Clean and sharpen garden tools and lawn mower blades.

Start planning your gardens and pots.  Look to your local garden center, bookstore or library for ideas and the newest plants for spring.  Check out garden magazines, websites, books and blogs for more inspiration.

Start select seeds indoors to get a jump start on your garden.

Finish pruning select ornamental trees while still dormant.

Prune dormant summer blooming shrubs.

Apply dormant oil to fruit and ornamental trees to kill any overwintering insects.

Remove black knot infested branches on plum and cherry trees.

Start your landscaping plans early to get a jump on the spring rush.

As snow cover melts, look at your lawn for rodent or animal damage, disease or erosion. Be ready to address the problem once the frost is out of the ground.

Force spring blooming tree and shrub branches indoors. (Try forsythia, pussy willow, crabapple, cherry or magnolia branches)

Hang newly cleaned out bird houses in preparation for the nesting season.

Natural food for birds is in high demand in late winter. Continue to keep bird feeders full and put out mealworms or fresh or dried fruit for the returning migrators.