Our Pacific Northwest late winter weather has been mild, and our temperatures so warm, it has made these past few weeks feel like the beginning of Spring! If you have lived and gardened in the valley for very long, you will likely note that it is not wise to get a jump on Spring too soon! March can still bring cold weather, so be mindful when planting vegetable and bedding plants. Don’t plant too early. Plan to cover and protect new starts from the cold.

Here are some good tasks you can accomplish while you wait for the weather to warm up:

1. Clean up garden beds, carefully weed, and make sure you mulch the newly weeded areas as soon as possible. We all have busy schedules and little time to spend in the yard. This is what I do when I have only 1 hr. a day to work. Weed for 45 minutes and mulch/compost the area you weeded the last 15 minutes. Mulching will discourage early spring weeds from resprouting. 2. Check your lawn for moss and purchase appropriate moss control products for the job. Plan to buy, rent or borrow a thatcher for cleaning the dead moss from the lawn. I find that neighbors who share the rental of the thatcher on a weekend afternoon get the job accomplished in half the time. 3. Sharpen hand pruners and loppers. Clean them with steel wool and a bit of oil. Replace parts where necessary. 4. Tune up lawn mower, replace or sharpen blades, change oil. You’ll be happy you took the time when the lawn really starts growing! 5. Check your wheelbarrow tire and handles. Clean metal tubs with wire brush and spray rusted areas with a good rust preventative paint. 6. Inspect your rakes, shovels, forks and hand tools. Check your hoses and replace worn (ran over with the car) flat ends and washers where necessary. 7. Start pruning your fruit trees and shrubs, grapes, berry and bramble plants. Prune to remove all dead, diseased and broken limbs. Dormant season pruning (before the flowers and leaves emerge) is the best time to prune most fruit producing trees and shrubs.

This column is written by Liz Schwartz, our local garden expert at Duvall True Value Hardware.