Nearly every year it seems like we get a short run of beautiful, sunny days at the end of February. These days remind me that spring and summer are just around the corner and make the last few weeks of winter a little more bearable. But they also make me a little nervous about everything I haven’t done in the garden. Spring is the busiest time of year for a gardener - planning, preparing and planting for the bounty of the summer and fall.

Planning

Planning is a year-round activity for a successful gardener. Take the time in the late winter and early spring to map out your vegetable garden. If you are starting from seed check your seed packets for spacing requirements and “days to harvest” information. Remember that if you are planting spring harvest plants like peas, you can plan ahead to plant over-winter vegetables or fall harvest greens in same space after the plants are done bearing fruit. As you map out your garden if you discover you don’t have enough ground space plan for a container garden; greens, determinate varieties of tomatoes, peppers and herbs all make excellent container plants. Using a germination chart (http://tomclothier.hort.net/page11.html), or planting calendar (http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/calendar/) as a guide, determine dates that you want to plan to plant everything in your garden and fill them in on your garden map.

Preparing

If you have been using your garden to grow greens and over-wintering vegetables, or planted a cover crop then you will probably spent a little less time preparing for your summer garden. Schedule a day or a couple of afternoons when you can prepare your garden for planting. Clean out planting beds, and repair any damage caused by winter weather. Spread compost in your garden, as the weather begins to warm up beneficial micro-organisms will begin to work in the soil, converting compost and other organic material into food for your plants. If you garden in the same beds year after year, you will want to consider amending your soil with more than just compost. There are several all-around organic fertilizer mixes on the market. Gardening in the Willamette Valley usually means dealing with clay soil, which can be quite acidic, which makes the soil more difficult to work, and can be detrimental to plant development. Unless you are able to get a locally produced fertilizer mix you should also think about amending your soil with lime in order to raise the PH of your soil.

Planting

While tomatoes, peppers, kohl crops like broccoli, and other long season crops need to be started indoors, many plants can be started from seeding directly into the ground – peas, spinach, lettuce and radishes for instance will germinate quite well in daytime temperatures down to 40 degrees and below and will produce bountiful spring crops. A planting guide or germination tables will help you determine when to plant and transplant. Starting from seed is both the most economical way to grow a garden and ensure successful plants, but not everyone has the space to start seeds. If you decide to buy starts to transplant try to buy from local growers and nurseries, these plants will be stronger, more likely to survive in our climate, and are less likely to carry diseases like blight, mosaic and wilt.

Enjoy the sun and happy planting.