The occasional warm spells we’ve been getting this winter have offered teasing hints of spring. So it’s only natural that you’re itching to get outside and start prepping your garden. There are many things you can do to satisfy that craving and ready your garden beds and yards ready for when the good weather comes to stay.

Now is a good time to take care of structural repairs, either fixing wood for your raised beds or trellises or repairing fences. Fences and trellises are easier to reach earlier in the season when plants are still emerging.

Along with structural repairs, it’s good to go through your shed to determine the condition of your tools. It’s easy to forget about the lopper handles that were loose the last time you used them and stuck them back in storage. It’s nice to start the season with sharpened pruners, loppers, and shears. If you’re going to be expanding gardens or creating new areas, make sure you’ll have the additional tools you need to handle the job.

It is also an excellent time to prune dead, damaged or intertwined branches on trees and shrubs. Pruning will improve air circulation and increase sunlight absorption. It’s best to prune fruit trees in late winter and early spring, well before buds break into bloom.

Another early spring project is dividing those fall-blooming perennials that have been in the same spot for several years and beginning to get crowded. Don’t forget to water well before dividing them into mature clumps of three to five shoots.

Prepping your flower pots for spring is another thing on the to-do list. Throw out any left over soil in the pots to prevent any diseases that were present from carrying over to this year. Scrubbing pots with a mixture of 10 parts hot water and one part chlorinated bleach will disinfect the pots and have them ready to handle seedlings or transplants.

If you’re feeling ambitious, you could also build a compost bin or bin system to turn those kitchen leftovers and yard waste into nutrients for your garden. A number of websites offer how-to guidelines for building compost bins. A simple one is found on Eartheasy’s website http://eartheasy.com/grow_compost_bin_build.htm

For those of you that think Phil the Groundhog was wrong and that spring is close, you can start cleaning out perennial beds and get your mulch down before the early spring weeds take over!