Warm winter around Michiana could bring more bugs and weeds for growers

The meteorological spring began March 20. Temperatures have warmed and soon people will be getting back outside to tend to their yards and gardens. Jackie Weiss, the garden center manager at Linton’s Enchanted Garden south of Elkhart, said prep work for the planting season should get started now.

“Now is the time to get out in your yard and see what kind of damage the winter did,” she said Monday, inside the garden center's conservatory. “Raking, getting rid of the dead stuff, de-thatching their lawns.”

Weiss, a certified Master Gardener, recommends holding off on planting, because cold nights are still in store that could hurt or kill the plants.

"You have to watch the weather. The last eight to 10 years, we’ve had a killing frost Mother’s Day week,” she said.