Best Way to Deal with the Soil Problems in Spring

In spring, nobody gets more fidgety than a gardener. It’s asking too much of a body not to rush out and plant something, even in mud, but another rule offers itself here: hold on. On that first day, the surface of the soil has drained a little (it now looks like oatmeal) but, as I know from experience, one step and it will fill your boots or shoes. The damage you should worry about is not a boot full of water, however, but what you would be doing to the soil in its vulnerable condition. The consequences (other than a deep hole rapidly filling with water) won’t be immediately visible, but just wait until that compacted mud dries into clay. You will barely be able to break up the clods with a spade.

What one has to do is wait until everything is thoroughly drained and a combination of spring sun and wind dries the soil to acceptable planting condition. Leaving the soil alone will allow this to happen. In the meantime, there’s no need to sit down and twiddle your thumbs; there are plenty of jobs to keep you out of trouble while things dry out. For instance:

• Can you lay your hands on last year’s notebook in which you wrote all your reminders for this spring?
• We’ll assume you have put in your mail orders. Now scout out the local nurseries to see what’s available this year.
• Buy some dahlia tubers while the selection is good. If you have your own tubers in storage, check to see that they’re neither too dry nor wet; if they have begun to sprout, pot them up and keep them in a cool place. They don’t go out in the ground until danger of frost is past. Do you know your average last frost date?
• Check your supplies of fertilizer, peat moss, Jiffy-Mix, or other sterile starter mix, for seeding.
• Look around to see what mulch material is available for trees and shrubs at the nursery and other local sources.
• What about the garden tools, hose lengths and connections? The tools should have had a good cleaning before they were put away for winter. Perhaps they did; if not, clean them now. You can sandpaper away any roughness on wooden handles and apply a coat of clear shellac to preserve the wood and save you from splinters.
• Treat yourself to one more good tool—you’re going to deserve it.
• Where are the seeds you saved from last year? How many are viable?
• Organize this year’s seed packets in order of planting.
• Do you have labels ready, and a marking pen?
• Have you checked your compost pile? If you don’t have one yet then this is the time to start one. With temperatures of 50° Fahrenheit and above, you could start on the first turning of the pile. If yours is anything like mine is in early April, you might be able to fork off the top six inches or so before striking solid ice.
• Gather together in one place stakes, brush, and other plant supports. Have ready a few tomato cages or similar devices to hold up baby’s breath, ground clematis, and other such sprawlers. Buy twine in a neutral color, not emerald green!

The number of things you can do is nearly endless, and most of them seem unattractive to someone who only wants to get out and garden. In fact, I can scarcely bear to list any more here, but this is the time for lists and resolution. At such a busy time priorities are important, so make yourself a list—several lists if need be. If your work day goes the way mine often does, you might get the first two or three jobs done. My father, that resolute man, made a list every night of things he was to do next day. Usually, he put down about twenty items and was able to reach number fifteen at least. Number one on the list was always “Get up.” I asked him about it. “On a really bad day,” he said, “that’s one thing I can check off.”

Even if the soil looks fine, I suggest you try the standard test before getting out there on it. Pick up a handful of soil and squeeze it. If it holds together briefly in a soft ball and soon crumbles apart, it’s ready to work with. If it makes a solid, doughlike ball and holds together, keep off the garden for a few more days. I make one exception to the keep-off rule. After violent fluctuation in temperature, plants may be heaved up out of the ground. Press them back down gently. Stand on a wide board to avoid sinking and compacting the earth. And keep the board at hand, as you will need it again and again.