March is an excellent time to begin fertilizing cool season grasses, such as fescue. Apply every six weeks now through June; resume feeding September through early November.

Apply rose food every six weeks beginning now through October.

Prune and clean up beneath flowering shrubs such as camellias, quince and forsythia.

Prune out suckers (the branches that sprout directly from the root stock beneath the soil) from trees and shrubs.

Install or repair your drip irrigation system for your trees, shrubs and vegetable garden.

Vegetables that can be planted now include lettuce, carrots, beets, radishes and chard.

For a continuous bloom through the summer, plant a few corms of gladiolus each week through early April.

Check for snails in their hiding places: beneath the cool green leaves of low growing plants or under the wood pile.

Add mulch around shrubs and trees, out to the drip line. Leave a six-inch area clear adjacent to the trunk to prevent rot.

Nurseries are getting in a wide selection of tomato and pepper plants. Shop now to insure you get the variety you want; but hold off planting them in exposed locations for another month.

Protect young summer vegetable transplants from late March cold snaps with hot caps or other insulating devices, such as the Walls of Water.

Shade-loving summertime flowers that can be planted now include fiberous begonias and impatiens.

Flowering plants available now for the garden that gets six or more hours of sun a day: Shasta daisies, geraniums and marguerites.

Alive or dead? Now's the time to walk around the yard and determine which plants any early winter freezes. A shrub branch that bends indicates it may still be alive. If it snaps, that portion of the plant may be dead.

Begin spring feeding of trees and shrubs. A complete fertilizer - one that contains nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus - is a good choice.

Alternate mowing patterns each week, to avoid permanent wheel tracks in the lawn.

Move tuberous begonias outside in late March.