50 Hints for Planning Your Best Garden Ever

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Clean Your Tools

Clean your hand tools in the off-season, while you have time. Chip off encrusted dirt and rub with a damp rag. Then wipe cutting surfaces with a cloth dipped in motor oil. If you’ve got rusty tools, you’ll want to know this tip to remove that rust.

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Fill Out Forms

When ordering seeds or plants via mail order, fill out the order form (even if you intend to call in your order or place the order online). This way, you are prepared and the process goes quickly.

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Order Early

Place orders early, before the companies get busy. These get filled faster, plus you can get exactly what you want, thus avoiding substitutions and rain checks.

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Clean Out Deadwood

Tour your yard with a sharp pair of clippers. Make way for new growth by removing deadwood, winter-damaged branches and suckers. If in doubt about whether a branch is alive, spare it for now. Try these bush pruning tricks to get your shrubs in shape.

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Plant Bare-Root Shrubs Early

Plant bare-root shrubs and perennials earlier in the spring than container-grown plants. Bare-root ones are still dormant or just waking up and can make a gradual transition to garden life. Discover 11 sparkling shrubs that will look great in your yard.

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Help Acclimate Plants

Help acclimate young plants before they go into the ground. Set pots and flats in a sheltered spot (under a tree, on the porch) and gradually increase natural sunlight received for a week or so—bring them in at night or cover them if frost is predicted. Check out a living wall and all the options it can provide for your garden.

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Visualize Garden Bed

Lay a garden hose on the ground to visualize the size and shape of a new garden bed. Leave it in place for a few days so you can observe it from various angles and at different times of the day (to check sunlight). Take it a step further and check out a self-watering garden bed.

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Plant in Threes

This classic rule of thumb really works— it gives plants an opportunity to make an impression, yet not hog the garden stage. Plus, the odd number looks more natural. Even if you’re a veteran gardener, these how to start a garden tips might come in handy.

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Make Compost!

It’s easy, it’s free and your plants will adore it. The most successful piles are in a sunny spot, about 3 ft. sq. Keep compost slightly damp and stir often. Make your composting successful with these 12 tips.

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Evaluate Your Bulb Display

When it’s in its prime, evaluate your spring bulb display. Take photos; make notes. Tuck this information away until later in the summer, when you can move bulbs and order new ones.

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Put in Stakes Early for Vines and Climbers

For vines and climbers, put in stakes or other supports as early as possible—at planting time or soon after. This prevents puncturing the root-ball, plus it reminds you to keep after the tying. Redirect or prune back wayward stems. See one kind of crazy way to get your vines on the right path.

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Deadhead Perennials and Annuals

Deadhead all perennials and annuals that don’t shed spent flowers on their own. This simple chore persuades plants to direct their energy into producing more blooms (rather than going to seed).

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Open Up More Light

Open your garden to more light and air with springtime pruning, if needed. Remove a few of the lower branches of tall trees, thin overgrown trees and shrubs and take out branches that are invading garden areas.

Originally Published: January 18, 2019