First the crocuses and snow drops appear mingled with lingering snow, followed by the hyacinths, daffodils and tulips. After months of barren yards covered in snow, early spring bulbs mark the beginning of a new growing season. Kimberlee Tisha Horne welcomes the first flowers each year when soil thaws out and the earliest gardening tasks can begin. She has nurtured vegetable and flower beds for the last few decades in both Centerville and Bountiful. Her current home in Bountiful has lush flower beds, a raised bed vegetable garden and even hives for honeybees. 

The bulbs that welcome spring are best planted near the end of the previous season. Crocuses, snowdrops, hyacinths, daffodils and tulips can be placed in the soil up until the ground freezes, usually in November. Horne suggests making sure the bulbs are planted to the recommended depth. Horne said once she planted some shallowly because the ground was hard and they “didn’t grow as well and the stems fell over because of the lack of support.” 

She waits for the green shoots to first show in the spring and then adds fertilizer to get the biggest blooms. “Don’t bother with small bulbs, but invest in the bigger ones that are firm,” Horne said. Tulips are her favorite with their multitude of colors and varieties that bloom in the early, middle and late spring. Sprinkling in some daffodils, which are more deer resistant, can help deter deer from eating all the bulbs. 

In her somewhat shaded flower beds, Horne plants petunias, impatiens, snapdragons, pinks, hosta and ferns. Preen, a granular seed deterrent, is a must for Horne who is not a fan of weeding.

“If I didn’t have Preen, I wouldn’t have flower beds,” she said. 

To keep deer from her raised vegetable beds, Horne has a fenced back yard with an even higher fence (8 feet) around the garden beds. She also has a dog who can be a deer deterrent. In her vegetable gardens, Horne is trying to go organic, only using safer, natural fertilizers and bug sprays. Her garden beds are filled with compost from the Bountiful dump amended with vermiculite and shredded coconut husks.

“Make sure you have plenty of sun for a vegetable garden,” said Horne. “I had to move one of my garden boxes that was too close to a fence and didn’t get enough sunlight.” Horne has used steer manure added in the fall in the past, but feels it is too strong to add in the spring since it may burn plants. She uses granular fertilizer in all of her beds. She puts it in a bucket and tosses it around all her plants like “feeding chickens.” 

First thing in the early spring she likes to put in Kenebec seed potatoes. “You only need two eyes in each piece,” said Horne. “Put them out and let them lay out before planting.” She also puts in little marvel bush peas early that she prefers to the vining peas that require support. She plants Detroit or ruby queen beets and tender sweet carrots every two weeks so that she doesn’t get her whole crop at once. She keeps her seeds in a cool, dry place and said that she uses them for years.

“If you are concerned that a seed won’t sprout because of age, put two seeds in a hole,” Horne said.  She likes to purchase her seeds at Mountain Valley Seeds on 175 West 2200 South in SLC. Trueleafmarket.com is a good source also. 

Corn is not for small gardens because of the need for extensive cross pollination – easier in large fields. Horne has had great success with various zucchini, sunshine hybrid squash (“love them!”), butternut, and banana squash. She plants peppers for her son and is a fan of the tried-and-true, better boy and early girl tomatoes. Trying exotic tomato plants has not yielded good results, she said. 

Horne said she put in a patch of cantaloupe last year that yielded a lot of really “yummy,” sweet melons. 

Her interest in gardening peaked after purchasing her first home. She read a lot to jumpstart her learning and has been a continuing student in her own garden experiments. Horne keeps a journal of what plants she has grown and how well they did.

“You have to give plants what they need,” said Horne. “If the tag says full sun, they need a lot of light and shade plants can curl up and die if they get too much sun.” 

Don’t be afraid to move plants around, she said. If a plant is struggling in a certain spot, try moving it to a more favorable spot.