Start Composting

Don’t waste all those good kitchen scraps or garden trimmings. Use them to make compost—black gold—that will enrich your garden soil and containers. You can start a compost pile or make your own compost bin. Bonus: you’ll be keeping that waste out of landfills and providing free organic materials to your beds and borders.

Get Planting!

We’re well into spring and there are many things to plant this month. Here in Zone 5, not far from Chicago, I’m planting peas, Swiss chard, lettuce, radishes and potatoes. Why wait until hot weather when you can enjoy cool-season crops now? Pansies fill my hanging baskets and window boxes for an early pop of color. And the native wildflowers planted last fall—Virginia bluebells and bloodroot—are blooming and attracting many tiny bees, flies and other native pollinators.

Recycle

No one really enjoys sending things to the landfill, especially gardeners. Recycling, repurposing and reusing is not only an Earth Day activity; there are many opportunities every other day of the year. I’ve seen glass cake stands perched on metal rods where they serve as decorative birdbaths or as plant stands in the garden. Wooden chairs past their prime, are painted bright colors and popped in a border where they hold containers overflowing with annuals. I’ve used outdoor paint—shades of eggplant, mauve and purple—on tired resin pots, metal patio furniture, and metal and wood arbors to give them a new, colorful life.  One of my favorite containers is a recycled construction wheelbarrow, painted aubergine and filled with colorful annuals. And, how about recycling those old clothes into a new wardrobe for a scarecrow that kids and adults will enjoy?

Take a Class

During the pandemic, public and botanic gardens turned to online classes. The Chicago Botanic Garden, where I’ve taught for more than 20 years, offers everything from horticulture and design to wellness and photography. Your local park district or botanic garden may do the same. The Garden Conservancy also offers many interesting webinars on different topics. And, of course, PlantersPlace has wonderful instructional videos.