Gardening Tips – How To Know When Your Soil is Ready to Plant
Winds undulate while snowflakes accumulate! So cold it’s hard to believe we’ll be relieved but Spring has sunshine up her sleeve. And tho we’re wary, we know snow is temporary!
~ 2008 Old Farmer’s Almanac
Great news! There are only 23 days left until spring. March 20th is the first day of spring and I know I’m counting the days. Like the quote above, sunshine is coming along with the season of growing.
For some parts of the country, gardeners will already be able to get out and start planting. Even here in Southeast Michigan, by the end of April, we will be able to get out into the garden and start preparing.
Beginner Gardening Wednesday – Gardening Tips
For this Beginner Gardening Wednesday, we wanted to share with you how to know when you soil is ready to plant.
Beginner Gardening Wednesday is our weekly series where we publish tips and tricks designed for any gardener, no matter their experience. In this series, you will find easy to grow herbs, plants, trees and more.
Frost Dates
Before you can start planting, one of the most important pieces of information that you need is the last expected frost date in your area. The Old Farmer’s Almanac has a great tool to provide a good idea of when that date is for where you live. This way, when you go to plant and the instructions state to plant no later than 4 weeks before the expected last frost date, you will have a good idea of when that will be.
Tips on Knowing When Your Soil Is Ready
Some people say that seeds will start growing when your soil is ready. I don’t know about you, but I like a more concrete answer than that.
Knowing when your soil is ready for planting is about making sure that the soil isn’t too wet. The Old Farmer’s Almanac has two quick and easy tips to check for just that.
- Grab some dirt and try to form it into a ball within your hands. If a ball forms than the soil is too wet and isn’t ready. If the soil crumbles than it’s ready.
- Another way is to again try a make a ball of soil within your hands. Then drop the ball onto the ground. If it crumbles, it’s ready for planting.
Summary
Spring will come. At least I keep telling myself that. When spring does come, we will be prepared. Make sure to keep coming back to our blog because next month will be full of articles about preparing for spring and what to grow first.
Your Turn
When do you plan to start gardening this spring?
