To get your homestead ready for spring, here are several chores you can do before the weather turns for the better.
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Ways to Get Ready for Spring Around the Homestead
1. Clean the Chicken Coop
To get ready for spring and the warmer weather, it’s time to clean the chicken coop. Start by thoroughly removing the stuck-on waste and other dirt. Once it’s clean, you should lay down some new straw in anticipation of the coming season and apply some snake or other pest repellents to discourage unwanted critters inside the coop.
It’s also important to apply the same process to your other animal pens on your homestead.
2. Create a Potting Station
Building this saves you the effort, time, and hassle this spring and even summer because you won’t need to find a place for your plants. Find the perfect location first for the station and start building a freestanding bench.
You can also construct wall planters made of wood to add more style to your potting station. Attach hooks on the planters to hang potting tools and don’t forget to spare extra shelves for more storage.
3. Arrange Tools
Now that winter is almost over, it’s time you start to organize your homestead tools to get ready for spring, too. This will help you easily access all your equipment, especially when you do repairs during the spring and summer.
It also saves time looking for which tools you need for a specific project or repairing. You can place all these tools in one area of your home but group them according to how you will use them.
You can even label each group to make it easier to locate.
If you think there are old or damaged tools that need replacing, don’t wait for spring to come because you might be waiting in a long line if you do. Check your equipment now and make a list of which tools you need to replace so you won’t forget anything.
4. Repair Garden Fencing
Your garden fencing’s main role is to keep critters away from entering your garden and to keep your animals safe in your area. With the winter almost over, it’s time you begin fixing your fencing by replacing damaged or old materials and fortifying it overall.
One helpful tip to keep moles and rabbits from digging underneath is to bury the fence at least six inches below the ground. There are several fencing materials you can find around your home, like recycled pallets or woven chicken wire.
Just make sure to apply a protective coating to the improvised fencing to slow down material deterioration.
RELATED: Spring Cleaning Checklist For Homesteaders
5. Start Seedling
Getting an early jump with seed starting is a perfect way to prepare your plants to grow during the warmer weather. You can choose between an indoor and outdoor seedling.
If you select to start vegetable seeds indoors, for example, start potting with a seed-starting mix and ensure the containers have drainage holes. Plant seeds at the right depth and start sowing.
What is a seed-starting mix? It’s a mixture of soil ingredients, commonly peat moss, sand, and perlite, to help seedlings grow.
Place the plant containers in a warm area and always keep the seed-starting mix hydrated. Once the seedlings emerge, place the pots in a brighter area with cool room temperature.
Fertilize the seedlings weekly until you see two sets of leaves.
There are still many ways to start seedlings, but all you need to remember is the seeds need a bit of light and soil to grow successfully. It may be a little difficult to figure out where to place the plant once the seedlings begin to shoot up.
6. Prepare Garden Soil
The right soil is key to a healthier and productive garden, so you might want to beef it up with more nutrients to get ready for spring. You can use farm animals like pigs to churn over the garden soil and add more organic fertilizer to your garden beds.
If you opt for mixing your garden soil, make sure to include three parts peat moss, two parts compost and sand, and one part soil. You can also mix other nutrients to the soil to balance the pH, like rock phosphate, lime, and greensand.
Once the soil mixture is ready, preparing a garden bed is easy because you can already add it to the natural soil.
7. Build a Compost Bin
You need as much compost pile as you can to sustain a healthy garden. If you haven’t started it yet, it’s not too late!
You can achieve a good amount of compost in weeks if you have proper ventilation and rotation. Build your compost bin using old pallets or buy several plastic bins.
Just make sure to turn the compost pile to allow oxygen circulation and heat distribution. When springtime starts, you can inspect your bin and mix in hay and other nitrogenous materials like food scraps and plants to keep it going.
8. Plan Land Projects
If you’re thinking about expanding your garden, now is the perfect time to plan and prepare the groundwork. You can start by removing unwanted obstacles on the plot you plan to use, like large rocks or old structures.
Mow pastures at the start of spring to eliminate stink weeds that several animals don’t eat and to promote nutritious grass growth. You can also weed the garden and make it ready for tilling.
Once the new ground is ready, till it at least twice a day to make sure the soil is good for the crop.
Also, don’t forget to trim trees surrounding your house, especially those with branches that are already touching or laying on your roof.
9. Replenish Supplies
If you’re replacing old and damaged tools for your home, now is also the right time to buy what you need. Again, make a list of the things you wish to include in your homesteading improvement and start with the priorities.
Check everything as you list down, from spring gardening materials to farming needs. You don’t have to create the list in one sitting — take the time to visit and do inventory of the different aspects of your homesteading operation as the weather gets warmer.
Start writing down the list now and add the items you need as you remember them before you go shopping.
With these homesteading tips to get ready for spring, you’ll take one step ahead with your home projects. Planning is key to achieve all these, so make sure you start thinking about the most important ones down to the least.
Begin prepping with your family now about your homesteading projects and ensure the members get involved, so everyone is extra excited for the changing of the seasons.
What other homesteading tips can you share with us? Leave them in the comments section below!
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