Get Ready for Spring Now

When I look out the window, all I see is snow. It’s hard to believe that in a few weeks, crocus will make their appearance marking the beginning of gardening season. While I do enjoy a little break from gardening in winter, now is the time that I start to get excited about a new season of growing.

If you’re feeling a little fidgeting about not being able to get your hands in the soil just yet, there are some things you can do to get ready for spring.

Start saving paper egg cartons. I use these as seed-starter containers. They’re great because you can tear each individual cup and plant directly in the soil with your seedlings. Kids love helping to grow seeds this way, so be sure to get them involved.

Organize and take inventory of your seed packets from last year. I posted a little DIY hack for organizing packets here. Think about what you’ll be planting and make a list of any seeds or plants you’ll want to buy at the nursery.

Start a garden journal. Spiral notebooks, planners and bullet journals all make great garden journals. The idea is to have a place where you can jot down notes about which plants did well and which ones gave you trouble. For example, in my journal last year I wrote that pineapple sage grew to big for my plot and my tomatoes were planted too late to produce much.

I also schedule when to plant what in my journal. Also important to note is when you’ll be on vacation. You’ll want to make sure your trip doesn’t overlap any high-maintenance gardening periods.

As you can see, I really got into decorating last year’s garden journal with a map of my plot. If you enjoy drawing, by all means go ahead, but it’s not necessary! In fact, this year I’ll make a simpler map that I can switch around when I start planting."

Vanessa Tsumura is a gardener, writer and mom living in Wisconsin. She blogs about crafts and DIY projects at Bluet & Clover.