It may seem like winter is going to last forever, but now is the perfect time to start planning your spring garden. Whether you are a seasoned professional or a newcomer to gardening, the key to having a beautiful garden with thriving plants is planning. Here are a few tips from Home for the Harvest to get you started on planning this year’s perfect garden.

Plan

Start your planning by creating a list of all the plants you want to grow this year. You can even sort them into categories like vegetables, flowers or herbs. Once you know what you want to grow, begin looking around at different varieties of flowers or vegetables, and make sure that you are choosing plants that will thrive in your weather climate. As soon as you know what you want to grow, map it out on a garden layout and create a schedule for when everything needs to be planted.

Prepare

Get out your shovels and rakes and clean up your garden space! You will mostly just be removing leaves and debris from last season, so this is also the perfect time to start composting with all of the debris you cleaned up. Rake your soil flat, remove any stones and mix in some fertilizer.

What to Grow in a Spring Garden

Spring is the perfect time to plant cool-season crops, flower seeds and perennials in your garden. Some crops you can grow in the early spring are:

• Lettuce
• Carrots
• Onions
• Herbs
• Spinach

Some crops you can grow in the late spring are:

• Tomatoes
• Peppers
• Melons
• Squash
• Potatoes

Good luck with your spring planting and happy gardening!