It is never too soon to start thinking of tasks to be done in preparation for the gardening season.  The list always seems endless but if you take one step at a time, it is not as daunting.

1. Getting Your Gardening Equipment Ready.  I know I am as guilty as anyone with regard to not taking the time to clean off the gardening tools after a long day of gardening, but spending a few minutes cleaning all your tools does pay off in the long run.  Essential tools and equipment for me are: digging fork, spade, rake, hoe, trowel, wheelbarrow, bucket, watering can and my faithful secateurs that I have had for years.   Wooden handles can be oiled with a little linseed.  Secateurs need to be sharpened with a small sharpening stone and you only need to put in a few drops of oil in the moving parts.  Prior to the gardening season, I will be looking over my tools and equipment to make sure they are ready and in good shape.  
2. Preparing equipment for seed sowing.  One of the first chores will be preparing the greenhouse and checking for winter damage.  Once in a while I do have to replace some of the glass panes.  (A greenhouse is probably the most expensive single item you will buy for your garden, but believe me my greenhouse, which has been moved at least 5 times with different house moves, has been a godsend).   I am very fortunate too that I still have equipment left over from when I had a nursery, i.e. the heater cables that are on a thermostat.  I use tubs filled with sand and soil and immerse the cables in the soil underneath the seed trays.  It produces just enough heat to help germinate the seeds.  Seeds that do not need the heat so much, i.e. hardy annuals and perennials I just place on the bench and use a plastic covering over the trays.  Note I also have a small electric heater in the greenhouse on a thermostat just to avoid the greenhouse temperature dropping to below zero.  Seed trays and potting soils can easily be obtained from either Home Depot, Walmart or Canadian tire.  I usually buy new trays rather than recycling the ones from last year unless they are in good condition and you have to make sure that the old trays are thoroughly cleaned.  In summary, heater cables need to be checked for working order, purchase seed trays, covers (or quite often I just use plastic wrap) and suitable potting compost.  
3. Checking Pots and Large Containers – Over the Winter, I store all my plastic, terra cotta and pottery containers in the shed as invariably if I leave them outside in the area that we live in they crack.  I would have cleaned them off last fall, but I still give them a check before planting them up.  
4. Spraying Fruit Trees – I only have one peach tree growing on one side of my trellis in the outdoor dining area.  As much as I try to avoid using chemicals, I do have to resort to spraying the tree with dormant spray prior to the tree coming out in bud to avoid peach curl.  
5. Assessing Winter Damage – Once the snow starts melting and daily temperatures warm up,  I will be going around the garden to assess if there has been any winter damage to my trees, shrubs and roses.  In particular I will be looking for broken branches or diseased stalks and pruning them out.
6. Cleaning up Flower Beds – I have left most of the stalks on my perennials so this will be an ongoing task again once the weather warms up to prune off the old stalks and allow the new growth.
7. Mulching – once the cleanup is done we will be putting mulch on all the flower/shrub beds, except for the rockery garden where I use a mix of soil and sand.  The mulch not only protects the plants and helps retain moisture in the ground, but it also curbs the weeds.    

This is just the start.  As we progress into early Spring, there will be plenty more tasks to be done.  In the meantime I am enjoying my forced daffodils indoors, just a glimpse of what is to come.