The garden is waking up!  Start weeding!

Prune forsythia after it finishes flowering.  Choose the biggest stems and take them right down to the ground. Chop by half anything that is sprawling, arching too high or (eek) threatening to loop down and root.

Deadhead spring bulbs as they finish flowering, but leave the foliage as long as you can stand it to feed the bulb.

Trim back dead tips of roses to just above an outward-facing bud. Plant new roses before growth starts.

Divide and transplant perennials when they are 3-4″ high.

Scatter a thin layer of compost over your flower beds. Top with a thin layer of bark mulch for weed control.

Plant cold-tolerant annuals (pansies).

Seed starting: you can start alyssum indoors the first week of April. It only takes 5 or 6 weeks to be ready to plant out.

Edge your beds.