On the first of September, spring begins anew. While the weather grows warm, the flora and fauna busy themselves with new growth and new life. All this beauty and excitement makes spring the perfect time to start gardening again and to set up your yard for both the weeks of spring rain as well as for the summer that lies ahead.
Whether that means clearing your garden beds, working with a fencing supplier to revitalise borders or sections in your garden, or just planting all your spring crops and seedlings, here’s how to prepare your garden for the bountiful spring season in Melbourne.
Do A Bit of Spring Cleaning
With early spring comes new growth of all kinds – and that includes weeds. But don’t fret! So long as you get back to your weeding nice and early, you shouldn’t have to find yourself pulling out entire root systems of weeds. Since these new nuisances are still small, plucking and pulling them out is far easier if you’re quick. To stop future growth throughout spring, you can finally layer your winter stockpile of mulch on your garden beds and around your trees to prevent weeds from accessing the sun, air, and space that they need to sprout.
Now is also the perfect time to clear and clean all winter debris. Your gutters and drains might be clogged up with leaves and branches after winter’s wind and rain. Clearing these now can help reduce your risks of procuring water damage to your roof or developing other structural concerns. Clearing your gutters before Melbourne’s heavier spring rain arrives can also help prevent flooding or waterlogging.
Once your guttering has been cleared, the next thing on your spring cleaning to-do list should be to assess your garden’s irrigation system and stir it from its own winter hibernation. If you turn your sprinklers off in winter, spring is the time to give them a test run. That also means clearing away grass and greenery that might block your sprinklers from popping up, and seeing if any have been crushed or cracked.
Conduct Garden Repairs and Maintenance
As the days grow longer and brighter, it’s best to use the spring sunshine to assess the state of your planter boxes, your trellises, and your garden fencing. Wooden garden elements often warp and bend during the colder months, so more nails or replacement boards may be needed. And if fencing needs to be replaced entirely, this is best done as promptly as possible to keep your garden secure.
Besides this, your lawn may need some beauty work. Beyond just cutting and trimming the edges, you might want to aerate your soil with a pitchfork, or a coring machine to reduce soil compaction – a staple of the winter season. And if large branches have fallen from your trees, you’ll want to check that nothing around your garden has been damaged or is in need of repair.
Prune Long Or Dead Branches
Even if you’re not interested in pruning your trees for denser foliage or more appealing shapes, there are many benefits to clipping branches during spring. The first is that by cutting dead branches, you won’t have to worry about them falling unexpectedly, which in turn also helps you prevent pests and diseases from taking root. Naturally, clearing overhanging branches can ensure the safety of your family just as much as it can the safety and security of your garden greenery. So chop to it!
Pruning also encourages new growth and can often result in more spectacular blooms, as your plants don’t have to worry about expending extra energy on branches that bear no leaves and can thus provide no food for the plant in question. Some plants like roses need special pruning for their health and longevity too, so be sure to read up on the unique maintenance schedules for all your garden plants to ensure you’re doing all you need to do this spring season.
Begin A Composting Bin
During winter, the temperature in your composting bin dips so low that it basically falls into a state of hibernation itself. The cold prevents bacteria from growing and eating through your refuse. But the warmer spring weather will definitely activate this little ecosystem again, making now the perfect time to start up a composting bin if you haven’t done so already.
The easiest way to start is by mixing equal parts of brown compost – like dead leaves or cardboard – and green compost, which includes veggie ends, tea bags, and green leaves. Just be sure to turn the compost regularly to avoid foul odours, and to keep weed seeds out of it. If you’re able to feed and maintain your compost bin as required, you should have plenty of high-nutrient compost on hand and a lot less household waste in your curbside bins as well.
Feed Your Garden With Fertiliser
Speaking of composting, feeding and fueling your soil with fertilisers is a good way to kick off your garden’s blossoming. Just make sure not to use the wrong types of fertilisers for your plant life. For instance, nitrogen-rich fertiliser should be saved until late spring, or else your gardens will be the perfect food for fungi and insects. Instead try using manure, or fertilisers that are labelled “slow release”. And if you do decide on manure, avoid chicken or bird manure as it’s not only high in nitrogen but contains ammonia that will eat away at your plants with its high pH.
For fruit trees, we recommend adding high-potassium fertilisers, or work potash fertiliser into and around the roots. For granulated potash, you’ll need to till it deep into the soil or it won’t reach. So for deeply rooted trees, try liquid potash instead.
Plant your Spring (and summer) Plants
If your onions are ready to harvest, you might be wondering what seeds and sprouts you should use for spring. Thankfully, there are actually a wide variety of different crops and seedlings that are perfect for growing in Melbourne’s spring weather. Early spring is the perfect time for salad veggies like carrots, capsicums, or beetroots; and for gourds and squashes like cucumbers, eggplants, and pumpkins. If you’re springing for some spice, hold off until October when the weather is warmer as chilli peppers prefer the heat.
If pests like slugs or cabbage moths are a problem in your area, you should keep a close eye on your seedlings, watching for eggs on the stems of your cabbages and broccoli. To deter slugs, try guarding your veggies with a ring of eggshells, the sharp edges act like a barbed wire fence. And for cabbage moths, tape or baker’s paper wrapped around the stems of your brassica seedlings is often enough.
~
Even with the naughty weeds and winter cleanup, spring is a wonderful time of year to be gardening. The overlap between the wet weather and the warm temperatures creates the perfect condition for rapid growth, so new gardeners can enjoy new sprouts everyday. And if you’ve been looking for an excuse to redesign or reorganise your garden, it’s also the perfect time to replant shrubs and bushes as the wet soil promotes new root growth.
