Spring Renewal: Ten Tips to Revive Your Garden

A garden is a wonderful addition to your home. Whether you live in the city or the country, a townhome or a house, you can create something that will pay dividends of satisfaction for a long time to come. Many people already have some sort of existing garden that they toil in every spring. And if you're anything like me, you can get into a "growing rut" in which you plant the same things every year, struggle with the same pests, and finally start to view the whole spring gardening effort as more of a chore than a pleasure. But it really doesn't take much to avoid a boring garden. What's the secret?

The first few tips all can be grouped under the following rule of advice: Garden without pity. Look at your yard with a critical eye. Have a friend with a green thumb come over to give a fresh perspective. Chances are, you've got a lot of unnecessary elements taking up valuable real estate. Or maybe you have been working against the nature of your yard and have been wasting potential. So here are the first things you will need to do:

1. Play the "grim reaper." Assess the soil condition and sun exposure of your yard, and do everything you can to improve them. This will perhaps involve removing some trees and bushes. Overgrown trees not only shade your yard, they crowd the soil with a root system that prevents other plants from getting the nutrients they need. If you love the natural look, fine, but accept that any kind of garden you have is going to have to have hardy plants that will thrive in shade and boggy soil.

2. Prune. Nope, you're not done attacking your garden yet! Now it is time for a light pruning to thin out your bushes and give them more exposure to the light and air they will need to thrive. Normally you would not prune until after the first blooms fade. But chances are you've let this task go in previous years. Remember: Garden without pity! Of course, keep in mind the timing that is best for your particular plants, but pruning is rarely fatal and will benefit the whole garden.

3. Give up on some plants. Have you been growing tomatoes for years, but can't stand the constant harvesting in the hot summer? Do you try and fail every year to grow a particular plant that just never seems to thrive? So, stop it already. Grab a plant catalog or five and look over all the plants that grow in your zone, soil, and shade. Choose a few that are radically different from your usual selections. Look for plants that will really bring something new to your garden - outrageous color, bold shape, or tantalizing fragrance. Heirloom varieties are a wonderful way to revitalize interest - there's nothing like purple carrots and mammoth snow peas to get the family involved.

The next four tips all involve fiddling around with your soil. Let's call this rule "The Dirt Comes First." Your plants do not grow in a vacuum. Inside your house, dirt and bugs are something to eradicate, but outside in your garden they are crucial. So, here are the next four tips:

4. Rotate. If you've been planting in the same spot year after year, give it a rest already. Yes, cultivating hard ground is a pain, but alternating plots will give the soil a chance to build up and be better next year. Also, if you've had a problem with pests before, it's a good idea to move on to another plot of land anyway, because the pest larvae will have nothing to feed on, and die.

5. Grow a cover crop. Not very exciting, but it's a good thing to do, especially if you have soil that needs "conditioning" as we gardeners kindly call it. A cover crop is something that will cover your garden during the early spring and shield it from erosion from heavy spring rains, fix oxygen into the soil with its roots, and be easily turned over back into the soil when it is time to plant. Side benefit - as the cover crop decomposes, it will add more nutrients to the soil. Not too shabby, right? A cover crop can be something useful like potatoes, or pretty like purple clover.

6. Aerate. This can be anything from running around your garden with cleats, to tilling or full on double digging. It depends on how compacted your soil is. Good to combine with the next step, which is:

7. Improve. This can be fertilizer, compost, manure, minerals, or even sand. The best way to figure out what your soil needs is to purchase a pH or soil test kit. It will tell you where your soil is lacking or overabundant. Then you purchase whatever you need and add it in. Or, alternately, choose your plants based on the soil you already have. Some plants do prefer alkaline over acidic, or vice versa. And some plants, like herbs, do fairly well in poor soil conditions. If you do add to your soil, you can kill two birds with one stone by tilling it into the earth when you aerate.

Finally, we are coming to the goodies! The last three tips can be summed up in the third rule as: "Your garden is a canvas." You are the artist - it's up to you to create something that is pleasing to the eye, and functional.

8. Have the right tools. Assess your existing gardening supplies and determine what you need to buy, borrow, or fix. Don't throw out those old terra cotta planters that always seem to multiply - save them. I'll show you what to do with them in a minute.

9. Hardscape. This can be intimidating, but hardscaping (non-plant work like masonry, rocks, woodwork, or ponds) can provide a visual framework and interest that the rest of your planting will benefit from. A good garden design will draw you in and harmonize your yard. There are many great beginner projects that you can do yourself, if you can't afford a landscaping company. Think cobblestone path, a rock wall (grow some climbing plant up the wall if you like, or leave it bare if it pleases you), a trellis, rustic fencing, or raised beds. Many projects are also great activities for children to help with.

10. Decorate. A garden can be as utilitarian or as whimsical as you like - it is only constrained by your imagination. Take those old terra cotta planters and paint them with bright (oil based) colors, or break them up and use the pieces as markers to label your plants. Recycle a broken umbrella by letting sweet peas climb up the wires and transform it into a blooming piece of art. Put up some birdhouses or weather vanes, pick up a cheap garden bench, or add some lighting. Dedicate a corner of your yard to a field of silvery lavender or lay mosaic made from colored glass.

Ideally, your garden should complement your life and be a space that you will love to look at and spend time in from early spring to the last gasp in late Fall. Revive your garden, and then your garden will revive you.