From the Ground Up: There are plenty of activities for gardeners to do now

As we know, March can serve up a wide range of weather. Once it starts to warm up, gardeners are itching to get outside. Here are some guidelines about what you can do early in the season.

Indoor gardening activities for when the weather doesn't cooperate:

' Plan your garden on paper.

' Review old garden journals and start a new one for 2015.

' Visit local garden centers now for the best selection of seeds.

' You can start some seeds now indoors.

' Cut forsythia and flowering plum branches to force indoors.

' Start fertilizing your indoor houseplants.

' Repot your root- bound indoor plants.

Outdoor gardening activities for when the weather cooperates:

' Trim fruit trees.

' If fruit tree buds have not yet broken, apply dormant spray, an oil-based insecticide. If buds have opened, it's too late.

' Take a soil sample and have it tested.

' If you have not already done so, trim grapes. Grapes ideally should be pruned in late February for maximize yields.

' Fall flowering trees and shrubs can be trimmed now.

' It's too late to trim oak trees. You must now wait until December.

If the weather is absolutely beautiful and you are tempted to dig, hoe and plant, do it with caution. We typically expect frost into the middle of May.

' Don't walk on wet soil. Doing so will compact it. If you can form a ball with wet soil, drop it on the ground and it breaks apart, your soil is ready to be worked.

' Don't be tempted to remove mulch from roses and other perennials just yet. There's still a chance of sleet, frost and snow.

' You may consider planting pansies later this month. They thrive in cool weather.

' Plant a lettuce bed or basket. No need to compress the soil in your garden. Plant lettuce in a patch that will deter weeds and make harvest easy. Planting in a hanging basket produces a surprising productive crop. An old folklore states, 'The best lettuce is planted before the last snowfall.” It's your guess when this may be.

' Cut back your ornamental grasses. Save the trimmings for mulch.

' Turn your compost pile so it can start cooking again.

Even if the weather is good, bad or indifferent, accommodate the birds:

' Fill your bird feeders for the late and early migrating birds.

' Put out oranges and grape jelly for the orioles that will be coming through.

' Put out string or pieces of yarn for easy nesting materials.

If in doubt as to what to do when, call the Iowa State Extension Master Gardens hotline at (319) 447-0647 and dream about your wonderful 2015 garden.

- Judy Stevens is a Linn County Master Gardener.