overlapping two layers for the best effect. Wetting the cardboard helps keep it in place, while you can also weigh it down with stones or bricks.
Adding a layer of compost over the cardboard helps speed up the decomposition process, and is crucial if you want to make no-dig beds in your vegetable garden.
4. Test Your Soil
Soil health is fundamental to growing quality vegetables. Fertile soil is a pillar for strong crop growth, so it is important to test your soil every few years to get an overall idea of its current nutrient levels. And late winter can be an ideal time to test your soil.
‘Soil fertility is what fuels plant growth (along with sunlight and water, of course), so add in any goodies that you can get your hands on to give your plants a boost,’ says Natalie Bogwalker and Chloe Lieberman.
‘We suggest getting a soil test every 3-5 years to learn what minerals are there, or not. You can also use your senses to smell and observe the soil and get a sense of how fertile it is.’
You can get a home test kit to check your soil. For example, this soil test kit at Amazon gives professional laboratory analysis to tell you the soil pH and the levels of 13 essential plant nutrients.
‘If you need to add minerals, it’s best to mix them in by digging or tilling,' adds Natalie and Chloe. ‘To add organic matter (the rich, dark, sweet-smelling part), you can either layer compost or manure on top of your beds, or lightly mix them in; they don’t need to be mixed as thoroughly as minerals.’
One key fertilizing mistake with manure is to avoid using fresh manure, as this can burn plant roots. Fresh manure must be added several months before you plant; otherwise, source aged manure or get bags of pellets, such as these chicken manure pellets at Walmart.
5. Keep off Soggy Beds
As you prepare a vegetable garden for spring, avoid doing anything that could damage your soil ahead of the new season. The reality is that a small misstep now can potentially cause long-term issues for your beds. It is better to bide your time than dig or work any soil when it is frozen or waterlogged over the winter.
‘Walking on frozen or drenched beds can compact the soil and undo months of natural soil-building,’ warns Kate Turner, a gardening guru from Miracle-Gro. ‘This is because they’re particularly fragile right now due to the winter cold.’
Natalie Bogwalker and Chloe Lieberman warn of the long-term effects of working in soggy soil in winter. They say: ‘It can lead to compaction that degrades soil quality and makes it harder to work for the whole rest of the season.’
It is best to avoid walking or kneeling on vegetable garden beds wherever possible over winter. You can prepare vegetable beds for spring from the edges and paths.
Or, as Natalie and Chloe suggest, use a wide wooden board to rest on to reach the middle of wide beds. ‘It will distribute your weight across a wider area, reducing compaction,’ they add.
Another important way to prepare a vegetable garden for spring is to plan your crop rotation for the upcoming season. Moving crops around the vegetable garden prevents diseases from building up and prevents the soil from getting depleted of nutrients.
When planning a kitchen garden, it is important to understand which family each crop is in and to avoid growing vegetables in the same family in the same spot year after year.
A border fork can be used to turn soil, spread mulch, aerate, and weed. This one has a strong wooden handle and stainless steel head.
A 10lb bag of organic compost made from 100% dairy cow manure. This compost can be incorporated into the soil or spread as a mulch.
If you want to make your own compost, this Mr. Spin® compost tumbler has two chambers that can hold a total of 43 gallons.
