Now that the cold weather feels officially over and the frost has gone, greenthumbs can start getting out into the garden.
Major spring tasks every gardener should check off include:
Prepare flower and plant beds by cleaning up old leaves and woodchips and replacing with fresh mulch or compost.
Prune evergreen and fruit greenery plus rose bushes before any new buds bloom.
Apply pest control via either a natural or synthetic treatment as soon as temperatures start to rise.
Plant cool-season vegetables such as potatoes, artichokes, peas, radishes, beans and lettuces when the ground is no longer frozen. These vegetables will then be ready for harvesting in early summer.
Start planting
Perennials – to give them time to root and grow before summer weather begins and cool season annuals such as pansies and snapdragons and trees and shrubs.
Fertilize sown vegetables as well as citrus trees and rose bushes.
Harvest earlier sown vegetables and plant warmer season edibles such as tomatoes, peppers and herbs.
Plant late-season bulbs such as dahlias and zinnias and more heat-tolerant annuals including petunias and impatiens. Deadhead any bulbs that have already flowered.
And throughout spring, make sure that you continually weed and water, clean out bird baths and feeders and clear out your garden sheds and gutters of winter waste.