In early spring, most gardeners are chomping at the bit to get out and do something in their gardens and yards. Unfortunately, it is still too early to plant and if you try digging in your gardens you may end up doing more damage then good. Don't despair though--there are still lots of yard and garden projects that you can work on until planting season arrives. Here is a list of ideas to keep you busy until then:

1. Get a soil test. You can pick up collection bags for your soil samples at your local extension office (see my extension page for the office nearest you). I would recommend doing separate tests for your lawn and gardens, since the laboratory recommendations will differ depending on whether you are growing flowers, vegetables or grass.

2. Replace your mulch and add amendments. This is a good time to renew the mulch around all your plants before the new foliage fills out. I know you all have a compost heap in your backyard, so take all that lovely "black gold " and spread it around all your plants--they'll love you for it.

3. Make a compost heap or bin. Okay, maybe there are a still a few of you that don't compost--why not start this season? Check out my article on composting for more information.

4. Prune your shrub roses. Now that your roses have just started to bud, you can easily tell where there is dead wood that needs to be removed. You'll also want to thin out those canes rubbing against each other or growing into the center of the shrub.

When deciding where to cut, look for a healthy bud that is pointing outward. Make your cut at a 45 degree angle about one-quarter inch above the bud. If you see brown tissue in the center of the cane, go down a little further until you find healthy tissue.

5. Cut down your ornamental grasses. You need to get all the dead foliage removed before the new growth starts to appear.

First, take some garden twine and wrap it a few times around the middle of your clump of ornamental grass and then tie it securely.  You should be able to see where the new growth has started, which will give you a good idea how far down to cut.  If you get in there early in the spring, you should be able to cut everything down to just three or four inches.

Using the electric hedge trimmers, start on one side of the clump and cut into the center about one quarter of the way.  Then move to the opposite side and do the same thing.  Keep repeating this on opposite sides until the grass falls over.  Once you move last year's foliage out of the way, you may want to use some hand shears to clean up the rough edges left from the electric trimmers. 

After that, all you have to do is pick up your nice tidy bundle of dead grass and use the wheelbarrow to move it to the to the brush pile.

6. Build pathways. You've always wanted a walkway to the garden, so why not build one now while the ground is still soft?

7. Clean up all your pots and containers. It is way too early to plant annual flowers into your patio or deck containers, but you can always get a head start. First remove all the old potting soil and dump it into your compost bin. Do not reuse the same soil mix because you may carry over diseases that were present in the soil or the plants.

Scrub each container with powdered laundry detergent and water and then disinfect the pot with an 8 parts water to 1 part chlorine bleach solution. Rinse well and voilá--your pots are disinfected and ready to plant when the weather permits.

8. Sharpen your garden tools. I am determined to actually follow my own advice this year and make sure all my pruners, spades and shovels are sharpened and ready to do the job. I always keep my Felcos (pruners) sharpened, but I've been chastised about my dull, rusty spades for way too long by my friend Kerin who digs for a living. She claims that I expend twice the energy I would if my shovels were kept sharpened and in good working order. Kerin routinely sharpens all her spades using an electric grinder with a 4-1/2 inch 60 grit wheel. If you are like me and hate to use power tools, you can also use a medium-toothed flat file.

Put the spade in a vise and grasp the file by both ends at a slight angle to the edge of the blade of the spade. You should see an obvious bevel to follow. Make long firm strokes in only one direction. When you've sharpened the entire length of the blade, turn the spade over and lightly rub off any burrs that may have been produced from sharpening the other side.

9.  Get out your nursery catalogs and make sure to get your order in now for all those new perennials that you had your eye on when the catalogs first started arriving last January.

10. Download "My Garden Journal" so you will be ready to start recording all your important plant and garden info all season long.  Keeping a garden journal is one of the most satisfying things you can do, and by the time you are actually out planting you will probably get so busy that all your good intentions will get put on hold.  Why keep a garden journal?  Simply put, winter lasts a long time and whether it is chores we need to remember to do when spring comes or just where we put a new plant last fall...a garden journal is invaluable.  It can also be a whole lot of fun to just sit down during those cold winter months and leaf through the pages and remember all the garden successes...and even the failures and mistakes. It's all good.

Find out everything you need to know about maintaining your perennial garden from early spring until fall in the book

"The Well Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques by Tracy DiSabato-Aust. Hardcover - 269 pages (April 1998) Timber Press. Tracy DiSabato-Aust has devoted years of study to creating showplace gardens with minimal maintenance. Her methods of pruning and shaping perennials, thoroughly explained and illustrated here, produce more flowers, encourage lush new growth, discourage pests, stagger bloom times, and maintain vigorous health.