March 2010 Gardening Checklist

• Use a hoe, ice-chopper or edging tool to cut sharp edges around all the garden beds. Once the ground thaws, it’s soft and easier to slice than later in spring when it dries out and firms.
• Cut back browned-out ornamental grasses and foliage of perennial flowers that you didn’t remove in fall. Some of it may even rake off. Compost the dead foliage.
• Once the vegetable garden thaws, plant seeds of cold-tolerant crops such as peas, spinach, lettuce, chard, turnips and radishes.
• Pull any weeds that survived or sprouted over winter (yes, some even grow then!) They’ll also come out easier in the soft, damp soil than in summer. Wait until warmer weather to add new mulch, though.
• When new plants are 2 to 3 inches tall, apply Preen Garden Weed Preventer to prevent weeds all season long. In vegetable gardens, apply Preen Vegetable Garden Weed Preventer.
• For established shrubs and perennial gardens, a fully blooming forsythia is your cue to apply Preen Garden Weed Preventer. Preen is most effective when in place right before most weed seeds begin germinating for the season.