When you feel that glorious warm sun on your skin in early spring it wakes up every cell in your body. That rush of Vitamin D makes many of us want to get our hands dirty and start putting plants in Earth immediately! It is so tempting to start planting our gardens prematurely. But please, please, please listen to nature and if you can’t quite hear her, listen to our local gardening experts Kind Earth Grower & Gino’s Nursery or my go to my guy online The Epic Gardener for planting guidelines.

The 5 most common mistakes I see gardeners make (including me) are:

Putting plants in prematurely.
Putting full sun loving plants in shade and vice versa.
Planting too many plants in too small an area.
Planting in nutrient deficient soil.
Under or over watering.

We can eliminate all of this by just doing a little homework and taking a serious dose of patience. If we take the time to tend our garden in other ways through education and observation, and by listening to nature over our humanistic desires and need for instant gratification, it really pays off.

Here’s 10 things you can be doing now so you don’t jack up your garden later:

Know Your Zone

Be sure to know what hardiness zone you live in along with important dates like first & last frost and plant accordingly.

Garden Journal

Make yourself a special place for all of your gardening lessons, wants, needs, dreams, learnings and teachings. Start not only by writing but also by drawing everything about your garden: new design plans, what you want to grow, where the four cardinal directions are in your garden, measurements etc.
- Get a cheap notebook and glue something inspiring to the front & back. I used an old calendar by the lovely Viki Rawlins of Sister Golden.
- Run some duct tape up the spine and sandwich in a ribbon to use as a bookmark.
- Tape a pocket to the inside cover for treasures.

Build & Spruce

Build or repair raised bed boxes & fences, lay down cardboard and mulch your walkway and add mature compost to current garden beds for a nutrient boost.

Cool Weather Crops

Only sow seeds directly in the garden that are frost tolerant such as: spinach, lettuce, tatsoi, collard greens, carrots, radishes, beets. Early spring is also a good time for planting some trees and bushes. Be sure to listen to the spacing and sunlight instructions on the back of your seed packets or your trusted local grower.

Read

Some of my personal favorites are:
- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- The Garden Awakening by Mary Reynolds
- Practical Organic Gardening by Mark Highland

Seed Swap

Organize a seed swap with your friends.

Listen

Talk all things gardening, to all the peeps, to learn all different ways, to grow all different things. There are oh-so many different ways to grow!

Compost

Start composting already! Get a tumbler, start a pile or contact one of our nearby curbside pick up companies, Kona Compost or Back to Earth Composting

Rain Barrel

Attach a rain barrel to your downspout to collect rainwater for your garden. Be sure to elevate it high enough to fit a watering can under the spigot. Plants prefer rainwater instead of tap water!

Observation

This time of year is the best to observe. Things are happening so quickly out there. I recommend finding a little Sacred Secret Spot in your yard and visiting it every day, see what’s changes, grows, shifts and blooms. Nature is the best artist and teacher.

If you have the want but can’t seem to muster up the time or the energy to get the garden going this year please remember you can call upon me, your little garden fairy gnome! I’d love to help you get up and growing! Whether that’s with one-on-one consulting, custom garden design or an easy low maintenance 4 x 4 Peace Garden, I can help!

Peace Garden Pre-Sale is on NOW- 4/9 and we are almost SOLD OUT so be sure to get your order in!

April Gardening???