March is the month to get your spring and summer gardening off to a good start. As the weather permits, check out these tips to get ready.

As you plan your early spring chores, take a look at your garden soil. When a shovelful of soil crumbles in your hands, the soil is considered “workable.” If it’s still soggy enough that a handful mushes into a ball, you should wait before plowing or digging.

• START SEEDS: By starting seeds indoors in March you will get a 30- to 60-day jump on the gardening season, because you will have young starter plants to set-out when the weather warms later this spring. Seeds can be started in pots, trays, egg cartons or even in cottage cheese cartons.

• PLANTING AND TRANSPLANTING: Spring is one of the most convenient times for planting new fruit trees, roses, berries, and other deciduous plants. Nurseries and garden centers have their finest and most complete selection of new plants at this time, so you get the pick-of-the-crop. As for transplanting, it should be done as soon as possible, because many plants are already beginning to start their spring growth.

• LAWN CARE: Dig a four or five inch square plug from the lawn, examine it and decide what needs to be done to get the lawn in tip-top shape for the months ahead. If you are unfamiliar with lawn problems take the sample to your local garden center and have them diagnose the lawn plug for you. When your finished, simply reset the plug back in the lawn. Most lawns will need a spring feeding. If moss is a problem, a combination fertilizer and moss killer can be applied, to do both jobs in one easy application.

• WEEDING: One of the most over-looked and dreaded tasks is weeding. But, it is one that really needs to be taken care of before the weeds have a chance to really become a nuisance. Pull weeds by hand so that the bulbs and roots will not be disturbed. Once the weeds go to seed, you can be fighting that weed seed for up to seven years or more.

– Rebecca Cole, On the House