It’s time to wake up your outside garden. And for many, creating a beautiful outdoor space has become a big priority.
A garden expert in Alexandria, Virginia, has some tips on how to do that.
Stacy Greenstreet, owner of Greenstreet Gardens, said many people stuck at home for the last year because of the pandemic looked around and said: “Is this what my garden looks like?” And they went to work.
“They’re looking at their backyard, they haven’t had the time to kind of mess with it. And in 2020, they had all this extra time. They were stuck at home, and they didn’t like what they saw,” Greenstreet said.
Tim Williams, store manager at Greenstreet Gardens, said some people are novices, but others have greener thumbs.
“There are a lot of people who, their parents gardened with them when they were little, so they actually know a fair bit, but they just haven’t gotten their hands dirty in years,” Williams said.
If the idea of creating a beautiful outdoor space is intimidating to you, Williams said don’t worry. Just ask for help.
“It’s OK to not know exactly what you want,” he said, but it is helpful to have an idea of what you want to achieve. Some people want a vegetable garden, while others are focusing on beauty and want flowers and shrubs.
Greenstreet said some customers are really excited about the warmer weather because they want to build on what they started last year.
For example, Greenstreet said, a customer came in Sunday and wanted to know where the tomatoes where. She advised the customer that planting tomatoes is a “smidgen early, and we don’t want to spend $50 on tomatoes, take them home and plant them on a beautiful day like it was last week, and for it all to die.”
While it might still be a little too cold for some plants, Williams said, it’s not too early to improve your garden soil.
He advised getting “new fertilizer, compost and start mixing that in loosening your beds up,” Williams said.
Greenstreet agreed, saying gardening is similar to painting.
“It takes more time to prep the wall with the sanding and the primer, etc., than it does to actually paint it,” she said. “It’s very similar in gardening. It’s critical to add the soil amendments and get the bed ready before you put the plants in.”
Even if there was not a pandemic, a lot of people around the D.C. area are passionate about gardening, Greenstreet said, and she expects local garden centers to get really busy soon.
“All we need is moving toward spring, and a little bit of sunshine.”
