A Seasonal Gardening Checklist for Beginners

A healthy and beautiful garden is created with love and seasonal care. If you're a beginner who struggles to keep track of all your garden tasks or isn't sure which tasks to do each season, you'll love this seasonal gardening checklist. These checklists for spring, summer, fall, and winter will help you keep track of the key tasks you must do during each season.

Here is a comprehensive list of tasks to complete in the garden during spring, summer, fall, and winter to maintain a thriving garden throughout the year.

Spring Garden Checklist

1. Clean the Garden

Remove dead leaves, branches, grass clippings, weeds, and other plant debris from the garden beds. Clean bird feeders and ensure they are debris-free. Clean birdbaths and containers to prevent diseases. Remove the protective winter mulch around plants and ornamental grasses. When cleaning your garden after long winters, wear good-quality gardening gloves to protect yourself from cuts and scrapes, especially when working with plants with thorny leaves.

2. Prepare the Soil

Test your garden soil to know its pH and nutrient needs. If the soil is compacted, till or turn it over. Add compost and other soil amendments to improve soil health and structure. Feed your garden with all-purpose plant fertilizer. Fill new raised beds with soil and amend old beds with new compost.

3. Planning

Spring is the best time to plan out your dream garden. Decide what you want to plant, including vegetables, trees, flowers, perennials, and annuals.

4. Order Seeds

After deciding what to plant, it's time to purchase seeds for all seasons. Once you've got them, store and organize them in your preferred method.

5. Prune Plants, Trees, and Shrubs

Spring is a perfect season to prune evergreen trees, fruit trees, and shrubs that do not bloom in the spring. Remove dead, damaged, and diseased branches with sharp pruners. Many trees and shrubs can be pruned 4-6 weeks before the final frost, especially those that bud or bloom in late spring and summer rather than early spring.

6. Plant Cool-season Vegetables

Hardy cold-crop vegetables like potatoes, peas, lettuce, and artichokes grow best in cool soil in early spring. Plant cool-season crops in early spring after the soil has thawed and become workable. These vegetables should be ready to harvest by early summer.

7. Check on Insects and Disease

Keep an eye on your plants for pest damage. Inspect plants for mites, aphids, and other fungal infections. If you have a history of pest and disease issues, use organic pest control as needed.

8. Evaluate Your Garden Tools

Check out what garden tools you already have and what tools you might need to purchase this season. Give your garden tools some attention so they're in good condition throughout the growing season. Clean and sharpen blades, oil handles, and disinfect pruning shears.

9. Inspect and Test Your Watering System

After a long winter, drip irrigation systems, hoses, and sprinkler systems require some care and maintenance. Start by inspecting your system for leaks, clogs, and damage caused by the cold weather. Flush out the drip lines to remove debris. Repair or replace any damaged and broken irrigation components before turning the system back on in spring.

10. Start Warm Season Crops and Summer Annuals

In late spring, clean up the bloomed flowers, harvest radishes you planted in early spring, and plant warm-season vegetables like peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and herbs. In addition, plant summer annuals like zinnias, petunias, and impatiens.

Summer Garden Checklist

1. Water Wisely and Consistently

Your plants need consistent watering in the summer to stay healthy and happy. Water deeply but less frequently to promote stronger root growth, ideally twice weekly. During a heat wave, you need to water more. A simple way to check your plants' watering requirements is by checking the top inch of soil with your finger; if it feels dry, it's time to water. Apply water directly to the roots or the base of plants using a water-efficient drip irrigation system.

2. Mulch

Add fresh mulch around garden beds and plants to retain moisture and suppress weed growth. Mulch also makes your landscape look tidy and polished. Spread a layer of mulch evenly with a rake or your hands.

3. Pull up Weeds

Weeds thrive in the summer heat and can grow quickly. Therefore, it's essential to remove them from your garden immediately, as weeds absorb moisture and steal nutrients from your plants. Many weeds also promote the spread of insect pests and diseases.

4. Plant Summer Blooming Bulbs

Add summer bulbs like canna, dahlia, and calla to add vibrant colors to your landscape. Once temperatures rise, they grow rapidly.

5. Watch for Pests and Diseases

Pest and disease monitoring and control, like weeding should be done throughout the growing season. However, midsummer is crucial time to combat plant-destroying pests and diseases because their populations are most active.

6. Start a Fall Vegetable Garden

In the summertime, warm-season vegetables, including peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, and summer squash, are produced. Once temperatures drop, these plants will fade. Start planting cool-loving vegetables in late summer to enjoy consistent harvests come autumn. These crops include lettuce, carrots, broccoli, and spinach.

