Early spring gardening sets the tone for the entire growing season. What you do now affects soil health, plant growth, and harvest success months from now. This early spring garden checklist covers the most important chores to tackle before planting season ramps up, whether you garden in raised beds, containers, or in-ground plots. These tips work across many climates, with Zone 5 timing notes included where it helps.

Check Soil Conditions Before Doing Anything

Don’t work wet soil in early spring

This is the biggest early-season mistake. If soil sticks together or feels slick, wait. Working wet soil causes compaction that lasts all season.

Quick test: Grab a handful of soil. Squeeze it. If it forms a tight ball, it’s too wet.

Zone 5 note: This often means waiting until mid-to-late March, sometimes later if there’s been a lot of snowmelt.

Clean Up Garden Beds the Smart Way

Remove debris without overdoing it

Clear dead annuals, fallen branches, and matted leaves. Leave some organic matter in place to protect soil life.

Leave early spring pollinator habitat

Hollow stems and leaf piles shelter beneficial insects. Cut plants back gradually instead of clearing everything at once.

Prep Garden Beds for Spring Planting

Loosen soil and add organic matter

Once soil is dry, loosen the top few inches. Add compost or aged manure. Avoid deep tilling if possible. Healthy soil warms faster and drains better.

Refresh raised beds

Raised beds dry and warm earlier than in-ground beds. Top them off and check edges for winter damage.

Direct Sow Cold-Hardy Vegetables

Vegetables you can plant early

Which vegetables to plant in March depends substantially on your hardiness zone. My cold growing zone, 5b, will be a lot different from someone else’s more temperate zone. 

These crops tolerate cool soil and light frosts so they can be planted as soon as the ground is workable and the temps are warming up in the 40s.

• Peas
• Carrot 
• Radish
• Lettuce
• Arugula
• Spinach
• Potatoes

Cool season annual flowers such as pansies can be planted in March as well. Just make sure the soil has warmed up and is dry enough to work. Pansies can tolerate a light frost but will not survive significant freezing temperatures.

Zone 5 timing: Late March to early April, depending on weather. If the ground is workable, it’s often warm enough for these crops.

Prune and Assess Perennials

Prune while plants are still dormant

Early spring is ideal for fruit trees, berry bushes, and grapes. Remove dead, damaged, or crossing branches. Shape lightly.

Check for winter damage

Look for heaving, broken crowns, or rodent damage. Re-settle plants and mulch lightly if needed.

Prepare for Late Frosts and Temperature Swings

Have protection ready

Spring weather changes fast. Keep row covers, old sheets, buckets, or frost cloth on hand. Cover plants on cold nights. Remove covers during the day.

Zone 5 reminder: Frosts can happen well into May.

If the sun isn’t shining soon enough, use a cold frame to extend the growing season of your vegetable garden. Start cool season vegetables like lettuce, spinach, and other spring greens in the cold frame. Soon you’ll be harvesting yummy greens for your dinner table.

This tutorial will help you easily cover your garden beds.

Make New Garden Beds

If you garden in beds, or would like to start, now is the perfect time to make new garden beds while you still have time. This is something you could have been working on all winter, too. You might also want to cover a couple of your garden beds to keep pests out and extend the growing season. This tutorial will help you easily cover your garden beds.

The nice thing about gardening in beds is they are usually ready to go before the ground. You don’t have till garden beds and you can put down plastic to help warm up the soil. If you don’t garden in beds, I recommend trying one out this year!

Test the soil

Now’s also the time to test your garden soil so you know what nutrients need to be added before the growing season starts. You can send a soil sample to a university extension office for a fee – or you can buy a kit and test your own.

Organize your garden seeds

If you haven’t already done this, now is the perfect time to inventory and organize your garden seeds. Make sure you have everything you need to get going and order whatever else you might need. You can read all about my favorite garden seed organizer here. I love it so much!

Start your seedlings

March is the time to start most of your garden seed indoors. Most seedlings need 6-8 weeks before the last frost date to grow big enough for planting. With an average last frost date of May 15, that’s right around the corner. Get my best tips and seed starting supply list here. I also have tips for starting indoors broccoli and other pesky brassicas – which can be a tricky type of seedling to start.

March is time to start the following seedlings:

• broccoli
• cabbage
• cauliflower
• tomatoes
• eggplant
• peppers
• flowers

Plan your garden!

If you haven’t planned out your garden, this is also the time to finalize your garden plan and draw it out. It’s important to draw it out so you can remember from year to year what you plant where.

Remember that you need to rotate crops so keeping track is pretty important. Here are my best garden planning tips to help you out. Grab my free garden planting guide here so you know exactly when to plant what!