Gardening; Chores begin before first day of spring

The first day of spring is only 23 days away, making it time to think about organizing spring chores and projects to get ready for warmer weather.

On those days when it is still too cold to be outside, take the time to dig out and clean up your garden tools. Clean last year’s dirt off tool handles and blades and give them a light coat of oil. Sharpen up cutting tools like pruners, shovels and trowels; cutting and digging will take less effort. Change the oil and sharpen the mower blade or take your machine to the shop now.

Once the ground thaws and dries out a bit in mid-March, it will be time to move any shrubs and small trees while they are still dormant.

On my list this spring are two 7-foot evergreens that are growing too close together. To test if the soil is dry enough to dig, squeeze a handful of soil into a ball and then poke it. If it falls apart easily, the ground is dry enough.

Now is a good time to thin and reshape shrubs. Without their blanket of leaves, you can easily see crossing and crowded branches and remove them.

Do a little research on the actual pruning needs of your shrubs beforehand. Oftentimes a shrub needs only a couple of snips to restore it. Don’t prune forsythia, rhododendrons or lilacs until they finish blooming. If you do, you will cut off this spring’s flowers.

Mid-March is the best time to apply a dormant oil on fruit trees to smother insect larvae hiding out on the trees. If you have peach trees, now is the only time to spray with a copper-based fungicide. The spray will cover the buds and reduce the potential for infection as they open. There is no treatment for peach leaf curl after the tree has leafed out.

This will also be a good time to move and divide late-summer and fall-blooming perennials. They will have enough time to settle new roots and still bloom. Spring blooming perennials can be moved if absolutely necessary, but it might sacrifice their blooms this year.

Overwintering weeds can be removed now. Apply a fresh layer of mulch to garden beds.

It’s been so mild that chickweed, annual bluegrass and other hardy weeds already have a head start on spring.

Throw these persistent weeds in the trash rather than the compost pile.

As you clean out beds, shred up other organic debris and spread it back out as mulch to stop the next crop of weeds that will be coming up with the warmer weather.

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Pat Munts can be reached at pat@inlandnwgardening.com