Even though snow may be on the ground here and there, I've got lots of work to do in the garden.  Despite my best efforts at spontaneity, I'm one of those people who has to plan everything, and usually on paper--though I am getting better about it.   So, during the late winter I start to take mental inventory of the pre-spring tasks awaiting me in the yard. 

First on the list to think about is dormant pruning.  After I sharpen my cutting tools, I've got roses, fruit and ornamental trees to get trimmed in the next month. 

Next, I've got a deceased peach tree that needs removing.  Weakened by extensive cat claw sharpening on the trunk and peach leaf curl, it finally succumbed last year.  I think I'll replace it with a variety resistant to peach leaf curl.  That will still leave me with the one susceptible tree, but I've sprayed it a couple of times already this winter, so I have hopes it will keep more of its leaves this year.  And I should wrap the trunks against claws.

So, let's see...I've got tool sharpening, pruning, tree removal, digging a hole, tree selection, planting and wrapping.  That's manageable. 

But wait.  Last fall I postponed the lawn refurbishment to reduce the number of weeds without resorting to chemical means, so I'd better reseed this spring like I planned.  With luck, the grass will have time to grow and give the weeds some competition. 

Oh, yeah, and I just found out why my Mason Bee Box has been empty for three years.  I had too small a piece of wood--they like 4x4 at least--and I placed it on the north side of the shed, where it gets no sunshine.  They like morning sun to warm the cells--not afternoon mind you, but morning.  I had been trying to hide my miserable excuse for a bee box on the back side of the shed, where my bee-phobic hubby wouldn't find it.