How to Prep Your Garden For Spring

In classic DC fashion, our weather has been everywhere from mid 70s to snowing in the last week. While it’s easy to change our wardrobe, what’s to do about your plants in this finicky spring weather? There are two main tricks to use:

Mulch It Up

Adding a layer of mulch to the base of plants and on top of planted bulbs can help moderate the changes in temperature. Try a two to three inch layer of natural mulch, like hardwood or pine bark. Make sure to keep the mulch one to two inches away from the stems and trunks of trees and shrubs.However, be sure to give a little space at the base - mulch that touches the stems causes damage by keeping the bark too wet or encouraging girdling.

Protect New Trees

If you have any young trees in your garden, you’ll need to wrap the trunk from the ground to the first set of branches with a paper trunk wrap, or a burlap sack. Again, this helps with regulating those fast temperature changes we’re infamous for in DC.