Happy spring – well, almost. As I write this, there are still snow banks here in Turner, but the mud is appearing bit by bit. Mud is always a sure sign of spring.

Mud on the roads and on your boots is one thing, but mud in your garden is entirely different and a sign you need to pay attention to if you are a gardener. If your garden is still very wet, as much as you may want to, leave it alone. Gardeners do more harm to their plants and bring more frustration unto themselves by “wading” in too early. Every step you take on wet ground compacts the dirt and when you compact the dirt, you compact plant roots. They have survived winter and are just beginning to circulate water and nutrients through their root system. They are fragile and tender and compaction makes their survival that much more difficult.

If you have beds that can be reached without walking onto them, have at it. If you are like me, there will be plenty of weeds showing their heads because I never get around to that final weeding that I intend to do. You can also rake, but, please remember, the ground is extremely soft and a rake tine can pull up an entire plant by just one small branch. I find a bamboo rake in the spring, although not as efficient, is much safer than a metal fan rake (because along with those weeds I didn’t pull, I didn’t rake the oak leaves either). I found this clever little bamboo rake which is straight, not a fan shape, and is only about 6 or 8 inches wide. It is great for early spring gardens because you can easily go around plants without going over them. Also, be very careful of those plants like bleeding hearts and ferns because their first growth, which may be showing above ground shortly, contains their fronds and they are very easily damaged and even pulled up. So take that rake around them and handpick the leaves and debris from their centers.

I know, really I do, how hard it is to keep from putting your hands in spring dirt. It is always a long winter and when it begins to smell like spring, it is like an unspoken command to gardeners that we must respond. Well, here is a way that will both satisfy and reward you all summer and throughout next winter as well.

I have passed a half-dozen greenhouses in the past few weeks with signs that say, “Opening April 1” or “Your Plants Are Growing.” There are spring bulbs tempting us in many stores. So, take advantage of what is available. You can pass a couple of these still cold evenings planning your container gardens, but maybe try a little something new this year. Container gardens that, when torn apart in fall, will provide new garden plants and new houseplants to get you through next winter. There is nothing more wonderful than looking at vigorous green plants and blossoms by windows when the entire world outside is white in January. If you do not have this green blessing now in your house, you can have it for next winter.

With all the new miniature perennials being offered by various companies, variety is not a problem. Dwarf coral bells, hostas, daisies, dianthus, brown-eyed Susans, many types of begonias and ferns all make great container plants. Add a few bulbs such as little daffodils or patio dahlias and perennial fillers, sold as annuals, such as ivies and asparagus ferns and you have a wonderful, colorful container for the summer. But, in September, instead of throwing it all in the compost pile, take it apart gently. The hardy, miniature perennials can go into your regular garden beds to welcome you next spring as can the daffodil bulbs, while the dahlia bulbs can be packed away for use next year either in containers or your garden. The ivies, begonias and asparagus ferns can be potted up as houseplants to enjoy over the winter. Asparagus fern is especially resilient, does well even with neglect and home heating and can take a lack of southern light. Did you know that asparagus fern is one of the most efficient air-cleaning plants that we know of in ecology? And that can’t hurt in a house that is closed up for five or six months. If you have southern windows, don’t forget a few containers of geraniums which in the fall can be brought in and will brighten your house with blossoms all winter and then be cut back in March to go back outside for May.

If you have room to bring your containers in at night and on cold days, pot away. If you do not, most nurseries have an area where they keep plants that have been sold until you can pick them up. It will be only a few weeks until many containers will be safe outside, at least during the day. So hang on, do a bit of planning and dreaming and let the games begin.

Happy Gardening.

Jody Goodwin has been gardening for more than 25 years. She lives in Turner with her husband, Ike, her dog and two cats. She may be reached by writing to her in care of the Sun Journal, 104 Park St., Lewiston, Maine, 04243-4400 or by email at [email protected].