In spite of the weather, we are having a glorious spring. For those of you who suffer pollen allergies, you may find outdoor gardening a bit of a challenge now, but there is much to be done. From early harvesting, to planting, it is a great time to be outdoors.

You can't find a prettier season than spring in Arkansas. From blooming azaleas and dogwoods to tulips and pansies, the landscapes are ablaze with color. Make sure your garden is this pretty all season, by adding plants that bloom every season. Go visit your local garden center and see what is new. I start drooling every time I drive by a garden center or nursery. There are so many options, the challenge is finding time to plant it all-or in some cases, find room for it all in the yard!

By now, all of your shrubs should be showing signs of new growth. Even crape myrtles-one of the last to begin growing are beginning to leaf out. Take inventory of any plants that may have been struggling at the end of last years growing season, and see how well they are coming out. Corrective pruning, or in some cases, replanting may be called for.

Pruning chores scare many gardeners. Rarely will you kill a plant with improper pruning, but you can lose a season of blooms by pruning at the wrong time. If you have evergreen plants like hollies, Aucuba, cleyera and boxwood that need general shaping, that can be done at any time. If they need severe pruning, do that soon so that they can recover with the early burst of spring growth. Spring blooming shrubs that need pruning, should be pruned as soon as they finish flowering. Your summer bloomers, from roses to buddleia and crape myrtles, by now, should have been pruned. If you do prune them now, you may delay their first flowers. Climbing roses should be pruned after their spring floral display. Gardenias and hydrangeas should be pruned as needed immediately following flowering.

You may find some of your early vegetables bolting, or going to seed, a little earlier than normal. Often, if the plants are subjected to extremes in temperatures, they will react by ending their growing season a little early. Once the bloom stalk appears on onions, lettuce, spinach or others, the season has ended. Cutting off the seed stalk will not encourage more growth. Go ahead and harvest what you have. If you grow broccoli, again the heads may not be as large, but you need to harvest while the flower heads are full and closed. If you begin to see yellow blooms, the quality is going to go way down.

Strawberry season should be here, or right around the corner. The cooler weather may have slowed them down a bit, but we should have a good crop-provided they were frost protected. With home grown plants, it may be a few weeks past the opening season on commercial farms. They use black plasticulture, which should speed up the soil warming process. Harvest when the berries are a deep red in color. Watch for slugs or fruit rots following periods of rain. If you go to a u-pick farm, be sure to call ahead to make sure they are picking that day.

By now it should be safe to move your houseplants outdoors. We had some folks who jumped the gun, and some of their plants are the worse for wear after those late freezes. If you have frost- burned foliage, start clean-up, and hope they were not killed to the roots. If you are just moving them outdoors, expose them to sunlight gradually.

Container gardening is a very popular means of gardening. Whether you grow ornamentals or edibles, there are containers to fit almost every purpose. Keep in mind when planting ornamentals that grouping plants with similar requirements can give you a landscaped look. Containers are not just used for patios and decks, but are often interspersed in the garden now. The larger the pot, the easier it will be to maintain-but take into account weight, especially if you plan on moving them around.

Most of our pansies and violas are continuing to thrive, especially since the weather has been on the cool side. You can hold off on replacing the cool season annuals, or begin to intersperse some summer color with them. There are lots of excellent annuals to choose from. Consider one of the Arkansas Select plants for 2002-penta. An outstanding annual for any sun garden is Penta. The Butterfly Series is highlighted, but penta plants are a great way to add color, and attract hummingbirds and butterflies. The plants come in pink, red, white and purple. They thrive in our hot summer weather, and only need a little supplemental water. Last years Arkansas Select, Dragonwing Begonia is another winner for partial shade. Look for new plants to try to add interesting new colors to your garden.

Herb gardens are an easy way to have an ample supply of fresh herbs for cooking. Most nurseries now carry a good selection of herb plants. Many are perennials, some even evergreen. Rosemary is a great semi-shrub, and thyme makes an attractive evergreen groundcover in full sun. If you do intersperse culinary herbs in your landscape beds, just don't use any pesticides around them. But keep in mind, you get double duty off these plants-not only do they look pretty, but you can eat them too.

The foliage on our spring bulbs is still growing, and a few tulips and late daffodils are still in bloom. You don't have to wait for the foliage to completely die back before pruning, but do give all bulbs at least six weeks of green growth after bloom. I typically mark my calendar at the six week mark after the last bulb has finished blooming. At that point it is safe to cut off the foliage without hindering flowering the following season. As cool and moist as our spring has been, the foliage may try to linger longer this year.

Speaking of bulbs, there are bulbs for summer foliage and flowers too. Most nurseries sell them both as dried bulbs and as growing plants. Look for caladiums, elephant ears, cannas, gladiolus and dahlias. Most summer bulbs like warm soil before they kick in and grow, so be a little patient this year.

Many gardeners postponed much of their planting chores this spring, because the weather was so cool. In the case of our warm season vegetables, I think that is a good thing. It is better to have warm soil so the plants can get established easier. There is still plenty of time to plant all of the warm season crops, including tomatoes, peppers, squash and corn. As it continues to heat up, add southern peas, okra and eggplant to the mix. Sweet potatoes also like it hot, so get ready for those. As you plant, broadcast a complete fertilizer in the soil, then repeat that in about six weeks. Mulch once the plants are up and growing, and water as needed. Keep a close eye out for insects and diseases, as well as weeds.

Our warm season lawns should be greening up nicely now. Once your lawn has totally greened up, fertilize with a high nitrogen, slow release fertilizer. Nitrogen is the nutrient most important for grass growth. The weeds that have been blooming are winter weeds, and they should be on their way out. Start watching for summer weeds, primarily crabgrass and nutgrass. Catch them as they emerge, and try to stop their spread.

If your groundcover, iris beds, or flower beds get overrun by grass weeds, watch as the grass begins to grow. This would be the ideal time to use one of the grass-specific herbicides. These products kill grass without hurting most flowers and groundcovers. Using them before the grass has really invaded can give you better kill, but it also leaves less dead grass to take away from the beauty of your flowers.

Get ready for the invasion of tent caterpillars. Every year about this time, we start to see webs forming in trees, and hairy caterpillars everywhere. While they are a nuisance, they are not overly destructive. They often have favorite trees, that they return to every season. If you can reach the webs, and pull them out of the trees in the evenings, when the caterpillars have clustered in them, you can destroy them that way. Sticky traps around the base of the trees they are crawling up can also help. You can spray an insecticide such as Dipel (BT), but keep in mind, that the insect has to ingest the insecticide-so spray it on something it is eating. It won't be dead overnight, but it can help to reduce the problems.

another common insect problem that we normally don't notice until June or July is the bagworm. Not to be confused with the tent caterpillar, the bagworm feeds primarily on junipers and arborvitae. They typically begin feeding this month, and continue through mid June. By the time we see the dried bags hanging from the limbs, the damage is done, and there is little you can do about it. If you have bagworms every year, spray once a week now, with either Dipel (BT) or Sevin. Three sprays, once each week, should prevent an infestation this season.