Early Spring Garden Checklist

* Plan your gardens. Plan your summer vegetable and herb garden. Plan your annuals beds. Plan your containers and hanging baskets.

* Start your seeds. We offer a wide selection of seeds that include all of your favorite annuals, perennials, vegetables, and many hard-to-find selections as well. Inventory your pots and flats and discard unusable ones.

* Make a list of the supplies you will need for the growing season ahead. Find what you need in our Garden Store!

* Have your garden soil tested for nutrient content. We carry affordable soil kits in our Garden Store.

* Prune woody plants while dormant. Limit pruning of spring-blooming trees and shrubs to the removal of sucker growth and rubbing or broken branches. Spray trees and shrubs with year-round horticultural oil to reduce insect population.

* Sharpen, clean, and oil tools and lawn mowers. Begin heavy annual pruning of shrub roses as new leaves appear.

* Cut back ornamental grasses if you haven’t already.

* Divide or thin any crowded perennials. Share with friends!

* Plant pansies, English daisies, and primrose as soon as the earth is workable. Plant strawberry plants. Sow cool-season vegetables and herbs in the garden.

* Start spring cleanup and begin major lawn work. Remove debris, dethatch your lawn or aerate compacted areas to improve water penetration.

* Apply fertilizer to perennials, trees and shrubs.

* Remove winter weeds and debris from the planting beds.

* Reseed bare spots in established lawns. Keep the area moist until seedlings appear, then mow when the new grass is 3″ high.

* Prune forsythia and other spring-flowering trees and shrubs after the flowers fall.

* Dig and divide crowded early spring bulbs after they finish blooming. Enrich the soil with bone meal.

* Plant and transplant trees and shrubs, including roses, ground covers, and perennials.

* Transplant cool-season seedlings into the garden. When the soil temperature reaches 60 degrees, sow warm-season vegetable and herb seeds.