Always start with the floor. If you haven’t prepared the garden area or raised beds, there are some of these things you will do on your first glorious gardening days if you haven’t already:
1. Cover the soil, whether you are pulling plastic or straw from a planting bed or flat garden, so it can warm up. (I didn’t get in until May 12th and was so happy I left the beds covered to stifle the invading goutweed and other nasty things.)
2. In exposed soil: dig large perennial weeds (dandelion, burdock, spreader in the wrong place) and compost or bury or wrap the green parts (not seeds). Rake or chop small seedlings and loosen the soil surface with a garden fork. Ideally, you should do this a few times before planting.
3. Evaluate the soil in the beds and the number of containers you want to fill, then order or buy compost, potting soil, or garden soil. You won’t be sorry for getting more than you think you need. If you’ve previously had crop failures or want to grow acid-loving plants (rhododendrons, blueberries), get a soil pH test from Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners. (For a large project, you can have a full soil test.)
4. Plan the layout and pave pathways through a flat garden or between raised beds so you can garden without stepping on your carefully upgraded soil. In a shallow garden, I use old boards for paths that are sunk a little deeper than 3 to 4 foot wide beds. Some people use straw or mulch for paths, or plant them with clover. My daughter’s town courtyard is flooded with cinquefoil (an aggressive little weed – the cinque, similar to cinco, which refers to the foliage of five leaflets). To block this out, we used heavy black plastic around and on the sides of their 15-inch model raised beds. We covered the plastic with stepping stones and dark wooden mulch. Choose your method, but prevention is easier than weed control later.
