Garden Center at Newport News #4613

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. Planning your garden lets you make the most of your time and space. You can also add beauty and interest with hardscaping, stonework, and water features. No matter what outdoor projects you choose to tackle, The Garden Center in Newport News can help you enjoy your spring activities to the fullest.

Plant Hardiness Zones Explained
The first thing to learn when planting vegetables, spring flowers, 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 transplant bell peppers outdoors in mid-March in Zone 10, but not until the end of May in Zone 4. The plants that'll thrive in your area are in your zone, and all the zones numbered less than that. In other words, a Zone 6 garden can support plants listed as Zones 1–6. You can plant seeds indoors roughly a month before you can plant them outside, or direct sow. Read your seed packet for details. If you start them later than recommended, it's not ideal, but it will even out as time passes.

Gardening in Your Growing Zone
Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia are in Zones 6–8. Cruciferous veggies and certain herbs are ready to grow when you're ready to plant. This includes kale, broccoli, and cabbage. Greens like spinach and artichokes, early-blooming annuals like marigolds, and fragrant herbs, including oregano, basil, and parsley, also don't mind an early beginning. Even in the highest peaks of West Virginia in Zone 5b, traditional garden vegetables like peppers of all kinds, cucumbers, and tomatoes are fine with an early spring or late winter start indoors under the grow lights.

Look up the date of your last predicted frost, then count backward 6 to 8 weeks. That's when you should sow your seeds indoors. The idea is to have strong baby plants that are ready for transplant at the same time the ground is warm enough. Do your best and enjoy the process – watching your plants grow, bloom, and put out tiny veggies that'll grow to harvest size is part of the fun.

Plant Seeds Outside With Direct Sow
Planting seeds into your garden soil, or using the direct sow method, is an alternative option. There's less planning and tending than growing indoors. If you like to go with the flow, follow the instructions on your seed package 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, bugs and animals that want a crunchy green snack, and sudden cold temperatures. 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 sun. Keep your seeds cozy with warming mats and grow lights, water them carefully with a mister 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
Carefully take your seedling out of the container. Turn it upside-down or sideways and gently squeeze the plastic to break the seal. If your transplant grew in the garden, leave plenty of room around the stem and dig deeper than you think with your garden trowel. You don't want to damage the root ball. Place it into the hole you dug for it, even with the surrounding soil.

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 larger plants that bear more fruit and flowers. Mulch controls weeds and keeps the soil moist. Mulch and compost 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 what to plant when the weather warms. Shop for the fertilizer, seeds, and soil you need in the aisles of your Newport News Garden Center, online, or on our mobile app. Let's get growing together.