Summary:
With winter in full swing, many turn their thoughts ahead to dreams of the upcoming spring. Learn how you can turn this wishful thinking into something productive and banish your cabin fever. Now is the perfect time to plan your Spring gardening - Learn a few quick and easy steps that will help raise your spirits and allow you to get a jump start on creating that beautiful garden of your dreams.

Details or Sample:
Gardening Tips: Planning Ahead

For many, the winter months are times spent longing for Spring and a seemingly endless case of cabin fever. Things don"t have to be this way, however. You can dig your way out of the winter doldrums by getting your spring gardening plans in order. Not sure how to do this? Let us help you look forward to the upcoming season and plan ahead, with just a few easy steps.

Loam, Sweet Loam

In order to grow a great garden, you have to ensure that you have great soil to start off with. Nurturing your plants and providing, not only protection for the root system but also life-giving nutrients, good soil is essential to any garden. Not everyone knows just what constitutes good soil, though. Do you know what determines good soil from bad soil? What is it that makes good soil so great - won"t any old dirt do?

No matter how early in the year it is, so long as one can work the ground, one can take further steps to improve the quality of their garden. Regardless of the material that your garden is comprised of, whether it"s clay, sand or silt, the simple addition of an organic matter, such as compost, peat, or straw can make a world of difference and change your soil into rich plant-supporting soil, otherwise known as loam. If you"re still not sure whether or not you"ve created a fertile environment in which to grow your plants, you can always do the earthworm test. Give your soil some time to set and then go out and dig a hole in the ground - earthworms love rich, fertile earth and will populate your garden area, if you"ve provided them with the proper nutrients. Don"t worry, however - earthworms good for your garden. They won"t damage your plants.

Pick Your Plants

The next step in your gardening plans should be to choose what you want to plant in your garden. Unfortunately, this is not simply a matter of matching up several different shades of pink or determining what will look best in amongst your hostas. Perhaps the most important aspect to consider, when choosing your plants, is taking your hardiness zone into consideration. A hardiness zone is a visual map that is created, based on the lowest temperature that a given plant is able to withstand. By referencing this zone map, we are then able to tell where plants will grow best, versus where they are not likely to grow at all. A copy of this map is usually easily found online, by simply searching up "USDA Hardiness Zone Map," and following the links there.

Once you have an idea of what zone you"re in, be sure to keep this in mind while you go shopping for your plants. Whether you grow them from a seed packet or buy an already-started plant, keep your hardiness zone information ready as you shop. Also remember that, if you live in a particularly hot area, such as down in the South, you will also have to take that into consideration. Never be afraid to ask a customer service representative their thoughts on certain plants and your particular growing area.

Another good piece of information to know, if you"re not already familiar, is the difference between annual and perennial plants. Very simply speaking, annuals are plants that grow blossom and die within a single year, requiring you to reseed or replant new annuals the following Spring. Your perennial plants will return however, year after year, on their own. Perennial plants quite often take time to establish, so be forewarned, should you want a colorful garden right away; while there is a definite ease and convenience to using these plants, it is usually a good idea to intermingle them with annual plants, in order to establish some color in your garden until the perennials have taken root and are ready to bloom.

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