T.S.Eliot to the contrary, April is not the cruelest month. At least in the Chicago area it is March. March is the month in which our hopes are repeatedly dashed. We get a couple of warm days and the snow recedes. Then we get buried. Our bulbs pop up and then freeze. One year out of four our beautiful magnolia buds end up popsicles in a late March deep freeze. For gardeners March is one of those months in which it is best just to pull the covers over your head -- or visit those friends in L.A. who have an extra bedroom. Usually the best slogan for March is the same as that for ancient Hades: "Abandon All Hope All Ye Who Enter Here."


     This year, of course, things are more bizarre than usual. I think I heard that from December through February the AVERAGE daily temperature In the Chicago area has been 34 degrees, making this the warmest winter since 1934. This has given our poor plants an even better shot at sticking their necks way out. You can almost see the guillotine shimmering in the sunlight.


     On the other hand we have dodged a number of bullets. We have had two winter storm warnings in the last ten days with predictions of 6-7" of snow. Nothing happened.


     So despite knowing better, I am officially launching my gardening blog today. And what do I have to say?


     First, no matter how warm it gets outside, leave your soil alone. If you mess with it you will only compact it. Don't dig it and don't even walk on it more than you have to.


     Second, clean up your mess. I live near a high school, so I have a ton of miscellaneous trash that gets caught in my hedge: fast food wrappers and beer bottles, of course, but also homework assignments, articles of clothing that some Mom made a teenager wear and mysteriously disappeared before she got home, etc. You could write a book based on the garbage my hedge collects.


     The mess is more than trash, however. It is time to pick up tree limbs and branches that broke in winter storms. It is also time to cut down ornamental grasses and the perennial foliage that has to give way to new shoots this spring.


     Knowing that the kid's violin lessons start in 20 minutes and that there is only so much time you are willing to waste on me, I will stop for now. The good stuff is in the next post: PRUNING.