Everyone seems to like lists these days, so here are Laura’s top ten spring gardening tips.

1. A good spring cleanup will set the tone for your season. Rake, blow, clip, trim … have at ‘er!
2. Decide about your lawn. If you want grass, own it. Fertilize it, maybe get irrigation, cut it every week. If you don’t do these things, all good, but you will have mixed growth (aka weeds) … which is fine too.
3. Throw the baby out with the bathwater. If a plant has been looking scraggly, or is being eaten, get rid of it. Don’t be sentimental about a plant that is not earning its keep (buh-bye, chomped hostas).
4. If you just cut the head off a weed, it will come back threefold or more. Now is the time to be sure to get the pesky leftover roots.
5. Shrubs that flower in the spring should be pruned after flowering. Summer flowers or mainly foliage? Prune them now.
6. Buy the best garden soil you can afford for new planting areas, or for topdressing your lawn. (Not potting soil: garden mix — and more on that next month).
7. Use compost liberally. Mix it in, at least 20 cm deep. You’ll need twice as much as you expect.
8. Transplants and new plants need to be watered deeply. Don’t count on eventual rain.
9. Mulch! Never red. Spend more on a thicker coat of mulch instead of putting down landscape cloth.
10. The fun part of the job takes half the total time. The less fun part – shlepping the debris, getting those roots out, finishing up, putting your tools away properly, and so on – will take the other half. Plan accordingly so you don’t feel overwhelmed.

Now, sit back and smell the flowers until next month!

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