Fall Garden Checklist

1. Harvest Warm-Season Crops

Warm-season vegetables, such as peppers and tomatoes, do not thrive in temperatures below 55°F, so harvest them before the first frost. Carrots and other fall garden crops can be harvested until the ground freezes. Still, hardy Brassicas may survive the winter if you add row covers or other season extension products to your fall vegetable garden.

2. Sow Cool Season Crops

Many gardeners never consider planting vegetable seeds in the fall, although many cold-season vegetables thrive between late summer and early autumn. This category includes plants such as carrots, turnips, beets, endives, and all brassicas.

3. Grow Cover Crops

Plant cover crop seeds like peas, mustard, and clover in the fall to improve your soil and prevent erosion. Most cover crop seeds should be sown at least one month before your first frost to ensure they have enough time to root. You can plant annual cover crops or cover crops that are not winter hardy in your region, so you don't have to worry about them getting weedy in spring.

Read More: 7 Winter Cover Crops to Improve Your Soil This Winter

4. Add Compost

Spread a layer of compost over your garden beds to enrich the soil. There's no need to till it into the soil; precipitation and soil organisms will do this for you. Compost is the best soil amendment; you can apply it in spring and fall. Gardeners prefer to apply it in the fall to give it enough time to break down. Some soil amendments, such as sulfur, take a long time to break down into the soil, so add them to your garden in the fall.

5. Winterize Irrigation System

Preparing your irrigation system for winter is another crucial task on our winter garden checklist. To avoid water damage from freezing temperatures, drain the lines before shutting off the irrigation system for the winter season. Cover exposed pipes, faucets, and other components with insulated coverings to prevent them from bursting or freezing. Disconnect and unhook hoses from the water source, drain the water, and store them indoors.

6. Make a Wildlife Shelter

Leaving fallen leaves in place until spring is the best way to help hibernating pollinators in the cold winter months. To provide more sheltering spots for pollinators, create a pile of leaves and sticks in an unused corner of your garden or build a dead hedge. Install birdhouses, a bee hotel, or roosting boxes to make your garden more inviting to wildlife.

Winter Garden Checklist

1. Move Plants Indoors

Some plants cannot withstand the harsh cold, so bring them indoors in winter until the weather warms up. To begin, trim and clean the plants by removing dead or dying growth. Check for pests and any infections before moving the plant. If the plants are already potted, you can easily bring them indoors. However, if they are not, you will need to place them in a pot them first. You may use grow lights to keep the plants healthy indoors.

2. Plant Late-season Crops

The winter season doesn't mean the end of the growing season. Some late-season vegetables, such as turnips, carrots, peas, spinach, beets, and many leafy greens, thrive in cold climates. So, do some late season planting in winter to enjoy a winter bounty.

3. Protect Delicate Plants from Frost

Frost can kill sensitive and less hardy plants. Many plants are vulnerable to freezing temperatures, so they will need some protection from the weather. Use different types of plant covers, such as cloches, row covers, burlap, or fleece, to protect delicate plants from frost and freezing winds. You can also place landscaping fabric near the roots of trees and shrubs.

4. Add Mulch

Mulching acts as a protective barrier against the cold. It retains moisture, ensures good soil texture, and reduces soil erosion. Lay landscape fabric over the soil and spread a few inches of mulch, such as wood chips, leaves, clippings, old hay, or grain straws. You can also use smooth pebbles as mulch.

5. Help Wildlife

Winter can be harsh on local wildlife, and we often forget our outdoor visitors. In cold months, winterize your garden to protect your wildlife friends and keep them safe from harsh weather. Help birds in your garden by providing food, keeping their birdbath from freezing, and offering shelter in the form of bird boxes.

Avoid removing fallen leaves and other plant debris from the garden. They provide them with the best space to stay warm during the winter. Leave a pile of leaves and other cuttings in place until spring for wildlife to use for shelter.

Read More: 5 Steps to Winterize Your Garden

6. Plan for Spring

Order seeds and plan your plantings while you're getting cozy. You can use the winter months to make birdhouses or hedges for wildlife, sketch out new garden beds, order bare-root trees and perennials, make DIY garden art, or get other supplies needed for your spring garden.

Wrap Up

This checklist will help your garden thrive all year. Whether you are a seasoned gardener or just starting out your gardening journey, having a clear seasonal gardening checklist can make a huge difference in ensuring a successful growing season. A well-thought-out plan prepares your garden for a bountiful harvest and helps streamline your gardening tasks so you can enjoy the process even more. So, follow this seasonal gardening task list to stay on top of all your gardening tasks and enjoy your garden.