Top Garden Projects for March

Spring is busting out all over (or will be soon). The primroses are blooming, bulbs are bursting into bloom, the lawn is starting to grow, and it’s beginning to get a little warmer. It’s time to get your spring gardening underway. Caring for the lawn, preparing the soil and planting vegetables, pruning roses, and starting seeds head the list of things to do this month.

VEGETABLES – Take time to prepare the vegetable garden soil for planting. The addition of well-rotted manure, processed manure, peat moss or compost are good additives for building compost humus in the soil. Perennial vegetables like asparagus, rhubarb, horseradish and artichokes can be planted right now. Garden peas and sweet peas can also be planted now. Spinach, chard, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and other hardy vegetables can be seeded or set out later in the month. March is a good time to plant fruit trees and berries too.

STARTING SEEDS – Time to start tomatoes, lettuce, petunias, marigolds and many other flowers and vegetables from seed. Start the seeds indoors, in the home, a greenhouse, a sun window or on a sun porch. By starting seeds indoors in March you will get a thirty to sixty day jump on the gardening season, because you will have young starter plants to set-out when the weather warms later this spring. Seeds can be started in pots, trays, egg cartons or even in cottage cheese cartons.

LAWN CARE – Dig a four or five inch square plug from the lawn, examine it and decide what needs to be done to get the lawn in tip-top shape for the months ahead. If you are unfamiliar with lawn problems take the sample to your local garden center and have the Certified nursery person or Master gardener diagnose the lawn plug for you. When you’re finished, simply reset the plug back in the lawn.

Most lawns will need a spring feeding. If moss is a problem, a combination fertilizer and moss killer can be applied, to do both jobs in one easy application. If thatching or liming needs to be done, do those jobs first. Reseeding (over-seeding) can be done as the last step, after the lawn has been fertilized.

PRUNE ROSES – All types of roses can be pruned this month. Remember, severe pruning results in nice long stemmed flowers and more attractive rose bushes.

PLANTING AND TRANSPLANTING – Right now is one of the most convenient times to plant new fruit trees, roses, berries, and other deciduous plants. Nurseries and garden centers have their finest and most complete selection of new plants at this time, so you get the pick-of-the-crop. As for transplanting, it should be done as soon as possible, because many plants are already beginning to start their spring growth.

WEEDING – Probably one of the most over-looked and dreaded tasks is weeding. But it’s better to do it now, before the weeds have a chance to flower and go to seed and really become a nuisance. Remember, once the weeds go to seed you can be fighting that weed seed for more than seven years. It is not unusual for some types of weeds to produce up to ten thousand or more seeds per plant. Most weeds can simply be pulled or cultivated out of the garden. Some of the more persistent weeds, like morning glories or quackgrass, you may need to use a herbicide to effectively eliminate. The Certified Nursery-person or Master Gardener at your local garden outlet can advise you of the best method for controlling these pesky weeds, because recommendations will be different for the various sections of the garden.

WATERING – Check the plants under the eaves of the house and under tall evergreens to see that they have sufficient moisture. Even with as much rain as we usually have in March, plants situated in these areas can be bone-dry and in desperate need of water.

PERENNIAL ROCKERY PLANTS – March is the month when many of the beautiful spring flowering perennials begin to flower. Aubrietia, candytuft, rock cress, bergenia and many others are not only nice rockery plants but are nice plants to use in perennial borders, landscape plantings or as perennial ground covers.

Yes, March is the month go get your spring and summer gardening off to a good start, by accomplishing a few of these projects.