Onderhoud Seizoen

Getting ready for the new season

How do you get last year's Planty Garden ready for a new season? Easy: tidy up your garden boxes and add some extra soil mix.
Just topping off the soil mix
Just topping off the MM-Mix
Spring around the corner? Then it's time to get your garden boxes ready.

All you need to do is refresh your MM-Mix and add our nutritious plant food:

How do you freshen up last year's garden boxes?

You'll be done in no time. You never have to replace the MM-Mix, just leave it in your vegetable garden box. You only need to top it off and give it a little boost by adding some nutrients.

Here, I'll show you: 

Start with a quick clean up

First, remove the grid and collect all the plant labels. Toss the labels into soapy water and wipe off the grid with a sponge.
Verzamel de labels en rasters van de Makkelijke Moestuinbakken en maak ze schoon
Deze rasters en labels kunnen wel een sopje gebruiken
Soms zitten er nog oogstbare wortels of bietjes in de mix. Die trek je eruit en neem je mee naar de keuken.

Dan haal je alle oude planten uit de mix en gooi je ze op je composthoop. Kleine worteltjes laat je gewoon zitten, grote wortels haal je weg.
Oogst wat je nog kunt oogsten en breng oude planten en grote wortels naar de compost.
Oogst wat je nog kunt oogsten en breng oude planten en grote wortels naar de compost.
Then take all your old plants out of the soil mix and throw them in the compost pile. You can leave small roots: just remove the large ones.

Got perennials or biennial plants that you want to keep? Carefully scoop them out with a big clod of the soil mix around the roots. Set aside until your garden box is ready again.
Moestuinplanten die je wilt bewaren zet je bij het opschonen van de moestuinbakken even opzij
Zet de plantjes die je wilt bewaren even opzij

Refresh your soil mix

When your boxes are completely cleaned up, top them off with some MM-Mix so they're full again.
Clean garden boxes ready for an extra layer of soil mix on top
Tidy box ready for a little more soil mix
Then sprinkle in the MM-Plantfood: 60 ml - or 45 g - per square patch. That equals 4 full table spoons if you rather use those. So for a garden box with 16 squares patches, you need 3/4 of the package.
At the start of the season, add extra nutrients to your garden containers to revitalize the MM-Mix
Add a fresh boost of nutrients
Then mix it all together really well. Scoop the soil mix from the front of the garden box to the back, from the left to the right and vice versa.
Mix the MM-Mix and MM-Plantfood together well in your garden box
Mix it all together
This way, you combine the soil mix and nutrients and don't have to worry about crop rotation.

You also distribute the nutrients evenly and make the soil mix nice and airy. I use a shovel - we have a ridiculous number of garden boxes - but you can also use a trowel.

Last but not least: put your white grid back on top.
No Planty Garden is complete without the MM-Raster grid
The last step: laying down the grid

Bij mini's en airbakken doe je hetzelfde

Je haalt de troep eruit, voegt wat voeding toe - en eventueel wat verse mix - en schept de mix goed door.

Als je een kruiwagen of een grote teil hebt, dan kun je de mix uit de mini's ook eerst daarin gooien en dan bewerken. Dat vind ik zelf wel prettig. Zo nodig kan ik de mini's dan meteen schoonmaken.
Mix uit de Makkelijke Moestuin-mini's maak je makkelijk schoon in de kruiwagen
Mix uit de mini's in de kruiwagen

Refreshing the soil mix for perennials

Do you have garden boxes with perennials that you can't easily move - like strawberries, herbs, flowers, raspberries, and blueberries? Just work around the plants to tidy up the patch. Trim back old leaves and dead branches. Remove any weeds.

Once the garden box is as tidy as it can get, add some fresh MM-Mix. Just enough around the base of the plants so the box is full again.

Also add some fresh MM-Plantfood: about 50 ml or 3 tbsp per square patch.
A raised bed with raspberries and strawberries
A raised bed with raspberries and strawberries

That's it

Not so bad is it? Really, you'll be done before you know it. Maybe a half-hour.

Unless you have an absurd number of garden boxes like us  😉

But really, it's exciting. You'll start fresh and be ready to sow in no time.

Have fun with it! 

PS: Do you make your own compost?

If you make your own compost, you can use it to partly supplement your soil mix. Be sure that your compost contains enough nutrients - unfortunately that's usually not the case.

If you have any doubts, add 30 ml or 2 tbsp of MM-Plantfood per square patch. If you notice during the season that your plants are not growing enough, you can add more.

But to really keep the MM-Mix in balance, you'll need to add some more after a while.

Get tips & tricks in your inbox

When you sign up, I’ll send you the top 3 things beginners get wrong. And how you can get it right.

We care about the protection of your data. Read our Privacy Policy