by Texas Homesteader ~ 

It’s only March but there’s much to do now to help assure a productive vegetable garden. Spring is almost here, y’all!

It’s time to prepare your garden for planting.

(Note: Some links in this post will take you to other related articles for further information. But links preceded with * are affiliate links. If you click and buy something I could receive a tiny commission.)

Early Gardening Preparations

Last month you probably began making some preliminary garden preparations: 

 

(click on any link below for more information. Plus a complete garden list is included at the bottom of this post!)

Plan Your Garden – You’ve planned what you’ll grow this year.

I like to use an Excel spreadsheet but there are many *Garden Planners available.

Start Some Seeds Inside (although some seeds will be direct sown)

There are two methods I use to start my seeds inside:

‘Indoor Greenhouse‘ – A clear tote that holds my homemade Cardboard Tube Seed Pots growing seedlings.

Milk Jug Greenhouse – I use milk jugs to plant seeds too. These make hardening off the seedlings easier.

Here in Zone 8 our typical last frost is around March 20th. So my sweet little seedlings will be going into the garden soon.

NOTE: Many planting zones changed in 2023. Check the Updated Planting Zone Here.

But now it’s time to actually get in the garden and prepare it for planting. Here in zone 8 we’ll be planting the garden around Easter. So now is the perfect time in our zone to get the garden ready!

Cover Crops To Be Removed From Planting Areas

Did you plant cover crops last fall? Here in NE Texas it’s time to remove cover crops to prepare for planting. Some gardeners ‘chop-n-drop’ their cover crops, meaning they cut the plants and lay them down on the soil, leaving the roots intact. 

But I typically dig up late-winter plants as I’ve found they just grow back if I don’t. And much of the greenery in my planting rows this year is henbit anyway!

Our youngest daughter used to call them ‘bunny flowers’ because that’s what they looked like to her!

Next year I’ll probably focus on broadcasting only *Crimson Clover Seed for my cover crop. Legumes such as clover help to affix nitrogen in the soil.

Plus clover is beautiful and it’s a cool-season plant too. That means it shouldn’t interfere with garden plants during spring & summer garden-growing season anyway. 

Should You Till Your Garden To Remove Weeds?

I don’t like to use a tiller since tilling disrupts the important business going on beneath the soil.

I simply choose a day when the soil’s damp, pull the plants out of the ground and shake the soil off the roots. This *Forked Garden Knife makes light work of that task.

Then I lay the plants I’ve removed atop the planting rows to continue drying out. I’ll use the dried plants as my first protective ‘mulch’ after planting my garden.

Problem With Wood Board Raised-Bed Design

Several years ago we built raised beds in our garden using wide wooden boards. But in our area Bermuda grass is the bane of all gardeners. And it caused me untold amounts of back-breaking grief.

It would aggressively grow right into the garden, under the wood frames of the beds and into our planting areas where we’d fight (and LOSE) the Bermuda grass battle Every. Stinkin’ Year.

Those wood-framed raised beds in my garden created an ongoing problem with Bermuda grass. So that type of raised beds just won’t work for me.

We ripped up the frames & started planting all in-ground rows instead. At least that way we could keep the Bermuda grass under control.

These days most of my garden is planted in raised beds instead of rows. I’m not getting any younger ya know!

But I still have some in-ground planting areas as well for taller plants such as tomatoes, squash, corn, etc.

Raised beds offer more comfort in gardening with less bending over or crouching on the ground. So we’re using fewer rows & more raised beds in the garden.

You can click the photo below to see these amazing beds (and get a discount to boot!)

So now my garden’s ready for spring. There will for sure be lots to report next month when it’s planted and growing!

~TxH~

This post categorized in

My Favorite Garden Hacks

Garden Planning

• Easy Garden Planting Plan Spreadsheet
• Prepare Now! Late-Winter Garden Checklist
• How To Make Your Own Garden Soil

Seed Planting

• Planting Seeds In A Milk Jug Mini-Greenhouse
• Planting A Clear Tote As An Indoor Greenhouse
• Repurposed Cardboard Seed-Starting Pots

Soil Health

• Easy Compost For A Healthy Garden
• How Leaves Benefit Your Garden
• Using Manure In Your Compost & Garden

Garden Styles

• 3-Sister’s Garden – The Original Companion Planting
• Planting A Large Galvanized Trough
• Where I Found The BEST Raised Bed!
• Planting A Blueberry Bush In Rustic Galvanized Tub

Garden Plants/Harvest

• Stevia – Growing Your Own Sweetener!
• My Simple, Zero-Waste Herb Drying Setup
• The Lazy Gardener’s Plant List – Plant Once, Eat For Years!
• How To Tell When Watermelon Is Ripe
• Luffa A Surprising Zucchini Substitute!
• How To Plant & Grow The Best Tomatoes

Water/Irrigation/Drought

• Keeping Potted Plants Watered
• Repurposing A Coffee Can For Deep-Soak Watering
• 3 Rainwater Collection Systems We Use
• Cheap (or FREE) Wood Mulch For The Garden
• Using Vining Plants For Living Mulch
• Surprising Use For Empty Clay Pots In The Garden

Weed Control

• Stopping Bermuda Grass!
• Biodegradable Weed Block
• Less Toxic Homemade Weed Killer

Garden Tips

• How To Save Outdoor Plants Even During A Hard Freeze
• Tricking Birds AWAY From Your Strawberry Plants
  
• Protecting Tender Seedlings From Wind
• Homestead Hack: Remember Where You Planted Seeds
• How I Use EcoBricks In The Garden 

MORE Gardening Posts

References:

Find Your 2023 Updated USDA Plant Hardiness Zone

Texas Master Gardener’s Companion Planting – Plant Friend & Foe

Hugelkultur Garden Principles

 

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