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Gardening Tips for March

by Joe Daniels

Seasonal

• Prepare soil for planting. Do not till your soil if it is wet. Only prepare the soil if it crumbles in your hand. Form a fist around a handful of soil. If it's wet and intact when you open your hand, stop digging. If the fistful gently falls apart, dig.
• Have your soil tested. Soil test kits are available at your local Cooperative Extension office.
• Sharpen and repair garden tools.
• Remove parts of shrubs broken over the winter.
• Cut off last year's growth on ornamental grasses, epimediums, and ferns.
• Clean up matted leaves and dead vegetation from flower beds and lawns.
• Get ready to assemble the materials you will need to start some seeds. A very common time to start them is around April Fool's Day.
• When buying transplants, select ones with a compact, bushy form and bright green leaves. Plants without flowers or flower buds produce better and grow faster.

Houseplants

• Take root cuttings of your favorite houseplants to increase your indoor supply of plants or to use in outside containers this summer. Some examples include: wandering jews, spider plants, etc.
• Begin fertilizing your plants after new growth appears.
• Start tuberous begonias cannas, bananas (and other various tropical bulbs and tubers for your outdoor containers, giving them a head start).
• Repot houseplants that are pot-bound.

Bulbs

• Fertilize spring flowering bulbs.
• Check any stored bulbs for decay; discard damaged bulb.(caladiums, elephant's ears).
• Start Caladiums indoors for later planting outdoors.

Compost

• Clean up any dead stems or leaves left from last fall and add them to a new compost pile.
• Turn your old compost pile to restart the composting process. Add nitrogen and water to boost the process.
• Spread compost over garden and landscape areas.
• Look for our upcoming evening compost classes offered on March 27 and April 24 at 7PM in the evening.....you may need a refresher course or a new bin.

Vegetable Gardens

• Plan carefully to be able to harvest spring, summer and fall crops. Plant for your needs. For example, two to three tomato plants per family member will satisfy fresh tomato needs. Add more plants if you are canning or making juice.
• Remember that it takes about 2 hours per week to care for a 20' x 50' garden, not including harvesting and planting.
• Begin planting cool-weather crops as soon as the ground can be worked, under row covers or in cold frames. These crops include lettuce, broccoli, spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, and collard greens. Check your outside planting date and count back to the appropriate sowing date, as plants do best when placed in the ground on the younger side of the transplant age.
• Plant peas as soon as the soil is ready. Sow a new row every six to 10 days, so your harvest will be extended. The last planting should be Tax Day (April 15).
• Asparagus ferns should be cut back if new spears have not yet emerged. Sidedress with nitrogen or manure.
• Parsley can be started now for transplanting later.
• Plant potatoes and onions later in the month.
• Mow any cover crops and turn under the residue at the end of March.
• Cut back asparagus ferns if new spears have not yet emerged. Side dress with nitrogen or manure.

Herbs

• Start annual, biennial and perennial plants for the garden and for use as indoor plants.
• Purchase plants of hard to germinate types such as rosemary and lavender.

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Tree Fruits & Nuts

• Begin dormant oil,fungicide, and insecticide sprays on fruit trees. Not spraying as needed can result in disease and insect problems later.
• Prune fruit trees in early March before growth starts. You should remove dead, dying, and insect or disease damaged branches.
• Remove mulch from strawberries when growth begins, but keep it nearby to use against frost and freezes.
• If planting raspberry plants, start with 6-10 plants. Since they send out underground runners, install an 8-12" sheet of metal vertically all around the raspberry bed.

Fruits

• Prune brambles, blueberries and grapes in early March.
• Fertilize brambles and blueberries.

Lawns

• Remove winter debris from the lawn.
• Repair lawnmower and garden equipment.
• Avoid over-fertilizing lawns in the spring. Too much fertilizer will increase lawn disease problems and will cause top growth at the expense of root growth.
• If some areas of our lawn do not green-up, check for disease or insect problems.
• When the forsythia begin to bloom, apply pre-emergent herbicides to lawns. Spot spray for dandelions, henbit and chickweed.
• Seed or over-seed lawns with cold-season grasses, such as Kentucky bluegrass, dwarf fescue, and perennial ryegrass.
• Thatching and aerification of lawns can reduce soil compaction; this is a good time to renovate lawns. Special equipment is needed for this; hire a professional or rent the equipment.
• Check for the insect damage and treat if necessary, as damage to lawns from sod webworm begins at this time. If birds are feeding on the webworms in your lawn, that may be sufficient control.
• Do not use lawn equipment on soft or soggy lawns, as it will compact the soil and damage the roots.

Perennials, Biennials and Annuals

• Sow seeds indoors of marigold, impatiens and tender perennials.
• Cool tolerant annuals can be sown outdoors as soon as the soil can be worked. These include: alyssum, California poppy, candytuft, larkspur,pansy,phlox, pinks,Shirley poppy,snapdragon, stock,sweet pea, and viola.
• Begin to divide and transplant perennials.
• Spray peonies occasionally with a contact fungicide as they emerge from the soil. This will help to reduce disease problems that would destroy the flower buds later.
• Cut off last year's growth of epimedium, ferns, ornamental grasses and perennials. Cut ornamental grasses to 3-5" above the ground.
• Prune buddleia, caryopteris, and summer-blooming clematis to 12 inches or shorter.
• Start caladium bulbs indoors and don't transfer them outside until late May.

Trees & Shrubs

• Prune off deadwood, unless it involves major (1/3 or growth) removal of limbs. Do not prune in damp or wet weather.
• Fertilize conifers with a top-dressing of manure or 5-10-5 fertilizer.
• Fertilize ornamental deciduous trees and shrubs.
• Prune summer flowering shrubs. Wait until after they flower to prune spring flowering shrubs. Do not prune in damp or wet weather.
• Plant new deciduous and coniferous trees.
• Prune deciduous trees, except for birch, maple and walnut, which should be pruned after they leaf out.
• Spray shade trees if tent caterpillars, webworms, or leafrollers were a problem last year.
• If you had powdery mildew on lilac, roses or other woody plants, rake up the leaves from around the affected plants.
• Remove tree wraps from young trees.
• Hedges can be pruned after growth starts, leave the base of the plants wider than the tops.

Roses

• Begin pruning roses when forsythia is bloom ing.
• Remove deadwood and damaged canes; pruning should be at an angle above a dormant bud. Avoid pruning until one week prior to the last killing frost.
• Spray roses with lime-sulfur.
• Fertilize with an organic fertilizer.

As our new spring gardening season begins again don't forget to be careful and don't overdo it. Those muscles and joints have been relaxing for the last few months and will need to be worked slowly at first. Check the paper for gardening talks and workshops and make frequent trips to the garden centers for new plants and tools. Have a fun-filled gardening experience this spring and see you at the monthly meeting.

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