Once the snow and ice melts, it may not quite be time to delve your hands into the soil, but you can still begin planning and prepping to get your garden ready to shine. It might feel overwhelming to tackle all these tasks at once, but if you check items off your list bit by bit, you’ll get everything from your retaining walls to tools in tip-top shape in no time. 

Focus on hardscaping

While the ground is still hard and unable to work, try focusing your energy on hardscaping. This is an ideal time to fix fences, window boxes and raised beds, and to repair retaining walls or even out your stepping stones.

Tune up your tools

Make sure your hand tools like shovels, trowels and hoes don’t have cracked or dry handles or rusted metal anywhere. You can sand down wooden handles and rub them with linseed oil, and sharpen your hand pruners. Also, make note of what tools are missing and order them so they’ll be ready for growing season.

Clear out flower beds

Remove dead leaves, fallen branches, and any other winter debris from areas where you’re planning to plant annual flowers and veggies. You can also cut back and clear away last year’s dried foliage. In general, keeping your garden beds clean will help keep pesky pests at bay.

Plan for planting

It’s a smart idea to plan for any new beds or structures you’d like to create in the upcoming months. Regardless of where you are, if you live near power lines, talk with your electric co-op about how far any structures should be from these lines before building or making any final design decisions for your garden.

TIP

Wildlife eating your tulips? Try planting daffodils!

According to Suzy Wert of the Indiana Daffodil Society, although tulips are considered a delicacy by deer and other wildlife, for the most part, animals will leave daffodil bulbs, leaves and flowers in peace.