Snow, wind and the deep freeze - should we next be expecting locusts or frogs? Probably most of the gardeners have had all the winter we care for and are ready for spring.

Well, spring does comes early in Puget Sound country with the annual Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle. This year, the show runs from February 14 - 19. Expect to find the Lazy Gardener volunteering at one of the exhibits during the show.

November's hard freeze plus January's deep freeze may well have wreaked some havoc in gardens dependent on less hardy plants. The Lazy Garden will discover how many fuchsias were hardy enough for this weather and later bless nurseries with return visits for plants that did not make it through the cold.

The recent extended cold snap has been particularly difficult for local bird populations. Feeding them is one way of ensuring next season's songsters are around to please us.

Black oil sunflower seeds remain the best all-around bird food for our populations. Chickadees and finches are staples of the local songbirds. Both are mad about black oil. Other birds including wrens, juncos, towhees and flickers will help clean up dropped seed.

To discourage squirrels and other varmints, purchase good feeders designed to present obstacles to these raiders. Some use baffles; others use perches that close feeding stations if the guest is too heavy. Since squirrels readily chew through plastic and wood, the best feeders are made of metal.

A high quality addition to a songbird's diet is suet. Made from rendered fats, suet cakes offer an energy source in greater need during cold weather. Here again, use feeders that discourage squirrels and position where unwanted guests have difficulty reaching.

In addition to high-energy food sources, birds continue to need water through the winter. When their normal sources are frozen over, it's important to put out shallow containers of free-flowing water, allowing birds to wade in and drink or bathe. If a container is too deep, add pebbles so the water is about 2 inches deep. Remember, songbirds do not swim.

While providing supplemental food and water, check the garden for natural sources of food - plants that have and hold berries, seed heads from grasses and perennials. If the garden comes up lacking in food sources, make a plan to add native plants that do that duty. Some examples are mountain ash, Oregon grape, salal, evergreen huckleberry.

"Green" gardening, "eco-gardening" and Lazy Gardening all lead to the notion that your garden should fit into the larger ecosystem and be tailored to your needs and interests (rather than what some designer in a fancy magazine can do with an army of help). Invite wildlife into your garden and plant to minimize fertilizer, water and coddling.

Q: After the December windstorm left us without power for several days, we now have a great pile of ashes from burning clean wood in our fireplace. Is it permissible to compost these ashes and if so how?

A: Many of us are up to our ashes as a consequence of power outages. Fortunately, we have also created a valuable soil amendment and compost addition. Burning clean wood creates a crude form of potash or potassium. One of the three essential elements (NPK) listed on every fertilizer package, potassium helps plants bloom and fruit better, and promotes disease resistance, drought tolerance, and winter hardiness.

Potash is also fairly caustic, so it's important to be careful with it and avoid breathing the dust. Be sure to wash dust off skin as well. Hauling ash slowly will reduce dusting.

Once carefully removed from your fireplace, ashes can be added to the compost pile or thinly sprinkled around ornamentals, fruiting plants, lawns and fallow vegetable gardens. Be sure to spread ashes around, in and among the compost pile contents to prevent concentrated pockets of ash.

An interesting note is both the damage and advantage done by the airborne ash from the Mount St. Helens eruption. While the immediate consequence was devastating to Eastern Washington agriculture, once the ash had been incorporated into the soils, farmers saw better crops. As easily seen in Hawaii, volcanic soils can be very rich and productive.

Stephen Lamphear, the Lazy Gardener, may be reached at lazy.gardener@comcast.net