Make sure you get started with this list to prepare your garden for spring

We’re moments away from the start of this race we gardeners call “springtime” in North Texas.

To us there’s something psychological about the word “March” that conjures up feverish fervor, and that’s where we find ourselves now.

Here are your tasks for the next couple of weeks. Please scan across them. One or more is calling your name.

Lawns

I wrote about it here last week, but it’s all that I’ve heard everywhere since. I’m going to give you a thumbnail encore. This is the time to apply pre-emergent weedkiller granules to your lawn to prevent crabgrass and grassburs for the summer ahead. The most common types on the market are Dimension, Halts and Balan, but there are others. These are meant to be applied in the first two weeks of March and then repeated in the first two weeks of June here in and around the Fort Worth/Metroplex. They are safe around trees and shrubs, but don’t use them if you intend to plant new sod or seeds this spring.

Don’t be confused by all the weeds you may be seeing now. Remember that we’re talking about pre-emergent herbicides – products you have to use before the weed seeds germinate and start to grow. The weeds you have now should have been prevented by applications back at the end of August or the first week of September. You can apply a broadleafed weedkiller spray (containing 2,4-D) to eliminate those non-grassy weeds now, but read and follow label directions for best results.

Scalp your lawn if you want to remove browned stubble from winter. All you have to do is drop the mower down by one or two notches. Wear a respirator and goggles – it’s a nasty job. Use the clippings in the compost or as a mulch beneath shrubs. Don’t send them to the landfill.

I do not recommend “weed-and-feed” products. There’s too much risk of damaging shade trees with them, plus it’s a month too early to be feeding your grass.

Shrubs

If you have shrubs such as oleanders and gardenias that are marginally winter-hardy in North Central Texas, and if they were hurt by this past winter’s cold, this is the time to trim and reshape them to remove all the damage. You may need to sacrifice some healthy, green shoots to leave the damaged plants symmetrical. If that’s required, do that reshaping now.

There may be some last-minute winter pruning you will need to do to evergreen shrubs before their burst of spring growth. Summer-flowering shrubs can also be pruned now, but remember that you never want to top crape myrtles! Spring-flowering shrubs should be pruned and reshaped immediately after they finish their spring blooming.

Since shrubs are on the brink of that spring burst of new growth, apply an all-nitrogen lawn food (no weedkiller included) to them now to promote even more vigorous new shoots. I like to make that application four or five weeks ahead of my first feeding to my lawn. Follow it up with a deep watering.

Trees

If you have trees that need to be relocated, this is absolutely the last call to get that job done. In fact, for a few types that have already budded out and started to grow it’s probably too late. Transplanting must be done during the winter dormant season.

If one of your trees has roots that are threatening your foundation, sidewalk, patio or drive, have those roots cut immediately so the tree will have time to produce new roots to help it compensate during summer’s hot and dry summer ahead. You may also want to have a root barrier installed to keep the problem from cropping up again.

Note: Don’t dip your chain saw into the soil. The gritty particles in the earth will dull the blade instantly.

Perennials

Any of your summer- and fall-flowering types of perennials can be dug and divided immediately. They will start growing very soon, and you want to get ahead of that curve. That includes mallows, cannas, mums, most salvias, fall asters, Mexican mint marigolds and a whole host of others. Watch your favorite nurseries as well. They will begin to receive shipments of exciting new types as March and early April unfold.

As your daffodils, narcissus and other spring bloomers finish their season allow them to die away gracefully. Never trim away green leaves. Let them stay in place to manufacture sugars for next year’s blooms. Mark where they are so you won’t accidentally dig into them as you plant other things over the course of this summer.

Annuals

Some of your winter color plants are starting to fade away. Ornamental cabbage and kale and even pansies may be on the decline, and others will soon follow. But you can replace them with frost-hardy types like petunias, larkspurs, wallflowers, English daisies, Iceland poppies, sweet alyssum and many others. Wait another month or more to plant hot-weather annuals.

Vegetables

Onions and English peas should be up and growing actively by now. Potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower should have been planted a couple of weeks ago. This is the time to plant lettuce, spinach, radishes, carrots, beets, Swiss chard and other leaf and root crops.

The bulk of the mainstay vegetable crops, however, need to wait until after March 20-25. Those include beans, corn, cucumbers, melons, squash, tomatoes and peppers.

You can hear Neil Sperry on KLIF 570AM on Saturday afternoons 1-3 pm and on WBAP 820AM Sunday mornings 8-10 am. Join him at www.neilsperry.com and follow him on Facebook.