Check your saved seeds. Just as the holiday cards dwindle, the seed catalogs arrive! There’s something so delicious about curling up by the fire poring over impossibly oversize photographs of juicy tomatoes.

It’s easy to get carried away, so before you start filling in those order forms, check last year's seeds for viability. Simply place five or six seeds onto a damp paper towel, then place it in a plastic container with the lid on. Germination may take two to 10 days, depending on the variety.

If I get 75 percent or more germination, I use the seed. Less than that and I either plant extra to allow for some losses or buy new seed.

Seeds for some plants and vegetables, such as parsnips, should always be purchased each year. Others, such as lettuce and radish, can easily remain viable for three years.

Dormant pruning of deciduous trees. This is the time to sharpen your pruning tools and tidy up your deciduous trees. There are entire books written on pruning techniques; this is the quick and easy version.

1. Why now? In warm weather the sap rises in the tree. Think of this as the tree's food supply. When we remove branches in warm weather, we remove the food that has been taken to those branches. If instead we prune while the tree is dormant, no food resources are wasted.

2. Which trees? All upright, deciduous trees — for example, birch (Betula sp), maple (Acer sp) and ornamental cherry trees (Prunus sp) — can be pruned with these guidelines.

3. Why prune?
• To allow light and air to penetrate the canopy — this helps to maintain a healthy tree
• To remove dead or diseased branches
• To shape the tree
• To reveal interesting bark

4. How much?
• Remove all dead and diseased branches first.
• Then look for branches that cross others and are chafing them.
• Do not remove more than 25 percent of living branches — this is known as the pruning budget.

5. How to make the cut? Always cut to the collar of the branch — this is the part where one branch meets another. Often there are what look like wrinkles at this point; make a nice, clean cut just before that.

Small branches can easily be dealt with using hand pruners, while loppers can typically handle up to a 1 3/4-inch diameter.

6. Don't:
• Leave a "coat hook" or stub. Cut cleanly to the collar.
• Paint the wound with any kind of sealer. Contrary to popular belief, this has not been shown to prevent rot. In fact, it can actually seal in moisture and microorganisms, which causes decay.

Container care. Spend a few minutes each week tidying up your containers. Snip off dead flowers and leaves, especially those of pansies. Leaving these on the plants, especially in the rainy season, can encourage gray mold.