Fertilizing

• Use wood ashes on your vegetable garden, bulb beds and non-acid loving plants if the pH of the soil is below 6.0.

Planting

• Plant asparagus crowns this month when soil is dry enough to work.

Pruning

• Prune grape vines.
• Prune broken and undesired limbs on your shade trees.
• Remove "weed" or undesirable trees from your landscape.

Spraying

• None

Lawn Care

• Keep tree leaves from collecting on your lawn.
• Slow-release fertilizers may be applied on cool-season lawns.

Propagation

• Hardwood cuttings of many landscape plants like forsythia (yellow bells), flowering quince, weigela, crape myrtle, juniper, spirea and hydrangea can be taken this month.

Specific Chores

• Do not forget to care for holiday house plants like poinsettia, amaryllis, Christmas cactus, gloxinia and cyclamen.
• Order your small fruit plants like strawberries, blueberries and blackberries for a mid-March planting.
• Study your home landscape to see what additions or improvements can be made this spring.
• Visit your local Extension Center for landscape and garden information.
• Prepare a spot in the vegetable garden for early spring vegetables like English peas, cabbage, carrots, onions, Irish potatoes, radishes, rutabagas, spinach and turnips.
• Study your seed catalogs and check for the All-American Selections of flowers and vegetables.
• Order fruit trees, if not done last fall.
• Contact the Extension Center to find out the recommended small fruit varieties.