MARCH
This is the month to WEED, PLANT, PRUNE, FEED and to continue Spring sowing.
CHECKLIST OF KEY TASKS FOR MARCH:
PATIOS & BORDERS
Cut off old flowering shoots and flowers from ornamental grasses.
Rake dead leaves out of evergreen grasses to thin them out and to allow new shoots to come through unhindered.
Apply a general fertiliser to all beds and borders.
Divide overcrowded clumps of herbaceous perennials, discarding the older central part and replant the younger,
more vigorous outer sections.
It is important to weed now, before they become established. Follow weeding with mulching of the soil.
Plant new herbaceous perennial plants, such as campanula, echinacea, hardy geranium, rudbeckia and verbenas.
Ornamental grasses can be lifted, divided and mixed in with shrubs and perennials.Tender perennials can be planted in pots with some frost protection.
Remove dead flower heads from pansies and violas. This will encourage more blooms and prevent seeding.
Top-dress alpine plants with horticultural grit to ensure that there is fast drainage around the base of the plant.
TREES & SHRUBS
Protect newly emerging clematis shoots from attack from snails, especially those growing low down.
Gypsophylla and hostas will benefit from a drench of liquid slug killer; many slugs live in the soil and chew shoots off as they emerge.
If you spray your roses, try to start spraying now.
PLANTING & PRUNING
Evergreen shrubs may be planted now, but with care.
Prune buddleias back to about waist height and trim lavateras back to healthy new shoots.
Prune hardy fuchsias and penstemons back to strong new shoots and feed them.
Prune late flowering shrubs back hard now.
Prune all side shoots on winter flowering jasmine back hard; chaenomeles can be cut back when they finish flowering too.
Prune most roses now except climbing, rambling and shrub roses which are best pruned in summer after the main flush of flower. Cut back to 6-8"
from the ground and cut just above a bud, prune out any branches that are crossing to leave an open centre.
Remove any root suckers as close to the roots as possible. Cut out any weak, dead or diseased shoots.
Cut dogwoods (Cornus alba) and willows (Salix) that are grown for brightly coloured winter stems down to almost ground level now; this encourages
young new shoots that always have the best colour.
BULBS
Lift crowded snowdrops, carefully divide and replant. Avoid breaking their delicate roots if possible.
Start large flowered and cascading begonia corms into growth by planting them on the surface of multipurpose compost in warmth now.
Plant the indented concave side upwards as this is where the shoots will appear.
Remove flower heads from daffodils as they finish flowering.
A liquid feed with a liquid tomato fertiliser helps next years flowers to form now.
FRUIT GARDEN
Protect early flowers on peaches, nectarines and apricots from frost.
Hand pollinate blooms with a very soft brush.
Apply a mulch around newly planted trees but keep a gap around the trunk. Fruit bushes and canes will benefit too.
Plant grape vines now in the sunniest place.
Prune blueberry bushes by removing weak, old and dead shoots. Cut out up to 25% of all wood.
Plant strawberry runners if you missed autumn planting.
Cover established strawberry runners with low polytunnels or fleece covered tunnels.
Lift the sides slightly on warm days to let the bees in to pollinate the flowers.
Spray pears that have been attacked by pear midge in the past.
The first spray of fungicide should be applied to protect apples from scab.
VEGETABLE GARDEN
Show parsnip seeds into a firm fine seedbed.
Sow tomato, pepper and cucumber seed for fresh home grown vegetables from a greenhouse, for growing outside in about 6 week's time.
You should also sow carrots, peas, broad beans, cabbage, cauliflower, radish, lettuce, sprouts and other vegetables.
Early varieties of seed potatoes can be planted out in sheltered spots now, but delay planting main crop varieties until the end of the month.
Check that asparagus beds are well earthed-up as the first shoots should be appearing very soon.
Early sown peas will need support with pea sticks.
Remove yellowing leaves from brassicas regularly; these may be suffering from downy mildew and can carry this disease over to re-infect new crops.
There is no chemical control for mildew disease, but ‘compost tea’ will keep it in check.
Divide and replant overcrowded clumps of herbs.
Sow parsley, chervil, chives, fennel and marjoram; coriander can be sown under cover.
LAWNS, HEDGES & PATHS
Apply the first combined feed, weed and moss killer dressing to your lawn at the end of this month.
Mow the grass on dry days and top-dress hollows with turf dressing
Roll lawns to even out bumps; this is especially effective when the soil is moist.
Reshape lawn edges using a sharp half moon turf knife.
Consider installing lawn edging to provide support.
