I have been a homeowner for nearly 20 years, and I have yet to get into gardening.
I’m told it’s a hobby. To me, it’s work — something I avoid and am not really even sure how to do. After I bought my first home, the grass and weeds grew to nearly code-violation heights. Thank goodness I married someone who likes to mow.
The COVID-19 pandemic has me reconsidering the idea of getting my hands into the dirt. Gardening suddenly sounds like an appealing antidote to cabin fever. The problem is, I don’t really know where to start.
If you’re like me, and you need a little hand-holding, here are the first steps you can take this very weekend to get your spring garden going. The weather should be nice.
I consulted Allen Wilson, The Columbian’s garden columnist. (He has a column on this page about planting cool-weather vegetables, if you’re feeling particularly ambitious.)
Clean up. “The first thing people start doing when they get spring fever is they start going through their yard and doing kind of a cleanup,” Wilson said. Rake up twigs and leaves littering your garden beds.
Weed. I grasp that this involves pulling things out of the ground. I’ve heard that a weed is defined as anything growing where you don’t want it, but I don’t find that helpful. Wilson gave me specific marching orders: Dig out shepherd’s purse (which develops a spray of white flowers) and oxalis (which looks like clover).
Mulch. “Once you get your weeds out, it’s very appropriate to put out bark dust or compost,” Wilson said. You can purchase it by the bag or the truckload to spread into your garden beds.
Prepare soil. “Mix up the soil with a hoe,” Wilson said. “Always when you’re preparing soil, the best thing to do is add organic matter or bark dust to the soil before you plant.”
Combat moss. If moss is covering your sidewalk or roof, Wilson recommends sprinkling it with a product called Moss Out!
Feed your lawn. “It’s a good time to think about fertilizing your lawn if it’s not greening up like you’d like it to,” Wilson said. You can pick up a bag of lawn fertilizer at local garden centers.
That sounds like a full weekend to me.
