Clean/Prune Your Plant Beds
While thinking about seed starters, don’t forget to clean up your planting beds. Mother Nature doesn’t need any help to create a wonderful bounty of foods for us to consume. But if we want to support Mother Nature and make it a lot easier on her, a little spring cleaning can always help! Just ask any mom you know if she would like some help with spring cleaning and you will know what I mean.
By trimming and pruning plants and cleaning out our planting areas, we increase the probability of a great harvest. A great harvest = sustainability.
What you’ll need:
- good pruning tools
- long sleeve shirts and long pants
- really thick, protective gloves
(In our case, the raspberry bushes are thorny) - protective glasses can protect your eyes from the sudden lash of a cane
- hat or tying your hair back to keep from getting it tangled
TIP:
In the case of the raspberries, cut your cane at a slight angle about 2-3″ from the ground near the base of the plant. Remember, they are ‘ramblers,’ so they’ll spread out quickly once they start growing again.
Here’s a photo from one of our bushes last year (before pruning). The canes in the bin came from this bush. Your goal is to have it look like the end result in the video.
Your trim materials can be composted at home or check out your local municipal composting possibilities. It all makes great, rich compost.
Here’s to your safe pruning and anticipation of an awesome harvest!
Next up: I’ll clear out the herb garden in my front yard.