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Tips for Bringing Your Garden Back to Life This Spring

If you want to take your green thumb to the next level, it’s time to refresh your garden. Doing so can breathe new life into the tired space you’ve been using.

While this might sound like a gigantic undertaking, it doesn’t have to be. It might surprise you how large an impact a handful of updates can have.

Today, we’re sharing tips to bring your garden back to life this spring.

Let’s dig in!

What Is a Garden Refresh?

A garden refresh is an opportunity to polish up a field or backyard area and prepare it for the next season. While taking it easy during the off-season may be tempting, the masters don’t make this mistake. If you want a thick and healthy crop in the summer, it’s a year-round endeavor.

Just because you haven’t planted seeds doesn’t mean there’s no work to do. This is the perfect opportunity to add character and make the necessary repairs to your beds. By refreshing your space, it’ll come to life as the greenery grows and thickens up with vegetation come summer. There’s no job too small to overlook during this process.

Woman refreshing garden
With spring right around the corner, it is time for a refresh of your garden.

Why Do You Need to Refresh Your Garden?

You set your future plants up for success by doing a garden refresh. A part of the process is adding depleted nutrients back into the soil. This can help to prepare the ground and give any vegetation an environment to thrive.

A garden refresh can help you conserve water, have a healthier habitat, and make it easy to introduce new vegetation. Overall, refreshing your flower beds can have a huge impact. You may not initially notice much difference, but it’ll be obvious once sprouting. Your plants will likely be fuller, healthier, and brighter because of your hard work and attention.

When Is the Best Time to Refresh a Garden?

When to refresh your garden will largely depend on a variety of factors. The biggest things to consider are where you live and what you plan to grow. Early spring is among the best times to put in the work. This is an opportunity to transplant, fertilize, sow seeds, and mulch flower beds. In addition, the grounds are likely ripe for any lawn care tasks that need updating.

On the other hand, summer is also an ideal period to do some updates. You can add finishing touches to your flower beds, update walking paths, and visit nurseries and other gardens to gather ideas for the next season. However, the summer heat can be intense, making it hard to introduce new vegetation.

While they may not be the best time of year, fall and winter aren’t terrible options in some parts of the country. It’s a great opportunity to evaluate what worked and didn’t from the previous planting season. You can make any necessary changes to help ensure the next season is as successful and fruitful as possible.

Pro Tip: Plan your garden by shopping at this Big Box Store With The Best (and Cheapest) Garden Center?

Family gardening
A garden refresh is a perfect family affair.

Tips for Your Garden Refresh

If you need to refresh a garden, there are a few things you need to remember. Not every project has to be a massive undertaking. Little projects can have a big impact on a space. Let’s look at a few tips to help you make the most of your time, energy, and money this season. 

Start with the Ground

The key to a healthy and full garden starts with the soil. You must do everything possible to keep the soil rich in nutrients. Doing so will help you produce thick and healthy plants, no matter what you choose to grow. It may not be the sexiest project in the world, but having a healthy base layer of soil is the first place you need to start.

If you want to protect your garden, it can be a never-ending battle with annoying and pesky intruders. Some green thumbs will use herbicides or get their hands dirty and pull weeds the second they see them. These plants are incredibly good at surviving harsh environments and never take a break. So make sure you stay on top of plucking them from your ground.

Consider Adding Decorations

You don’t always have to plant something to bring your garden back to life. Decorations can be a fun and exciting opportunity to give a space some character. Whether you’re painting rocks, adding stepping stones, or installing seating, these can radically transform your yard. Not only can they brighten up the place, but they also make it more functional.

One additional update that can have a considerable impact is installing birdhouses or insect houses. Attracting helpful creatures to your yard can help keep away pests and other critters you don’t want in your garden. An area may benefit if you provide food and shelter for wildlife. You should avoid attracting animals that will eat the fruits of your hard work.

Make Necessary Repairs

Your attention will be elsewhere during the peak of the growing season. As we mentioned, the never-ending battle with weeds will keep you extremely busy. While refreshing your garden, take the opportunity to make any necessary repairs you won’t have time to address once things start sprouting.

Whether it’s a hole in the fence, replacing watering hoses, or broken gardening tools, this is the time to do it. Fixing holes in the pickets is necessary, as pesky animals and other critters can access your space. Your plant beds could be a seemingly endless buffet for these creatures.

Pro Tip: Try adding these 10 Most Beautiful Spring Flowers in your garden this year.

Woman refreshing garden
Start with the soil before planting any flowers or trees in your garden.

Add Lighting

Getting out and caring for every task when temperatures are unbearably hot can be challenging. However, if you want healthy plants, you must find the time. But just because the sun sets and darkness takes over doesn’t mean your garden has to go dark. Adding lighting to your space can allow you to perform maintenance and other essential tasks at night during the peak of summer.

We recommend installing ground-level lighting to avoid casting light too far throughout the yard. Many flowers and other vegetation require certain levels of light and darkness for optimal growth.

Most plants do a majority of their growing at night, so make sure you consider this when placing lighting. Illuminating the walking paths can make navigating the area at night easy and avoid getting hurt.

Plant with Color in Mind

To bring your space back to life, plan for flower beds that keep color in mind. Plants with dull or all the same color aren’t likely to be all that exciting. However, a variety of bright and vibrant colors will attract some attention.

A mixture of veggies, fruits, herbs, and leafy green vegetation can help bring some life to your yard. You can’t go wrong with planting brightly colored flowers. They can inject a pop of color, and their sweet aromas are equally as exciting.

One of the best things about the entire experience is that if something doesn’t work, you can dig it up and start over. If you’re not getting the look you like, head to your local nursery and find one that will do the job.

Is a Garden Refresh Worth Your Time this Spring?

A refresh is essential to set your plants and garden up for success. Your time and energy in preparing the space will be evident once things bloom. Not only will you have a lovely yard, but you’ll also attract some exciting creatures.

On the other hand, a lack of preparation during the off-season will also be obvious. If you want to create a space you can be proud of, take the chance this spring to do the work. Doing so can bring tired foliage back to life.

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