Garden Center at Gandy Blvd #6327

On those beautiful days, clean up the yard before everything blooms in earnest. Many people feel inspired to refresh their outdoor space for entertaining, as well. Plan your garden to make the most of your time and space. Remember to measure your garden so you can find fresh mulch near you as soon as it's available. No matter what outdoor projects you choose to tackle, The Home Depot Gandy Blvd Garden Center can help you enjoy your spring activities to the fullest.

Plant Hardiness Zones Explained
The first thing to learn when planting spring flowers, veggies, and other seeds is your planting zone. Every location in the U.S. and its territories is sorted into blocks by climate. Find your zone on the USDA zone map and learn when to plant seeds.

For example, you could plant bell pepper seedlings outdoors in mid-March in Zone 10, but not until the end of May in Zone 4. For best results, choose plants in your zone number or less. In other words, a Zone 9 garden can support plants listed as Zones 1–9. You can plant seeds indoors roughly a month before you can plant them outside, or direct sow. Always read your seed packet for details. If you start plants a little later than recommended, it's not ideal, but it should even out as time passes.

Gardening in Your Growing Zone
In the areas of Zones 9 and 10 stretching across the Southeast, you can plant indoors early in the year. Your odds of frost are low in this part of the country, but not zero. Keep an eye out for cold snaps and cover any early-riser bulb plants or sprouts during cold times.

Growing season begins early and ends late in this part of the country. The weather and climate make it easy to get and keep a beautiful garden going. A wide variety of plants, vegetables, and flowers thrive in Florida and southern Georgia. If you've got good soil drainage, you can even grow citrus trees. You'll have excellent results with peppers of all colors and heat levels, including bell peppers, jalapeños, and more. Cucumbers, zucchini, squash, and pumpkins, which are direct sow only, will flourish. Tomato plants will yield thriving leaves and fruit, as they're tropical in origin and love the heat.

Plant Seeds Outside With Direct Sow
Planting seeds with the direct sow method, right into the soil, is another option. There's less planning and tending than growing indoors. If you like to go with the flow, follow the instructions on your seed packet and try it out.

Prepare to deal with whatever hand nature deals you: Be ready for none of your seeds to sprout, all of them to come up, and anything in between. Your seedlings will need to survive rain, wind, rodents and insects that crave tender greens, and cold snaps. But if you're lucky, you'll get strong sprouts that are ready to grow all spring.

Start Seeds Indoors
If you're eager to get growing or would like more control in the care and feeding of seedlings, start your seeds indoors instead. In general, you can plant seeds indoors about a month before you can do it outside. Like direct sow, you push the seeds into the soil as directed on the seed packet, but that's where the similarities end.

You're responsible for giving them quality substitutes for rain and sunlight. Keep your seeds cozy with heat mats and grow lights, water them carefully with a spray bottle or watering can, then thin them as they germinate in groups of three. Give them a boost with a gently blowing fan as they lengthen into sprouts if you'd like. Harden them off to get them used to outdoor conditions, then transplant them into your garden when they're big enough.

Transplant Young Plants Into Their New Homes
When your plants have three or four true leaves — different from miniature seedling leaves – transplant them. In quality soil, dig a hole the same size as the dirt plug where your transplant has been growing. If your ground soil isn't fantastic, dig a slightly bigger hole and fill the extra space with nutrient-rich topsoil. Apply any fertilizer as directed on the package, either in the hole or on top of the soil after it's planted. Only apply as much as recommended, as you could burn the plant and kill it instead of helping it along.

Protect Your Garden With Mulch
Finish your planting by following it with compost and mulch. Compost enriches the soil so your garden can grow even better. It may help foster stronger and larger plants that bear more fruit and flowers. Mulch controls weeds and keeps the soil moist. Compost and mulch can be DIY creations, but you can also purchase them in-store. The next time you're looking for "mulch near me," stop by the Garden Center to get the right amount.

Greet the Spring
Early spring is an exciting time in the world of gardening. Don't miss a minute of growing season. Prepare to fertilize your lawn, plan your garden and landscaping, and browse our garden center pages to find inspiration on which spring flowers to plant when the weather warms. Shop for the soil, seeds, and fertilizer you need in the aisles of your Gandy Blvd Garden Center, online, or on our mobile app. Let's get growing together.