Timing is everything when it comes to gardening. Our typically mild winters are ideal for getting some prep work done for a great spring garden.
Clean up struggling or diseased plants. Leave the rest in place to enrich soil, reduce erosion and provide winter habitat for slumbering pollinators.- Remove invasive weeds that may have taken hold over the growing season. Use a hand trowel or small shovel to remove the entire root.
- Resist the urge to fertilize or add compost. Only the winter weeds will benefit.
- Prune freeze-damaged perennials but leave damaged vegetation as wildlife shelter and seed meals for overwintering birds. Avoid pruning most evergreen shrubs.
- Replenish mulch to help regulate soil temperature and moisture and provide a buffer against a rare hard frost or freezing weather.
- Clean and sharpen tools to stretch their lifespan.