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Written by Abbagail - Sage & Shepherd Ranch
The signs of spring are all full of hope: the smell of rain, the chirping of birds, the longer days and the warmth of the sun. This also means that gardening season is just around the corner - and for me, it's my favorite time of year. Seed selection, garden planning, and finally, planting! Since it's early April, I wanted to write a post about how to prepare your garden for planting and get it ready for the season.
1. Clean Up
Now is the time to remove old, dead cuttings from the garden. Leaving old plants in the garden can lead to more pests in the summer, as they overwinter. This is also the perfect opportunity to disinfect any tools or seed trays/containers from the previous season and simply organize everything you want to use in the coming season.
2. Test & Replenish Soil
Now you have the chance to find out how the soil is doing after its long winter sleep. You can buy a handy soil test kit at any garden center or hardware store. These tests are lifesavers! Even if you're filling the beds for the first time, it's a good idea to test the new soil you just bought (I made this mistake once and wondered why nothing was growing - there wasn't enough fertilizer). Once you know what the soil needs, you can act accordingly and then fill the beds with compost. Compost itself is always a good idea, as it's great for beds because it's a slow-release fertilizer that works all season long.
3. Rotate & Plant
Crop rotation is something that is easy to implement and offers many benefits. If you are growing vegetables for the first time, it is best to plant vegetables of the same family in one place to facilitate the change next year. If it's not the first time, simply swap the positions of the individual vegetable groups. Crop rotation helps build healthy soil, provides nutrients for specific vegetable groups, and helps break the life cycle of certain pests. So you should definitely incorporate this into your summer plan. In the meantime, you can already plant some cold-hardy plants - like radishes, hardy greens, arugula, and kale.
Once all that is done, you are ready. I would use this time now to plan a summer garden, browse seed catalogs, and start seeds. This will definitely make you look forward to the next season!
About Sage & Shepherd Farm
S&S Farm is run by husband and wife, Abbagail & Mackenzie. We started with a few chickens just for ourselves. Then we simply found so much joy in knowing where our food came from, and also in farming itself. We raise our animals regeneratively, meaning we sequester carbon, build topsoil, holistically graze the animals in rotation, and mimic nature as much as possible.
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