Gardening Tips for Spring

Spring is an uplifting and hopeful time of the year as we watch the natural world come and burst into life. Similarly for most folks, spring is the perfect time to start planning and planting your garden. Using all the pent-up energy we’ve accrued over the winter, let’s head outdoors to clean out and prepare our garden beds, repair hardscaping, do a little pruning and moving, and start a well-prepared growing season right off the bat! Don’t forget to stock up on either our premium 1st Choice 6-mil black nitrile disposable industrial gloves or our heavy-duty 1st Choice 6-mil orange nitrile disposable industrial gloves with raised diamond texture when tending your garden. You’re guaranteed to keep your hands clean and safe as you roll out our recommendations for your garden.

As the weather gets warmer and the days get longer, many gardeners will be busy sowing seeds and preparing flower borders and vegetable patches. Once the soil is warm enough you can start planting potatoes and onions and sowing hardy vegetables, including broad beans, cabbages, carrots, radishes, lettuce, rocket, and spinach. April, in particular, is a good month to plant perennials, sow hardy annuals like marigolds, and plant summer-flowering bulbs like lilies and gladioli. On the other hand, late May is a good time to prepare your beds by removing weeds and digging and raking the soil to create a fine tilth. Don’t forget to wear a pair of our ever-reliable 1st Choice nitrile disposable industrial gloves to protect your hands from accidental bruises and scrapes.

Meanwhile, as daffodils and other spring bulbs die back, start by dividing crowded clumps so you can help in spreading them out next year. Rising temperatures accelerate growth in borders and vegetable beds, so it's important to keep on top of weeds with regular hoeing. A pair of 1st Choice 6-mil green nitrile disposable industrial gloves with raised diamond texture can definitely come in handy, providing you with a reliable grip to prevent any gardening tool from ever slipping through your fingers. Lastly during dry spells, watering plants at the beginning and end of the day should help do the trick.

It also must be said: The arrival of blossom is one of many things people love about spring! Even if you have a small garden, you can create an eye-catching display of a spring blossom. The key to success is choosing the right-sized trees or shrubs for the space you’ve got. You can buy bare-root trees and shrubs between November and March or in containers all year round. It’s best to plant them in the fall or early spring. Personal taste, color, and smell are obvious criteria for selection, but remember to check the plant’s soil preferences, and most importantly, its final growing size. Even small spaces can accommodate a container shrub but remember that this will need regular feeding and watering. Always remember to wear a pair of 1st Choice disposable gloves when doing so. If you’ve got space for more than one tree, think about how they will complement each other—flowering in sequence or contrasting colors. You may want a tree with multi-season interest or one that produces fruit. Fruit-bearing tree blossoms are great for pollinating insects.

Speaking of which, spring is the time when we usually start mowing lawns regularly, but you may decide to join the growing trend of leaving all or parts of it uncut for a few weeks at a time. This will allow clover, daisies, and other species to flower and provide nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinating insects. Likewise, when you’re gardening at this time of year, take care not to disturb nesting birds and always check carefully for them before pruning hedges or shrubs. When you tidy and cut back winter growth in spring, remember there may be insects and amphibians living there or even a hedgehog hibernating.