7 Gardening Tasks You Should Start Now to Prep for Spring, According to Garden Pros

If you’re itching to get outside and start preparing your backyard and gardens for warmer weather, we have good news: There are a few tasks you can do now to make it even easier when the weather finally turns.

With the help of some of our favorite gardening experts, we rounded up a few suggestions.

Source and Organize Your Inspo

Even if you’re eager to get outside, the weather might not agree. If that’s the case, you can plan from indoors by using these months to organize garden work-in-progress photos and envision what you want for the coming year.

“If you’re like me, you have a ton of phone pics scattered throughout the growing season,” Megan Foster, perennial and bulb expert for American Meadows, says. “It can be a good exercise to comb through the seasons and make an album of the past year’s gardens, making notes about what you loved and what was maybe worth a rethink.”

Once you’ve done this, Foster suggests then taking a look at any holes that you can fill this year in your bloom sequence, ways you can change or update your color palette, or options for adding new heights and textures this year.

“Bonus, when you are at the garden center or feeling inspired online, you have a quick reference in the palm of your hand when you ask, ‘Would that fit?’” she says.

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Shop the Pre-Season Sales

Now is the perfect time to shop for your plant-must haves—most gardening retailers offer early bird sales to get consumers excited for the season ahead.

“This is the perfect time to hone in on those specialty items that may be hard to find or in short supply,” says Lauren Carvalho, a High Country Gardens horticulturist. “Start the hunt early to make sure you don’t miss out on those rare plants, because they will sell out fast.”

Get Pruning

As Carvalho points out, now is also an excellent time to assess your trees and shrubs and get them back into shape. That’s because, without their leaves, it’s easier to see their form and figure out which sections need a trim.

“Winter is the perfect time to remove branches you may have been reluctant to edit during the growing season,” she says.

Clean Your Empty Planters and Containers

If you’re a big fan of gardening in containers, use this time to prepare your planters. Give them a good clean and sanitization so you can plan your new designs with a blank slate.

Along with cleaning your planters and containers, Carvalho also recommends doing the same service check on your gardening tools.

“Now is a great time to clean, sharpen, and oil your tools,” she says. “Having a well-maintained set of implements at the ready makes digging into yard work easy.”

Stock Up On Your Must-Haves

Once you’ve repaired and assessed your tools, Carvalho says now is also a great time to replace any of your must-haves—whether you’re shopping the sales or not.

“I would be lost without a small pick axe and a great pair of work gloves,” she says. “A lightweight hose equipped with a quality brass shutoff valve is also a must for controlling and saving water.”

Foster agrees, adding a comfortable spade for expanding and re-edging garden beds to the list.

Leave the Leaves

While some items are great to tick off your to-do list now, Carvalho warns there are a few things you should absolutely wait to do. She suggests people leave any fallen leaves and avoid cutting back grasses for now.

“This is natural mulch, which will protect your plants in case of late frosts,” she explains, while also noting they’re often areas used as shelter for wildlife until the weather terms.

Foster agrees and says a good rule of thumb is to wait until you see a diverse mix of local bees and other flying insects. This is your cue that it’s okay to start cleaning up.

“Don’t hesitate to designate some parts of your landscape to stay unraked,” Foster says. “A lot of our native bees are ground nesters.”