Yes, spring is coming, and so are your gardens

By the time March arrives, gardeners throughout northern Illinois are eagerly awaiting the arrival of spring. After this especially cold and snowy winter, early-flowering bulbs and shrubs provide powerful reassurance that our slumbering winter landscapes will soon be dazzling us with color.

As the growing season approaches, you might consider making 2008 a year for creating a photographic record of your garden in every season. Digital cameras and computers are wonderful tools, but a print from a roll of film works just fine. The goal is to create a visual record of the ever-changing beauty in your landscape.

How often you take photos depends on the time of year and how quickly plants are growing. There are weeks when nothing seems to be happening, and others when it seems things are growing right in front of our eyes.

The time between photos also depends on what plants you grow. A border that relies on evergreen and deciduous shrubs might not need to be photographed as frequently as a carefully sequenced three-season perennial bed that flowers continuously.

Use the photos to reward yourself for all your hard work. Pictures also record possible places for adding spring bulbs that bloom earlier, a new focal point like a bench for summer or a fall-flowering shrub with seed heads that persist into winter.

Here's what you need to do in the garden this month:

General garden care

h To avoid compacting garden soil, wait until it has dried out before tilling, planting or even walking in garden beds. Soil is dry enough when a handful formed into a ball crumbles when touched.

h Remove winter debris from lawn and garden beds. Prune any broken branches immediately. Look for plants damaged by snow loads or rodents. Remove burlap screens that protected plants from wind or salt spray.

Trees and shrubs

h Spray fruit trees or large deciduous trees with dormant oil if aphids, scale or mites were a problem last year. Apply only on days when temperatures are over 40 degrees and there is no chance of freezing or rain within 24 hours. Avoid spraying on windy days.

h Prune fruit trees on a dry day in early March before buds swell. Sterilize pruning tools with a 10 percent solution of bleach. Fruit trees benefit from having their canopies opened up to increase sunlight penetration and airflow.

h Prune roses when forsythia begins to bloom. Make 45-degree cuts above a healthy bud, angled away from the center of the plants. Prune out dried, darkened and broken canes and any dead tips. If not done last fall, prune hybrid tea roses and grandiflora roses back to 12 inches. Prune shrub roses only as needed to remove dead wood or very lightly shape.

h Fertilize woody plants four to six weeks before new growth begins only if they have shown signs of needing it. Routine fertilization is not recommended. If plants had poor leaf color, failed to flower or fruit or had stunted growth because of depleted soil, use a slow-release granular fertilizer.

h Plant trees and shrubs before they break bud and when soil conditions permit. If spring weather is unusually wet, consider postponing planting until fall.

Flowering plants

h Gently press back any perennials that heaved out of the ground over the winter. Mulch them with several inches of organic compost.

h As temperatures rise, gradually pull back mulch from around perennial crowns.

h Cut to the ground all perennials and ornamental grasses that were left standing for winter interest. Also remove winter debris, taking care not to injure emerging leaves.

Fruits and veggies

h Prune raspberry bushes and reattach canes to a support system, if necessary.

h When a soil thermometer indicates soil temperatures are consistently in the 50s, sow seeds of cool-season vegetables that can be planted directly in the garden, including the root crops (beets, carrots, radishes, parsnips and turnips) and leaf crops (chard, loose-leaf lettuces, spinach, mesclun mix, mustard and collard greens, and kale).

h Small transplants of cool-season vegetables that should be started from seed indoors can be moved outside after they are slowly hardened off and soil is consistently in the 50s. This includes broccoli, the cabbages and cauliflowers.

Indoor plants

h Primrose plants can be discarded after flowering or planted in shaded, well-drained garden areas. Plants will go dormant during the summer and require heavy mulch to protect them from summer heat and winter cold.

h Repot houseplants, including orchids after they have flowered, if they have become root bound. Increase pot size by 1 inch. Change the potting soil/orchid mix but do not change the levels at which plants were situated in pots.

h Fertilize houseplants as they resume growing with very dilute liquid fertilizer or slow-release granular fertilizer for houseplants.