Last issue, we talked about time, space, soil, and where to put your garden.

This month we are going to talk about preparing your growing space.

Step 1 - Creating Beds From Scratch

Could you do what I say and not as I do?

Get all the weeds and grass from the garden area you will be planting. Especially focus on removing those pesky perennial weeds like dandelions, dock, and queen annes lace. They will plague you forever if you do not.

I have adopted the no-till method, not to say I never till, but rarely. You can do whatever you are comfortable with, do a little research on what will work the best for you!

Bed Shapes - you can create whatever bed shape you want, but make sure your garden space is practical and can be accessed easily.

Many people will tell you to top off your garden bed with an inch or two of compost yearly. This is good advice and will help feed your soil.

I use homemade compost and cover my soil with a thick layer of straw or hay.  Never leave the ground bare!

Covering your garden with compost might seem like a lot of work at the onset, but it will be a huge time saver regarding weeding.  We all want to spend more time enjoying our beautiful blooms and less time weeding our garden.

Step 2 - Paths

I created paths in my garden with woodchips, straw, and leaves.  Other options include grass pathways, but grass takes more maintenance.

The width of your paths is personally up to you. If you do grass paths, I suggest making them wide enough that you can mow between your garden rows.

Since I use woodchips, I make my paths 18 inches to two feet wide. This is just big enough to walk between the rows of beautiful flowers or delicious vegetables in my gardens.

I am still fighting dandelions and some pesky grasses in my garden space. Depending on your style of gardening, you can pull them or spray them. I have been pulling but this year I am going to spot spray these obnoxious weeds.

Step 3 - Staking, Supports, and Fencing

I am not very good at staking or supporting my flowers and plants.  I'm not sure if it's laziness or what? This year I do plan on staking up more flowers. Especially my dahlias.  Staked plants provide longer straight stems to use in fresh bouquets.

There are several options, but basically you need some infrastructure to support heavy flower heads from the wind and their own weight.

Bamboo stakes, trellis, or netting works really well. Try a mix of options and see what works best for you and the type of plants you are growing in your garden.

Step 4 - Wind Breaks

If you live in the city, this might not affect you too much because you have many natural windbreaks, but for me, I live in the wide open country. We have lots of wind here in the Zeeland countryside. So this is another reason I need to put my support up for my plants.

I use my barn as one windbreak, but I plan on growing shrubs, grasses, fences, and trees as well to help break the wind.

It isn't perfect, but hopefully this will help with the straight-line winds that can topple sunflowers and uproot plants.

Step 5 - Watering

Since I use quite a bit of mulch in my garden and we have a pretty good mix of clay loam, I do not need to water the garden much. This has been such a blessing.

We talked about soil last time, and depending on what type of soil you have in your garden space will depend on how much watering your soil will need.

I bought a sprinkler that can water half my garden at a time. This makes it easy to water in July and August when it's hot and dry here in West Michigan.

Most of my perennial beds get watered by the underground sprinkling, which is nice, but you do need to check because sometimes they don't get the deep, deep watering they need.

Step 6 - Feeding Your Plants

Plants, like humans, need three key things to survive: water, a home, and food. Simple!

While compost does a great job of enhancing the soil, it feeds the soil, not the plants.

Soil makes healthy plants, which is most important, but sometimes plants need a little boost. My soil is happy and fed well, so I can often skip fertilizer altogether. Still, occasionally mid-season, a good dose of fertilizer in your garden can help your flowers finish the season strong.

My favorite fertilizer is a fish emulsion. WARNING - it does stink, and dogs love it. But this year I want to try a comfrey and nettle fertilizer. These are homemade, and I know they also stink, but I have seen Monty Don use them and am intrigued. Plus, they are free!

I will let you know about my findings.

When planting initially, a soil test will help determine if you need to add more to your soil. These tests, which can be done through Debryn's in Zeeland or MSU here in Michigan (google will tell you one in your area), give a pretty detailed list of your soil type and what it does and does not need.

You can then decide if you want to use organic or conventional fertilizer.

Happy Planning!!