Happy New Year! Here’s hoping that 2010 has great things in store for you and yours. So, have you made any New Year’s Resolutions? The bigger question is who thought that making resolutions was a good idea in the first place? After all, you already know that you should quit smoking (if you haven’t already), eat healthier food, and get fit. So instead of making the same old promises this year, why not resolve to get a jump-start on the best lookin’ yard you’ve ever had?

Right now your flower beds and gardens should be under a snug blanket of mulch—and maybe even snow—and that pretty much puts a damper on any outdoor activity. But that’s why right now is the perfect time to:

• Take a good hard look at your yard—from indoors, of course—and figure out where you could use more plants to enhance your view.
• Sketch out plans for new flower beds and borders.
• Order seeds for the upcoming season’s annuals and perennials.
• Start bringing potted bulbs indoors for forcing.
• Clean, oil, and sharpen (where appropriate) your garden tools so they’ll be ready to dig in come spring. Rub them down with a soap-filled steel wool pad that’s been dipped in kerosene or turpentine. (Be sure to do this in a well-ventilated area and wear gloves.) Finish the job by briskly rubbing the tools with wadded-up aluminum foil, and they’ll shine like new!

For more great wintertime gardening ideas, check out my Year-Round Bloomers book—FREE for 21 days. You’ll get hundreds of brilliant blooming secrets for a magnificent, multi-season landscape.