Prep Garden Beds for Spring in 7 Easy Steps

It’s that time of year—spring growing season. Give your garden the best chance to thrive by properly prepping your garden bed for the spring.

How to Prep a Garden Bed in 7 Easy Steps

Preparing a garden bed doesn’t have to be complicated. No matter the type of garden you have or the climate you live in, the following 7 steps will generally apply for preparing gardens:

1. Remove weeds, debris, and old mulch from last year
2. Loosen the garden soil
3. Add compost or some other type of organic matter to the soil
4. Water the bed to aid soil amendments
5. Add mulch or a cover crop for enhanced soil protection
6. Let the soil drain and warm up (this step may take anywhere from several hours to several days)
7. Begin planting

Other Considerations When Prepping Spring Gardens

While the 7 steps above are generally true, there are other considerations to keep in mind when prepping a garden, including the following.

Flat, Vertical, or Raised Garden Beds

The type of bed you have—flat, vertical, or raised—will affect how you prep it.

For example, prepping flat beds requires weeding, removing debris, loosening soil, and amending soil. Prepping raised beds requires all these steps plus an initial cleaning and repairing of the raised bed structure itself. Vertical gardens likewise require cleaning and ensuring that the vertical structure, like a trellis, is sound before other preparations can start.

Soil Health

The health of your soil affects how well your plants grow, or if they will grow at all.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Area is well-known for having compacted, mostly clay soil or silty loam soil textures. For gardeners, that means aerating compacted soil and amending the soil are necessary for healthy soil that lets plant roots spread and absorb nutrients.

Soil test kits available at most big chain and locally owned garden centers can help experienced and novice gardeners alike get a better idea of their soil health, which can influence next steps and which soil amendments are best for a particular growing season.

Compost

A layer of compost can provide nutrients to soil and smother weed seeds—a real win-win. New garden beds generally need about 3 to 4 inches of compost while old beds may benefit from just an inch.

A compost pile is a great way to ensure access to organic material for soil amendments. These piles should contain alternating, damp layers of green and brown materials (nitrogen-rich and carbon-rich materials) that are turned over every week or two.

Mulch

A 2” to 4”-thick layer of mulch over the soil surface can help maintain moisture, fight erosion, regulate temperature, and generally boost soil health. Organic compost, wood chips, and straw are good mulch options for springtime fruit, veggie, and flower beds.

Garden Tools

Not every garden task needs to be done by hand. The right garden tools, like tillers or rakes, can make tasks significantly more efficient and accessible for gardeners of all abilities

Beginning gardens should consider investing in the following garden tools to make their next planting season more productive:

• Pruners. Properly used pruners help established and sprouting plants alike thrive by removing damaged or diseased parts.

• Gloves. Gardening is hands-on work. Protect those hands with high-quality gloves—they’re absolutely worth the investment.
• Rakes. Rakes help remove debris and level soil surfaces, key parts of prepping gardens.
• Hoes. Hoes are ideal for aerating soil, removing weeds, and shaping parts of the garden with ease.
• Spades. A handheld spade is a good friend to have when gardening. Spades help make moving small amounts of earth or small plants easy in a way that larger, clunkier tools like shovels cannot handle.
• Appropriate clothing. A little sunshine is great. Too much can lead to sunburns, heat exhaustion, or even cancer. Wide-brimmed hats and loose-fitting, long-sleeve shirts can help protect the skin from sun exposure.
• Cushions. A lot of gardening is done on the hands and knees. A cushion can help protect joints and reduce pain, making gardening more enjoyable and preventing injury.
• Watering pail. Some plants are in hard-to-reach places or require a watering more gentle than a hose can provide; that’s where a watering can comes in handy.

Timing

Timing is everything with planting. You ideally want to start preparing your garden a few weeks before you plan to plant. In St. Louis, Missouri, that typically means prepping spring garden beds in late March to early April for those intent on early spring planting.

Assistance

Everyone needs a little help every now and again. Hiring professional landscapers to design your garden, help you prep your garden bed for spring, and upkeep your garden season after season means you can enjoy a cultivated green space even when you don’t have the time necessary to maintain it yourself.