Associated Press

With the first day of spring comes a sense of relief: The weather warming; flowers blooming; trees budding. Winter worries fade with the prospect of summer ahead.

Not so fast. A good summer is going to take some preparation. And you need to start right now – not a moment later.

Here are three things you need to do now to ensure your summer season is sweet.

If you’ve neglected your skin during the long, dry winter, you’ll need six to eight weeks to get it back into summer shape.

“For an effortless look – that smooth skin with a summer glow – you can only get that by preparing early,” said Noella Gabriel, director of product and treatment development at Elemis, a chain of upscale spas, with locations in London, Las Vegas and Florida, among other spots.

She recommends at least three body exfoliations, a skin wrap (either an oil- or seaweed-based one) and a couple of facials. Figure about a treatment a week.

Gabriel recommends starting with a salt-based scrub that leaves the skin feeling soft and conditioned. Focus the exfoliation on the knees, elbows, backs of arms and shoulders, and heels.

After the scrub, moisturize with an oil, not a cream, Gabriel advises. “A cream just is not enough when you’re going for flawless. It just sits on the surface.”

And remember, stores start promoting each season earlier and earlier. So by the time you have finally worked your body into bikini shape, it may be too late to find a bikini.

Lori Dolnick remembers when she to buy boots for a snow-tubing trip in February. But “all I could find at Target was flip-flops. It’s gotten so bad that if I want swim shoes for my kids, I have to buy them in March,” said Dolnick, vice president of Thacker &Frank Communications in Cranbury, N.J.

By January, all Target stores stock bathing suits, regardless of location, according to Target spokeswoman Amy von Walter. Target stores offer swimwear from mid-January until the end of June, she said.

So if you go shopping in March or April, you could benefit because most stores will mark down inventory that is still hanging around after 90 days.

2. “Why is our yard so ugly?”

You can still have a spring garden even if you didn’t plant spring-flowering bulbs in time, last fall. And you certainly can still find bulbs that will give you summer flowers.

These ideas are laid out in detail in Katherine Whiteside’s new book, “The Way We Garden Now,” and they’re equally adaptable for small spaces in the city or wide country spreads.

First: For an instant spring garden, create a small “spring spot” using containerized plants. Buy early bloomers such as primroses or violets and keep them in their plastic nursery pots, Whiteside suggests.

“Slip the nursery pots inside more decorative clay containers and arrange a sweet spring welcome right next to the front door,” she said.

For the second project: Look forward to summer and choose bulbs to plant now in pots or in the ground, for a riot of color and fragrance later.

Whiteside thinks first of lilies. Another easy-growing choice for your plant-now, bloom-later project could be the eye-catching acidanthera, whose bulbs are more correctly called corms. “Just bang them in a pot,” she said. They’ll grow up to 3 feet tall “and they smell so good at night.”

Perhaps you already have plane tickets, hotel reservations or money down on a beach house rental for the summer. If not, it’s time to whip your vacation plans into shape.

Some festivals, concerts and Broadway shows sell out very early, but ticket brokers or hotel concierges can often get you in. Be prepared to pay a premium for the service.

The very best rentals in popular beach resorts like Cape Cod, Mass., start renting in October, but Michael Leighton of Realty Executives, www.capecodrentals.net, said there are still some listings available; they’re just not as close to the beach and have fewer amenities. He added to check for the occasional cancellation or new listing. Smaller places and local condo and house rentals may be available. Look for midweek reservations.

Nancy Dunnan, editor of www.TravelSmartNewsletter.com. suggests asking to be put on the waiting list. Get the name of a contact person and call back on a regular basis.