If you've been lucky enough to enjoy some pots of daffodils, tulips, or other bulbs in bloom in pots right now, savor every moment. These plants have undergone a special process--forcing--that ruins them for planting out in the garden for more blooms in the future. Enjoy for a couple of weeks indoors. Then, when they flowers have faded, simply pitch.

More About Mulch 

You know you're living in a garden-nutters neighborhood when you promise your neighbor a cubic yard of mulch in exchange for doggy sitting your pooch.

  That's just what I did with Martha next door. But she and I value mulch for all the right reasons--it's such a great labor saver and makes our gardens look healthier and neater.

Mulch suppresses weeds.

Mulch conserves moisture.

Mulch prevents disease pathogens from splashing onto the lower parts of plants during watering and rain.

  I like to use grass clippings in my veggie garden and any kind of dark wood bark or chip mulch in my flower and other beds. I especially like double-shredded mulch, when I can find it, because it's small and easy to use around plants. Because I use so much mulch, I usually buy it more cheaply in bulk from a landscaper and have it delivered on my driveway.

  Warning: Do not use freshly chipped wood from your yard, tree services, or the city around most plantings. It robs the plants of critical nitrogen and they'll be stunted. The mulch has to sit around at least for a year first. (The stuff sold by professional landscapers and in bags at garden centers has already been aged.)

  For more tips on mulch--including how much and different kinds--click here.  

"Spring is not the best of seasons.

Cold and flu are two good reasons;

wind and rain and other sorrow,

warm today and cold tomorrow.

Whoever said Spring was romantic?

The word that best applies is frantic!"

--Author Unknown