Some yard and garden work can begin now

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - It is still too early to start most of your yard work, but our warmer weather has given people with a green thumb some early opportunities.

Flower planting might not be in the cards just yet, but now is a great time to do some clean up. Picking up the branches and twigs that have fallen in your lawn and also doing some raking. If you do rake, you want to be careful because the ground is hard in places and raking could do some damage to your lawn.

Otherwise, you can start working on your lawn now. Adding lime or calcium pellets will prep your lawn nicely going into spring, but you shouldn’t start seeding or laying sod down.

“The birds are going to get a lot of it because that's what they're looking for right now, they're looking for seed and it's not going to germinate until the ground temperature reaches 60 degrees on a steady basis,” said Peter Furnari, Store Manager at 16 Acres Garden Center.

At Rocky's Ace Hardware in East Longmeadow, our recent warm weather has meant that lawn care items are right next to the rock salt, but spring is on the mind not winter.

"We've seen some people coming in and start buying leaf bags and rakes to start cleaning up their lawn. As you know it's been a real strange year and without the snow people are kind of thinking spring right now," said Seth Dihlmann of Rocky’s Ace Hardware in East Longmeadow.

If your ground is soft enough, shrub planting might be possible outside your home right now!