Spring is just around the corner. So many things to do to get the garden ready.

First, de-mulch the plants you heavily mulched in the Fall. This lets warmth back into the cold ground, wakes-up the plants' root systems, and lets in air, water and fertilizers more easily. Also, the new shoots have an easier time of surfacing and growing. De-mulch all of the tree trunks.

Hopefully, you didn't burlap or wrap any shrubs. If you did or felt like you had to, the shrub should be living further south.

Use Premium Dark Bark Mulch to a depth of 2", just to dress up the existing and new plants. Remember, there's still plenty of old mulch rotting down and improving the soil below; no need to pile it on too heavily. An additional2" in the Fall will complete the cycle.

Any of last year's compost available? Use it now around plants. It's free and a perfect 1-1-1 fertilizer.

Fertilize? In our terrible soils? Certainly. Read on, McDuff. There are two other short articles in here on doing just that.

Time to choose and plant. Make sure all danger of frost is past (April 21st

or so) and have at it for another Gardening Season.

Happy Gardening in 1999!