We’re in the middle of the in-between season. Winter is loosening its grip on the weather while the first day of Spring is a little over a month away. The question is: what can we do now that will help us be ready once we can finally get back out in the garden? Here’s some ideas.

First of all, if you utilize containers in your garden, now would be a good time to give them a freshening up. If you have used the same soil for several years in a container, remove some of that old potting soil and replace it with new, fresh potting soil. You shouldn’t have to replace all of the soil in your container, just take out about 1/3, pour in some fresh garden soil, and give it a good stir. Growing in the same container soil, year after year, can deplete nutrients, unless you are a ninja at working and keeping this container soil healthy. If that is the case, then just keep on being a ninja.

For a lot of my hanging plants, I can’t reuse the soil anyway because it’s full of roots from the previous season. Plus, I just like giving my plants a fresh start, so I tend to replace the soil in those every year.

Also, if you had a plant in the container last year that didn’t do well, there might have been some disease issues. So, if you would like to use the same container, get rid of all that dirt and clean the inside of the container with a 10% bleach solution. This should help eliminate any potential disease lurking in the crevices of the container.

For our in-ground or raised bed gardens, now would be a good time to get a soil test. To get a soil test, you are going to need to gather up about 15 to 20 samples of soil from your sample area. This means that if you are sampling soil from your garden area, those samples would need to come from that area only. If you are sampling the soil in your yard, the soil would need to come from that area.

For people with a large quantity of raised beds, optimally you would want to sample each bed, but I know that’s not really practical. Instead, you could gather your soil sample from all the beds and have a good approximation. Or, you could divide the number of beds you have by 3 or 4 and then test those on a rotating basis. Either way you do it, you’ll be better off than if you didn’t.

To gather your soil for the soil test, you’ll need to get a bucket and a trowel. We have special soil sample tools you can check out of the office if you like. I like to use a bulb planter to gather my sample. Just be sure to dig down about 6 inches in depth since the test is calibrated for a 6-inch depth. As you collect your samples, place them in a bucket. Once you have them all, remove any debris like twigs, stir it up, and then fill a sandwich bag sized container with some your collected soil.

Now you’ll need to bring your sample to the OSU Extension office on 4116 E. 15^th Street along with $10 for the test. You will get your results in a couple of weeks.

The test will tell you the pH level of your soil along with information on the amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium found in the sample. You’ll also get a recommendation on how to make any amendments that are necessary. It’s a good idea to do that now, so that you can make those amendments before we start planting.

Another thing you can do is add supplemental organic matter to your soil. Soil in our area typically has an organic matter content of about 1%. As gardeners, we want our garden soil to have an organic matter content of about 5 to 6 percent.

Organic matter helps our soil in a variety of ways. It helps loosen soil, improves drainage and moisture retention, as well as reduce erosion. Organic matter also helps encourage microbial growth in the soil that contributes to plant health.

Easily accessible organic matter to add to your soil would include mulched leaves, grass clippings, and compost. You can also add composted manure to increase organic matter.

If you are not a composter, composting is a good way to turn yard debris and food scraps into a wonderful soil amendment. We have information on composting on our website.

Next, I would suggest you get some sort of mulch to use around your flowers and vegetables in the garden. Mulch helps retain moisture, maintains soil temperatures and reduces the number of weeds in your garden. Over time they will decompose. At that point you can till the mulch into the soil to help increase organic matter.

And last but not lease, get those garden tools and hoses cleaned up and in good shape. Garden tools can be cleaned with a 10% bleach solution to minimize potential disease transfer. Then spray your tools with a little WD-40 to minimize rust and decay.

If you want to go even further in getting ready for the season you can visit our online plant sale/fundraiser to dream and maybe even order some new plants. Some varieties sell out, so shopping early is the key to getting what you want. We also have worm castings for sale in this fundraiser. Worm castings are a great way to naturally amend your soil.

Either way, garden season is coming, so I’ll see you in the garden!

You can get answers to all your gardening questions by calling the Tulsa Master Gardeners Help Line at 918-746-3701, dropping by our Diagnostic Center at 4116 E. 15th Street, or by emailing us at mg@tulsamastergardeners.org. Photo: OSU Ag. Comm.