Spring Prep

by: Hetty King

Gardening is something that everyone should enjoy. There is nothing more invigorating than a beautiful garden at its peak of bloom. However, it is very frustrating and an eye sore to have a rocky, weed infested garden in which one needs to scavenge in order to harvest the few vegetables that have had a chance to grow in between the clutter.
It may be winter now, but spring will be here within a few months and so it is best to take the time before hand to design and plan your garden early.

A white picket fence around the garden is very efficient in keeping pesky critters out, and keeping your vegetables in. It looks chic and tidy, and if you are wanting an English cottage flare, plant some flowers such as marigolds, petunias, daisies, roses, lavender, and hydrangeas on the outside of the picket fence. For a different and creative look, you might decide to paint it a different color, like olive green or sunburst yellow, for example.

For a sweet touch to your vegetable garden, a trellis as an entryway is one of the prettiest and most clever things you can add to your garden. If you have a minimal amount of space for growing vegetables, you can grow some space-consuming vegetables up off of the ground. Beans, tomatoes, peas, and cucumber plants can all be grown upwards. That also results the fruit hanging down, making it easier to be picked since you don not need to crouch down and search for them.

Bean tipis can be used instead of a trellis. All you need for this are a few, long poles and some sturdy string. Once you form a tipi with the poles and secure the top with a piece string (to avoid from toppling over) you take the other pieces of string and zig zag it from one pole to the other, as if making a string ladder for the beans to climb on. Plant the bean plants around the outside of your tipi.

Garden planning is crucial if one wishes to grow a beautiful garden- weed free, pest free, efficient, and pretty. It does require a lot of work in order to meet this goal, however a gorgeous, bounteous garden is always worth the work.

      "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: a time to be born; and a time to die; a time to plant; and a time to pluck up that which is planted." ~Ecclesiastes 3:1-2