Garden Center at Southport #2012

Mother's Day Deals on Gardening Gifts
Our Mother's Day Sale is the perfect time to help Mom upgrade her garden. We've got savings on popular brands of herb plants, decorative plants, and those details that make a garden special: garden decor, planters, and flower pots. If you're on the fence about the perfect present when searching for Mother's Day gifts, a gift card is always a winner. Shop The Home Depot Mother's Day Gardening Gifts Sale from May 2nd to May 12th in-store or online.



On those beautiful days, clean up the yard before everything blooms in earnest. Lawn care is often a priority, as well. Planning your garden lets you 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 Garden Center in Southport can help you enjoy your spring activities to the fullest.

Plant Hardiness Zones Explained
The first thing you should know when planting spring flowers, vegetables, 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. 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. The timeframe to direct sow outdoors in your garden is often around a month later than the indoor start date. Read your seed packet for details. If you start them later than recommended, it's not ideal, but it should even out as time passes.

Gardening in Your Growing Zone
The Midwest is mostly Zones 6 and 7 throughout Indiana, Michigan, and Kentucky. You’ll find pockets of Zone 5 and stretches of Zone 4 in the Upper Peninsula. In Zones 5 and 6, the outdoor growing season doesn’t begin here until mid-March or even April, although you can plant some veggie seeds halfway through February. Warmer Zone 7 can start planting earlier, and Zone 4 much later on. Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, and other classic garden crops will do well in this region, and most of them can get an early jump on growing indoors before spring really moves in.

Also, check out cruciferous veggies and certain herbs if you're ready to get planting. This includes cabbage, kale, and broccoli. Greens like spinach, artichokes, and fragrant herbs, including oregano, basil, and parsley, also don't mind an early start. The main concern is waiting until the frost has passed for the season, so planting seeds outdoors as direct sow is later here compared to farther south.

Plant Seeds Outside With Direct Sow
Planting seeds into your garden soil, or using the direct sow method, is an alternative option. It doesn't give you as much organized planning in terms of space and reliability as starting indoors. However, if you like to go with the flow, follow the instructions on your seed pouch and try it.

Your seeds might struggle to grow or get washed away, or bugs or animals might eat the sprouts. But if you're really lucky, you might get a strong sprout from each place you sowed seeds, perfectly spaced and ready to grow all spring. The reality of your garden will usually be somewhere in between, and spreading out tiny sprouts throughout the soil isn't so bad. You know those sprouts are hardy, although there are no guarantees in the long term.

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 warm 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
By now, your plants have three or four true leaves — they'll look different from the miniature seedling leaves. When the ground is warm, and you're not expecting soaking rain, look into transplanting your big sprouts into their new outdoor home. These large seedlings that are ready to be planted can also be called "transplants" or "starts." In cases where you directly planted into the ground, you may still want to shuffle plants around for the best sun and spacing. That's also a transplant situation, as is repotting plants into larger pots.

Protect Your Garden With Mulch
Finish it all off with mulch and compost. Mulch keeps your soil from drying out and controls weeds. Compost enriches the soil so your garden can grow even better. It may help foster larger and stronger plants that bear more flowers and fruit. 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
Late winter into early spring is an exciting time in the world of gardening. Don't miss a minute of growing season. Plan your garden and landscaping, prepare to fertilize your lawn, and browse our garden center pages to find inspiration on what to plant when the weather warms. Shop for the seeds, fertilizer, and soil you need in the aisles of your Southport Garden Center, online, or on our mobile app. Let's get growing together.