Get out in the garden and get to work! There will be plenty of time to admire your handywork in June. In the meantime....

• There is still plenty of time to order perennials for this season, so get your catalogs out and make a list. Also, now is the time to order your summer-blooming bulbs. They will give the garden color in the late summer when other perennials start to fade.
• Think about planting cool season annuals, such as pansies or primroses. They will dress your garden up until the blooming really starts.
• Transplant roses, shrubs or ornamental trees before the leaf buds open.
• Fertilize, using a slow-release fertilizer such as Osmocote. Scratch it into the soil around perennials and shrubs.
• Watch your peonies and feed them with a low nitrogen fertilizer when they are about 3 inches tall.
• Clean the debris out of your water features, gutters and rain barrel. Turn on your hose.
• To repair bare spots in your lawn, the folks at P. Allen Smith Garden House suggest combining 5 shovels full of sand, 1 shovel full of grass seed and 1 cup of slow release fertilizer. Cover bare spots, tamp down and water.
• According to the Ohio Agricultural Research & Development Center, March is the perfect time to trim your roses into shape and cut off all the dead wood. Only cut out dead wood in climbers, don’t trim.
• Don’t wait much longer to call a landscape designer if you are planning new beds or major changes. In a few weeks, they will be too busy to call you back.
• Don’t forget your trees! Fertilize them now and call soon to have them professionally trimmed and shaped if they need it.

Speaking of trees. Homestead Gardens is supposed to arrive today to trim the giant Nelly Stevens Holly at the front corner of my house. Check back for pictures - maybe even video - of the process.

Photo by Susan Reimer