Preparing Your Central Florida Garden for Spring

As spring quickly approaches, it is time to prepare your gardens for planting. The winter months have surely left dead plants and leaves in your gardens and lawns that will need to be cleaned out before you can plant. While you are doing the not so fun clean-up, plan out what flowers or vegetables you would like to plant. Measure your gardens and find out the approximate full grown size of your plants before purchasing them. You will need to allow space between your plants for growth horizontally and vertically. When the danger of frost has passed, it is safe to begin planting. This year has been quite cold, so wait until the end of February to plant; cleaning and planning will be your current occupation.

Once your gardens have been cleaned of all debris, till the earth with a hand tiller and hoe or rent an electric tiller. The earth has become compacted from freezing and needs to be loosened to allow roots to grow unrestrained. If your soil is sandy like most in Central Florida, add several bags of potting soil, compost or top soil. I prefer compost for my vegetable gardens and potting soil for my flower gardens. Top soil is the least expensive though. It is not necessary to purchase the pricier brands of dirt, store brands work fine, but if you have the extra money, Black Cow compost is excellent for vegetable gardens and Black Velvet Mushroom Compost is even better and can be used as a natural fertilizer. I fill in my vegetable gardens with Black Cow compost after tilling and then lay Velvet Mushroom compost around the plants when planting. If your garden has quite a bit of dirt already and any additional will overflow, remove a wheel barrow full of the poor quality dirt and add one of the kinds listed above.

Your local nurseries are great places to get information about the plants that grow best in your area and plants that would fit your skill level and amount of time required for upkeep. You may consider bringing a sample of the water you will be watering your plants with to your local nursery and requesting they test it for salinity, hardness, pH, and chlorine. Some plants like azaleas are sensitive to salt or other minerals that may be concentrated in your water. This will save you from having to replace dead plants should there be an incompatability in your water and chosen plants. You may even be able to request a soil test for similar concentrations of minerals that would be detrimental to your chosen plants.

If you are planting flower gardens, you may find it helpful to sketch an arial view of the layout you plan. Some common methods of garden organization are to plant in staggered rows from shortest to tallest or to layer in a cresent shape toward a focal point such as a bird bath or a filled planter of herbs or smaller plants. Both methods add depth, but a cresent shape adds dimension as well. Browse a Garden catalog for ideas on planting. Color combinations of plants are also worth considering. You may choose to go with a tropical theme or a country garden theme. The climate of Central Florida is condusive to most types of plants with a little planning on your part. Take into consideration also the amounts of sun and shade your garden will receive a day. A general rule is to grow sun loving plants on the east and west sides of your house and shade tollerant ones on the north and south sides. Trees planted around your gardens may affect this rule, so plan according to your landscape.

Although it is too early to plant, scout your local home improvement stores and nurseries for the best prices, variety and quality of plants. You may find some plants at one center you like and some at another. If you plan on using seeds it is safe to purchase those and possibly even begin planting. Some plants such as Marigolds grow very well from seeds or purchased as fully grown plants. Vegetables like tomatoes and eggplants also do very well started from seeds in cell packs. If you chose to purchase seeds, the instructions will be on the packet for the best way to start them. If you plan on growing sunflowers, you will need to wait until March to plant the seeds as sunflowers must be started in the ground where they will stay. The same goes for peas, cucumbers, and squash. You will be able to find some of these vegetables at your garden centers, but I have found they grow much better from seeds.

Another garden essential is mulch or some form of water retaining and protective substance to lay around your plants. Adjacent to my local dump is a recycling plant where you can purchase freshly made mulch. It is much cheaper to buy mulch there than from a landscaping store so I would encourage you to check in your area and talk with local nurseries to find something similar. There are a several reasons why I prefer mulch to rocks in landscaping. Mulch is bio degradable and adds nutrients to your dirt as it breaks down. It can be tilled into your dirt when you next clean out your gardens and will help the soil retain water. Mulch is cheaper than rocks. It will not damage your lawnmower or other equipment if it is accidentally run over. And if you decide you do not like it, simply till it into the soil and it will degrade there. If you decide you do not like rocks, you will have to dig several feet down into your whole flower bed and remove the dirt and rocks and haul it to your local dump. It is almost impossible to separate rocks and dirt and definitely more of a pain than it is worth. You can still include rocks in your landscape if you like the look, but just plan it out. To include rocks, use a cheap natural colored mulch and buy large pieces of slate or limestone rocks that you can stack for a focal point or create a border with. It will save you a headache later.

Now that you have successfully planned, cleaned and prepared your garden, the hardest part it still ahead of you... waiting until it is warm enough to begin planting.