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" 1. Planning Is Key Before you start flinging soil like there&amp;#039;s no tomorrow, set out your vision for the season. What do you want to plant, and where should you plant it? Do you want to start growing more vegetables? Write it all down so you don&amp;#039;t forget your goals as the summer passes. 2. Ready Your Tools Prepping for spring gardening gives you the perfect excuse to hang out in the shop and get all your tools ready for the season. Use boiled linseed oil to treat and protect wood handles, and use a wire brush to clean any rust from the metal parts. Clean any tools that have moving parts by using turpentine and then denatured alcohol to get rid of the turpentine residue. Finally, use a file to sharpen any blades, and grease or oil any moving parts to keep them working their best. RELATED: The 10 Most Common Gardening Mistakes 3. Bring in the Cleanup Crew Spring is the time to set the right conditions so your garden can take off as soon as the weather warms up. One of the most important things you can do for your garden now is tidy up any debris left over from the winter. Clear any leaves or other debris from your perennial gardens, because that can choke out your flowers before they get a chance to bloom. Also, get rid of any branches or stems on shrubs and plants that may have been damaged over the winter. Leaving these on can make it harder for your plants to get started. It&amp;#039;s also a good idea to lay down mulch on your perennial beds in the spring. A layer of aged pine, hardwood, or hemlock mulch will help keep a consistent soil temperature, regulate moisture, ward off weeds, and add nutrients to your soil as the mulch decomposes. It&amp;#039;s best to prune most trees when they&amp;#039;re still in the dormant phase, before they start to sprout leaves or flowers. You can do this in winter, but at the very latest it should be part of your spring gardening routine. Pruning your trees regularly is important because it will help them produce more flowers and fruits while also helping ward off pests and diseases. RELATED: 13 Plants That Give You Bang for Your Buck 4. Prep Your Soil Winter weeds are probably already poking their heads up in your garden soil, so pull them as soon as possible and move them far away. If you leave them too long, they will flower, produce seeds, and multiply. After you&amp;#039;ve waded through the weeds, add some fertilizer and mix it into the soil. 5. Get Planting If you have a vegetable garden, it&amp;#039;s time to get those beds in shape and put your spring crops in. Foods such as spinach, leeks, onions, and parsley can be planted as soon as the frosts are over, which is usually by April in northern climates. Photo: Peter Burnett/Getty This story originally appeared on PopularMechanics.com "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/gardening/advice/a19150/spring-gardening-success-tips/>