Continue raking leaves.

Leaf Disposal and Tool Care -- Continue your spring garden clean-up. Rake and dispose of leaves, pull obvious weeds, spruce up hand tools and power tools.

Leaf Disposal

Tool Care

• Cut back any perennials still standing as well as ornamental grasses, liriope, and monkey grass. A power hedge clipper, if you have one, will make short work of tough grasses and woodier perennials.

Pruning Trees and Shrubs -- Continue to prune all trees and shrubs except those that bloom in the spring. (You'll trim off the developing flowers!) Also avoid pruning anything but dead wood on oaks and walnut trees until June or so. It encourages wilt diseases.

Pruning Trees and Shrubs

Pruning Roses -- Prune deciduous fruit trees and also prune roses. You can tell when your roses are ready to prune when they've sent out plenty of red shoots, which are emerging leaves and stems. In the very hottest regions, you may need to prune your roses back to just 6 to 8 inches to stimulate new growth. Also spray your roses them with horticultural oil to prevent insect problems later.

Pruning Roses

• Right after pruning is a good time to fertilize your roses for the first time this year. There are a variety of ways to fertilize roses. You can choose a chemical product formulated especially for roses and some include a systemic insecticide. You can also fertilize organically by applying compost once a month around the base of the plant or applying a fish emulsion or other organic fertilizer.

Planting Trees, Shrubs and Roses -- In the Upper South, continue to plant bare-root trees and shrubs as well as bare-root roses. However, in the Deep South, bare-root plants thrive only when planted in cooler weather.

Planting Trees and Shrubs

Planting a Bare-Root Rose

Deep South Instructions -- In the Deep South, plant container-grown trees, shrubs, ground covers, perennial herbs, and perennial flowers -- as long as you're no more than a month or so away from your last average frost date. You can get a general idea by clicking on our map, but to find out precisely, give any local garden center a quick call. In the Upper South, plant only woody trees and shrubs.

Planting Trees and Shrubs

Last Average Frost Date

Timing Is Everything -- In the Upper South, plant cool-season crops. Try seeds for radishes, peas, sweet peas, lettuces and other greens, but if the soil is too wet or too cold, the seeds may rot. Seedlings may give better results. Plant seedlings for broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, and others. Wait to plant warm-season annuals (tomatoes, peppers, basil, marigolds, petunias, and the like) until after your region's last frost date. But do shop around now. Prices can vary considerably and as long as they look stocky (as opposed to leggy) and healthy, they probably are.

USDA Frost Zones

• In the Deep South, if you choose to use lawn chemicals, fertilize your lawn and apply a crabgrass control. (You can get formulations that combine the two.) Organic gardeners should use any of the non-chemical fertilizers now available. Or, you can simply spread a 1/2-inch layer of compost on your lawn. In the Upper South, wait a few more weeks to do this.
• Resolve to mow your lawn regularly and at the right height. It's the best thing you can do to control weeds and keep grass thick and healthy. Now, during cool weather, mow cool-season lawns such as bluegrass, ryegrasses, or fescues at 2 inches or so. Raise the mower blade to 3 inches once temperatures hit the 90s F. Mow warm-season grasses such as Bermuda, St. Augustine, and zoysia at approximately 2 inches all season long.
• Late this month or early next, if desired, apply a pre-emergent weed killer to beds and borders. It will greatly reduce weeds later on. However, it works by preventing seeds from germinating, so don't apply anywhere you're planting seeds.
• If the weather has been dry, give plants a good soaking every week or two. Drying out is one of the most common causes of winter injury for Southern plants.
• Cut branches from forsythia, redbud, pussy willows, and other spring-blooming shrubs and trees to force indoors. Simply cut branches of flowering woody plants once you can spot the tiny developing buds. Submerge the branches in cold water (like the tub) for a couple of hours or up to a full day. Then stick just the ends in a bucket of cold water about a foot deep for a week in a cool (no warmer than 60 degrees F) spot. Arrange in a vase, put in a warm room, and watch the buds open over the next few days.

Bird Feeding -- If you've been feeding birds, continue to do so. Birds become reliant on certain food supplies in the fall so if that supply disappears, they can go hungry.

Bird Feeding

Garden Projects -- Now is an excellent time to start some of those garden hammer-and-nail projects you've been wanting to do -- windowboxes, planters, arbors, and more. Check out BHG.com for a list of dozens of garden projects.

Garden Projects

What To Pot -- Tuberous begonias are an excellent choice for pots, planters, and windowboxes in the shade. You can buy them in pots later on, but save money and get exactly the colors you want by starting them now indoors. Plant the tubers stem side up in potting soil and keep evenly moist. Grow in your sunniest window indoors and plant outdoors once danger of frost has passed. Then, if you're really thrifty, save the tubers from year to year.

Tuberous Begonias