• Beat the rush! Have your mower tuned up and blade sharpened ASAP!

• Do the following from mid-February thorough early March. Cool season grasses (bluegrass, fescue, and rye grass). Mow short (1 ½ - 2"). Do not scalp. Mowing short will help grass green up quicker and have a nicer appearance when you mow in the spring and summer. Warm season grasses (zoysia, bermuda, and buffalo grass) cannot be mowed short until April 15 to early May.

• Check for broadleaf weeds such as chickweed, henbit, and dandelions. If you find any, spray with Bonide Weed Beater Ultra and Spreader Sticker. This weed control works great in cold weather.

• If the soil is dry and not frozen, water all plants that were planted last year.

• It's a good time to prune shade trees. Leaves aren't there, so it's easier to see what is being removed. Don't use black tree paint on pruning cuts. Trees heal over faster if not painted.

• Don't prune spring flowering trees and shrubs until after they are finished blooming.

• Tender shrubs like crape myrtle, beauty berry, bluemist spirea, and butterfly bush should not be pruned back until new growth starts in the spring.

• Don't cut back ornamental grasses until early April.

• When pruning fruit trees, make sure the temperature is above 20 degrees so young bark will not be injured. Also be sure to prune before dormant sprays are done.

• To control cedar apple rust and apple scab, spray apple trees, crabapples, and hawthorne trees with lime sulfur. Temperatures should be above 40 degrees for at least 6 hours.

• To control peach leaf curl, spray with lime sulfur before the buds begin to swell. The temperature should be above 40 degrees for at least 6 hours.

• Prune grapes, raspberries and blackberries late in the month.

• If you plan to plant fruit trees this spring, check out starkbros.com.

• Order seeds now for spring planting.

• February 1 - 15 start onion seeds indoors.

• February 15 - 28 start seeds of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts indoors for planting into the garden this spring.

• February 15 – 28, if garden soils aren’t too wet, plant peas, lettuce, spinach, and radishes. Most years you’ll get a great early harvest.

• Check fall planted perennials. If any perennials are heaving out of the ground, cover with topsoil. Check the mulch level. Some may have washed away due to rains and snows. Re-mulch as needed. Water during dry periods.

• Time to start slow growing annuals, such as pansies, ageratum, salvia, begonias, impatiens, petunias, geraniums, indoors for planting outdoors in the spring.

• Start tuberous begonias indoors the last week of February.

• Start geranium cuttings now.

• Check air pressure in tires for better gas mileage.

• Check furnace filter. If dirty replace with a new filter that has a MERV rating of 6 or higher.

• Vacuum coils on refrigerator.

• Clean and sharpen garden tools.

• After a snowstorm check your home's roof. Spots where the snow has melted indicate heat loss.

• Time for an annual test and check of the fire extinguishers.

• Coffee has an off taste? Time to clean the coffeemaker. Mix 2 Tbs. white vinegar with 12 cups cold water (to fill the pot). Pour the mixture in the coffeemaker. Run through a complete cycle. Repeat vinegar water mix if hasn't been cleaned in several months. Turn off and let coffeemaker cool. Run water only through coffeemaker to clean out vinegar mix. Repeat if necessary. Wash the pot and filter with warm soapy water and rinse. Clean coffeemaker once a month. That will help remove mineral and oil buildup plus kill bacteria and eliminate odors.

• Cleaning the clothes and dish washers: Mark Groom, owner of Groom's Appliance Repair, is my absolute favorite appliance repair man. If you have an appliance problem Mark's the one to call. His number is 816-524-7184. Mark services Jackson and Cass Counties in Missouri and Johnson County in Kansas.

The following are the recipes he has given on my radio show.

Washing machines:
To clean add ½ cup of Tang Drink Mix once a week for four straight weeks to an empty machine. Run it through a quick cycle using hot water. After four weeks, use ¼ cup of Tang Drink Mix once a month. The Tang will not only clean the detergent and mineral buildup from your washer, it will also clean the insides of pipes.

For regular top loading washers, once a month add 1 gallon of white vinegar (I always use the least expensive) to an empty machine. Run it through a complete cycle using hot water.

Dishwashers:
Dishwashers need cleaning too. To an empty machine, once a month add 2 cups of bleach to run through the wash cycle. Then add four cups of white vinegar and run it through a full cycle.

• Once a year it is a good idea to trip and reset all circuit breaker switches. Any corrosion can cause it not to trip in an emergency.

• Watch for clover mites. These are tiny almost microscopic insects on the south or west sides of the house trying to move indoors. They are reddish in color. If they are black in color, they are winter grain mites. Both are controlled with Spectracide Triazicide. Spray the foundation 3 - 4' up the sides of the house and 4 - 6' into the lawn.