It's all in the preparation

Spring is a wonderous time. Daffodils, tulips, and grape hyacinths are popping up and blooming (at least on the West Coast), the grass and weeds are growing, and it's time to prepare your beds for all of the other wonderful things you will be planting in the near future.

Bed preparation is one of the single most important things to a garden's success next to watering. What you do before you plant can make or break your garden. Whether you have established beds or are starting new ones, it's important to provide the proper nutrients for your plants.

This is the first year I haven't built a raised bed or established a new bed. Though I have one in mind for later in the summer (don't tell my husband that he is about to lose some more grass! Haha!). Every year, I bring in fresh (and very smelly) composted bedding soil from a local company. This stuff is ripe so be prepared that your yard will smell for about a week. Living in the Fraser Valley where we have very fertile soil and lots of farms, the smell is not unfamiliar.

Soils vary as much as companies do. If possible, check with your local gardening group to see which companies offer the best soil at the best prices. The richer the soil, the more expensive it will be. Here in Abbotsford, we have Net Zero, who collects our household compost, composts it, and then sells it back to us at a reasonable rate. This year, I needed about 4 yards of soil to top up my beds. Each bed gets about 4 inches of new soil. The soil should be dark, and contain bits of composting materials (plants, wood chips, leaf debris, etc.), sand, and some sort of manure (mine had steer manure).

Please ignore the state of my lawn in these photos! I spread soil from the pit that I dug for my greenhouse foundation. We have placed grass seed on it but it hasn't sprouted yet. By summer, it will look great despite what it looks like now.

A close-up of the soil. It is rich in organic matter and has sand to help with drainage.

For my raised beds, I start by turning up the old soil. This breaks up any existing roots and debris. It will make mixing up the soil with new soil easier.

I removed the pea trellis and the tomato cages. I also pulled up any "volunteers" that had rooted themselves.

I dug down as far as I could and turned it. Some people like to rototill their garden beds but I find a good old-fashioned shovel works well too. For beds this size, turning the soil doesn't take long.

To further amend the soil, I like to add crushed eggshells that I collect throughout the year to my soil. I have an ice cream bucket in my kitchen that I throw the used shells into and when the bucket is full, I crush them with a potato masher. It's not fancy but it does the job! I even have my parents save theirs. I stored them outside in the buckets with their lids on. Before you put the lid on the bucket, ensure that the eggs are fully dried or you will have a nasty, smelly product at the end! I made that mistake only once. If you then use them in your garden, you will attract rodents.

There are so many uses for eggshells in the garden which I will share with you in other posts. So start saving your eggshells from now on! If you don't have eggshells, bone meal will work too.

For this bed, I used 3 buckets of eggshells which I spread over the surface of the bed.

Next, I topped with the fresh soil all the way to the top. Because the soil is light and fluffed up, it will settle down over time. I was careful to top up the soil around my rhubarb plant without damaging it. I then reinserted the pea trellis. This bed is now good to go. Because it is early April and our last frost is usually around the middle of April, I will only plant peas, lettuce, and onions in this bed to start with. Once we are past the last frost, I will move my tomato seedlings in as well as plant some of my seeds (radishes, other lettuces, basil, carrots).

I repeated this process for my other raised beds.

Lesson learned: When I first got beds, my dog loved to climb into the bed, dig a big hole in the nice loose soil, and sleep. To prevent this and train him that this is not his new sleeping grounds, I put up temporary fencing to keep my dog out of the fresh soil. It is not unusual to see his paw prints in my fresh soil the minute I go inside or my back is turned. Once the plants are established, the fencing has conditioned him to leave the bed alone. I can then remove the fencing and my plants are safe.

This was one of my old methods of square-foot gardening. The first year, I just marked one-foot intervals on the wood with a Jiffy marker. The second year, I affixed twine to the bed at one-foot intervals. The twine was ok but presented issues. It breaks down over time and if you want to incorporate a watering system, the twine gets in the way. I have since moved onto a planting square which eliminates the need for the twine so will remove this twine and compost it.

Some people note that you can't see the eggshells in the soil. I don't mix the eggshells with the top layer because my dog has decided that they are a delicacy and will literally eat them all! I leave them mixed in the bottom layer and place the new soil on top. Some people prefer to mix their old soil and new soil together and that works too. I have found that this works for me.

At the start of the growing season, this planter is always unsightly. I don't cut out the dead matter until I see signs of new growth for a couple of reasons. First, the dead matter acts as mulch for the strawberries. Many people put hay or a cover over their strawberries. This is my solution. It also helps some of the new offshoot starts grow.

My strawberry planter always needs more love than my other beds. Because it is a terraced bed and I didn't put floors on any of the levels, I deal with soil loss every year and need to build up the soil on the top three levels the most.

Last year I learned about companion planting. Strawberries and onions are companion plants. I was skeptical but tried it last year and had the best crop of strawberries ever! The onions here are ones that grew when I let some of the onions go to seed. I plant scallions (from bulbs that I purchased from Canadian Tire for $3.49 for 100 bulbs). The strawberries don't taste like onions, something I worried about, and I have a steady supply of scallions and strawberries all summer.

As I add soil into the planter, I also move strawberries, old and new shoots, around so that they can have room to spread. The onions are planted at the back of the rows, close to the planter wall, and in between the strawberry plants. If I was going to hand water this planter.

Now that the strawberry plants are spread out, they will cascade over the edges. Being a raised bed also keeps the strawberries off of the ground.

For my flower beds, I spread the new soil in and around the existing plants. I try to pile it about 4-5 inches around the bulbs (tulips, daffodils, etc) because once they are done, I can spread the soil over that area and maintain the depth. I didn't work the soil into the existing soil as most plants will be planted in this new layer.

Remember I said that there were lots of uses for eggshells in your garden? My next steps will be to spread eggshells around my existing plants to keep the snails and slugs away. While the sharp edges will keep the slugs from travelling across them to reach your plant, if they are already on your plants, You will need to use a bio-safe slug and snail killer or hand pick them off of your plants. With this wet spring, there will be lots out there so be vigilant.

Lessons learned about prepping your beds:

• Use a good quality, composted bedding soil and lay it on thick (at least 4 inches deep).

• Use soil amendments to further enhance your soil and feed your plants. If your soil is more clay-based, you will need to use things like: peat moss and mulch. My soil is loamy (falls apart easily and drains well) so I only add in eggshells with my composted soil. Doing this means that I won't need to fertilize my plants for 3 months or more.

• Keep your eggshells throughout the year to use in your garden beds both as a soil amendment and as a slug and snail deterrent. An ice cream bucket with a lid works well for this.

• Put up visual barriers around your raised bed to keep your pets out of the nice, new soil.

Take time to enjoy the smells, sights, and wonders of your yard. This time of year is magical- a time of rebirth and renewal. It brings hope. I find I like to do these activities unplugged so my mind can wander. If I have had a long or challenging day at work, spending time in the yard helps me to process. I am always amazed by how many things that I have struggled to make sense of at work become clearer after a weeding session in the yard. It's a source of joy and relaxation. My mind processes and wanders and at the end of the day, I feel more relaxed than with any other activity.

It also brings unexpected joys. These beauties were in my strawberry plants and followed me as I cleaned it out yesterday.

Here's hoping you find joy in prepping your garden this Spring. Take time to get your hands dirty, your mind clearer, and your heart fuller.

Happy gardening!