I’m not a gardener per se. My husband has the green thumb in our family. But I’m pretty good with succulents.

We have big plans for our garden. After having so much time living in our backyard due to the pandemic, we know there’s more to do. As much as I don’t have the planting ‘gene’, I want to make sure our outdoor space is our sanctuary.

And now is the time to plan. Getting ready for spring planting makes the growing season go more smoothly when you start early. Plus, it helps bide your time during the cold days ahead when you can’t get outdoors.

Here are some of the things we’re doing to prep:

Save Containers

Whenever you use lettuce, strawberries, or other foods that come in a clamshell container, save the container. A lot of them have convenient holes in them for drainage and circulation. Fill these with soil and they make excellent seed-starting containers. Other containers you can save for seed starting are:

• Yogurt cups
• Paper cups
• Egg cartons

Compost

If you haven’t started composting, do so now. Set up some sort of containment system, such as a bit of portable fencing against your house or deck fence, or a garbage can with holes drilled in it. Then add leaves, yard waste, newspaper shred, and kitchen scraps. Stir it periodically and, if you have access to worms, add them into the middle. If it’s very cold, though, composting will go slowly. You can help by putting the compost pile in a sunny location or even starting it in a bin indoors.

Get Out the Seed Catalogues

This is a fun one! Go ahead and order your seeds as you plan what you are going to grow this year. Look over your notes from last year – what grew well? What failed? Are there some plants that would grow better in a sunnier/shadier part of the garden? Order your seeds so that you can begin planting indoors at the right time for those seedlings to be ready for moving outdoors in April or May.

Also, check with your neighbors about what works in their gardens. (I use Facebook and Nextdoor for this.) You’ll also find that many are also selling or giving away plants from their own gardens because they are growing too well!  We got a beautiful small trumpet vine for our pergola which is now growing like crazy, and even a huge rosemary bush from our neighbors.

Take Advantage of Warm Days

In many areas, there are warm “moments” even in winter, especially late winter. Whenever you experience one of these brief thaws, get outside and work the soil. This not only helps aerate the soil and assist with the decomposition of leaves and such; it also makes the initial turning of the soil in springtime easier. That can be back-breaking work, so spreading it out over a few months and weeks can help a lot.

And now is the time to prune things back. We’ve worked on our rose bushes, as well as our grapevines.

If you are going to add lime or compost (if it’s already “ripe”), you can start now.

Prepare Your Tools

Nothing puts a damper on spring planting like not being able to find your tools or finding them rusty and dirty. Get your tools organized and ready, and clean them by scraping off dirt and rust. An abrasive pad and oil will help remove rust and restore shine and mobility to tools like clippers. Sources say that storing tools in a bucket of sand is best for preserving them and keeping them sharp.