1. Clean up. Remove and compost any dead annuals that remained over winter. If you’ve got perennials that weren’t pruned in the fall, cut them back to ground level once new growth begins at the base of the plant.
2. Cut back flowering perennials like artemisia and lavender because they’ll only bloom on new branches.
3. Trim back tattered foliage on evergreen and semi-evergreen perennials.
4. Cut back ornamental grasses to within a few inches of the ground.
5. If you’ve got evergreens, spring is a good time to fertilize them because they’re already actively growing.
6. Weed. The damp soil makes it easy to pull them from a bare garden. Put down a topcoat of bark or rocks for weed control.
7. Check your soil. If it’s already rich and healthy, just add some compost, manure or slow-release organic fertilizer. If it needs more nutrients, add fertilizer once plants show signs of new growth.
8. If you want to divide or transplant, this is a good time to do it so they can recover quickly once the growing season kicks in.
9. Stake. It’s easier to stake a bare garden so the plants can grow into them rather than forcing stakes into a busy garden.
10. Mulch, but wait until the soil has warmed up and dried out a bit. Keep it away from the stems and crowns of existing plants.
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