Abonamos el geranio en primavera.

Here, abonar means to fertilize or to add compost/manure/fertilizer to a plant or the soil.

That is important because abonar also has other meanings in Spanish, such as:

• to pay
• to credit
• to subscribe

In a gardening sentence like this one, though, the meaning is clearly the fertilizing one.

Abonamos is the first person plural form of abonar:

• yo abono
• tú abonas
• él/ella abona
• nosotros/nosotras abonamos
• vosotros/vosotras abonáis
• ellos/ellas abonan

So abonamos means we fertilize or, depending on context, we fertilized.

It can mean either one, because for regular -ar verbs, the nosotros form is the same in the present and the preterite:

• present: abonamos = we fertilize / we do fertilize
• preterite: abonamos = we fertilized

You tell the difference from context.

In this sentence, en primavera strongly suggests a habitual/general meaning, so learners will usually understand it as:

• we fertilize the geranium in spring
• or we fertilize the geranium during springtime

Spanish often uses the simple present for:

• habits
• routines
• general truths
• repeated actions

So Abonamos el geranio en primavera sounds like a usual practice: something we do in spring.

If you wanted to stress an action happening right now, Spanish would more naturally use:

• Estamos abonando el geranio

But with en primavera, the sentence sounds much more like a habit than an action in progress.

Spanish uses the definite article very often, sometimes more often than English does.

El geranio can mean:

• the geranium = a specific geranium already known in the conversation
• or sometimes a more generic idea, depending on context

Using un geranio would mean a geranium, introducing it as a less specific plant.

So el geranio is perfectly normal here.

Because el geranio is a direct object and it is a thing, not a person.

Spanish uses the personal a mainly with specific people (and sometimes animals), for example:

• Vemos a María
• Quiero a mi perro

But with plants and objects, you normally do not use that a:

• Abonamos el geranio

So *abonamos al geranio would not be correct here.

With seasons, Spanish often uses en + season without the article, especially in expressions of time:

• en primavera
• en verano
• en otoño
• en invierno

So en primavera is the most natural general form here.

You may also hear en la primavera, but that usually sounds more specific, more literary, or more tied to a particular spring in context. For a general seasonal habit, en primavera is the standard choice.

Yes, geranio is a masculine noun, so it takes:

• el geranio
• un geranio

The ending -o often points to masculine gender, and in this case that pattern works.

If you made it plural, it would be:

• los geranios

Yes. Spanish word order is fairly flexible.

The original order:

• Abonamos el geranio en primavera

A very natural alternative is:

• En primavera abonamos el geranio

Both are correct. The difference is mainly focus:

• starting with En primavera highlights when
• starting with Abonamos is more neutral

Yes, people would understand fertilizamos, but abonamos is especially natural in gardening contexts.

Very roughly:

• abonar = to apply fertilizer/compost/manure to the soil or plant
• fertilizar = to fertilize, but it can sound a bit more technical or broader depending on context

In everyday Spanish from Spain, abonar is a very normal verb for plants and gardening.

No. As a dictionary verb, abonar has several meanings. Common ones include:

• to fertilize
• to pay
• to credit
• to subscribe

So learners should not memorize it with only one meaning. The context tells you which meaning is intended. In a sentence with el geranio and en primavera, the gardening meaning is the one that fits.

Most likely a repeated or habitual action.

Because of en primavera, the sentence sounds like something people generally do every spring, not just a one-time event. That is why English often translates it with a habitual present:

• We fertilize the geranium in spring

If the speaker meant one finished event in the past, the sentence would usually need more context to make that clear.