It’s that special time again, the season that gardeners look forward to…spring! The warm afternoons are longer and the flowers are just about to burst into beautiful colours. If you’ve been laying low throughout winter, spring preparation is the perfect opportunity to get out and into your garden.

Springinto action with these tips to help you prepare your home garden. 

1. Start With A Sweep

Who wouldn’t love working in a garden that’s neat and tidy? Before you start on the garden work, use this time as an opportunity to clean up your yard. Take it from us, it’s much easier to focus on your gardening tasks when it’s free from clutter. 

2. Inspect Your Garden

To prepare your garden for spring, it’s essential to perform a general inspection of your yard. This involves looking over your tools, equipment, furniture, and even existing plants. Fixing any broken structures you find now will give you more time to spend in the garden during the spring. 

3. Bring Back The Moisture

Early spring or just before spring is a great time to apply soil-wetting granules to your garden and lawn. With a dry winter behind us, the soil will need all the moisture it can absorb in the coming months. Additionally, if we don’t get rain for the winter, your plants will need occasional deep watering. We would want to supplement as much as we can to natural rainfall. 

4. Prune Your Existing Plants

Every gardener knows how important pruning is to grow plants. Cutting away any leggy growth allows new shoots and buds all the light they need to get going for spring. Early spring pruning is perfect, especially if you want to encourage growth. 

Before you go snip-happy, here are some tips to remember when pruning plants:

5. Fertilise Your Garden

Australian soils are fundamentally high in salt with lesser nutrients. This means that a lot of plants will appreciate fertiliser in your garden. Now is an excellent time to fertilise your lawn because the grass crowns can collect the fertiliser, stimulating better growth in spring. 

So before planting, dig the ground well and use manure or compost instead of chemical and inorganic fertilisers. If you’re planning on spreading mulch, keep the nutrients high by digging in lots of manure or compost and adding organic fertiliser to the mix.

6. Divide Perennials

Dividing a single perennial into multiple plants helps it perform better. There is more space for the roots to grow and absorb nutrients and water. Divide perennials before spring because, aside from the colder weather preventing them from drying out, perennials can focus more on regenerating root and leaf tissue rather than flowering.

7. Add Mulch

Spruce up your garden by mulching your soil. Once you’ve gotten rid of the weeds that survived through winter, you can keep your garden free from weeds this spring by laying down some mulch. Additionally, the layer of mulch can help your plants keep cool under the Australian sun once the hotter months are upon us This can help save you water too!

8. Prepare The Soil

Help your plants reach their full potential by providing them with nutrient-rich soil. If you have clay or sandy soil, dig in plenty of organic matter like manure or compost. If your soil is already rich and healthy, you won't need to add as much organic matter. Leave it for a week or so for the organic matter to break down. Refrain from adding chemical fertilisers.

9. Choose What To Plant

Spring is a fantastic season to start planting. You have plenty of options – whether it be herbs, flowers, fruits, or veggies.

Flowers

• Petunias
• Marigold
• Azalea
• Chrysanthemums
• Forget-me-nots
• Poppies

Fruits and Herbs

• Tahitian Lime
• Dwarf Lemon
• Dwarf Apple
• Blueberry
• Strawberry
• Passionfruit

Vegetables

• Eggplants
• Tomatoes
• Carrots
• Cucumbers
• Asparagus
• Zucchinis

10. Get Started!

Ready todig in and prep your garden for spring? Get your supplies and any additional advice needed from our gardening experts in-store. Here at Brookfield Produce, we make sure you’re prepared for another great growing season! Feel free to pop by with any questions or feedback you may have. We’d love to hear from you.