THE GREENHOUSE
This is time to sow ageratum, alyssum, antirrhinum, asters, aegonias, marigolds, pansies, petunias, stocks and
many other flowers in a cold frame or greenhouse.
Hang sticky whitefly pads up in your greenhouse and conservatories now.
These will act like fly papers and are completely non toxic to humans.
If you introduce natural predators to control your pests, you must take these pads down.
Re-pot fuchsias, pelargoniums and other over-wintered tender plants.
Cut away any dead shoots and prune back to strong shoots near the base where ever possible.
Top-dress citrus fruits with new compost. Repot those that need it, using special citrus compost.
Transplant seedlings into larger containers as soon as they are big enough to handle.
Buy grow-bags and put them inside to warm up before planting.
Prune bougainvillea quite hard now.
Jasmine and plumbago can be thinned out by removing the oldest shoots.
Open the ventilators on warm days.
INDOOR PLANTS
Pot indoor plants into bigger pots but check that they need it.
Gently knock the plant out of the pot and,
if the roots are covering most of the compost, the plant will benefit from moving into a pot one or two sizes bigger.
If they aren't yet then wait a while.
Increase frequency of feeding using a high nitrogen feed for plants grown for their attractive leaves and high potash feed for those grown for their flowers.
Indoor azaleas should be kept cool and watered with rain water regularly.
Start to feed them when new shots appear. In May they can be put outside for summer.
Remove spent flowers from amaryllis. Keep feeding and watering until the leaves start to go yellow and die down.
SOIL
Mulch the ground around the plant with chipped bark or mushroom compost to suppress weeds and conserve water
PONDS
Remove or switch off the water heater, turn on the pump and start feeding the fish
WILDLIFE
Continue to feed birds and provide nest boxes.
Provide some sheltered and ‘untidy’ areas for wildlife.
MARCH GARDEN CHORES
CHECKLIST OF KEY TASKS FOR MARCH:
- Re-pot shrubs and perennials.
- Sow bedding plants.
- Rake, repair and feed lawns.
- Prune dead wood from trees and shrubs.
- Feed borders.
- Dead-head pansies and violas.
- Protect clematis
- Prune roses and shrubs.
- Lift and divide bulbs.
- Re-pot indoor plants.
PATIOS & BORDERS
Cut off old flowering shoots and flowers from ornamental grasses.
Rake dead leaves out of evergreen grasses to thin them out and to allow new shoots to come through unhindered.
Apply a general fertiliser to all beds and borders.
Divide overcrowded clumps of herbaceous perennials, discarding the older central part and replant the younger,
more vigorous outer sections.
It is important to weed now, before they become established. Follow weeding with mulching of the soil.
Plant new herbaceous perennial plants, such as campanula, echinacea, hardy geranium, rudbeckia and verbenas.
Ornamental grasses can be lifted, divided and mixed in with shrubs and perennials.Tender perennials can be planted in pots with some frost protection.
Remove dead flower heads from pansies and violas. This will encourage more blooms and prevent seeding.
Top-dress alpine plants with horticultural grit to ensure that there is fast drainage around the base of the plant.
TREES & SHRUBS
Protect newly emerging clematis shoots from attack from snails, especially those growing low down.
Gypsophylla and hostas will benefit from a drench of liquid slug killer; many slugs live in the soil and chew shoots off as they emerge.
If you spray your roses, try to start spraying now.
PLANTING & PRUNING
Evergreen shrubs may be planted now, but with care.
Prune buddleias back to about waist height and trim lavateras back to healthy new shoots.
Prune hardy fuchsias and penstemons back to strong new shoots and feed them.
Prune late flowering shrubs back hard now.
Prune all side shoots on winter flowering jasmine back hard; chaenomeles can be cut back when they finish flowering too.
Prune most roses now except climbing, rambling and shrub roses which are best pruned in summer after the main flush of flower. Cut back to 6-8"
from the ground and cut just above a bud, prune out any branches that are crossing to leave an open centre.
Remove any root suckers as close to the roots as possible. Cut out any weak, dead or diseased shoots.
Cut dogwoods (Cornus alba) and willows (Salix) that are grown for brightly coloured winter stems down to almost ground level now; this encourages
young new shoots that always have the best colour.
BULBS
Lift crowded snowdrops, carefully divide and replant. Avoid breaking their delicate roots if possible.
Start large flowered and cascading begonia corms into growth by planting them on the surface of multipurpose compost in warmth now.
Plant the indented concave side upwards as this is where the shoots will appear.
Remove flower heads from daffodils as they finish flowering.
A liquid feed with a liquid tomato fertiliser helps next years flowers to form now.
FRUIT GARDEN
Protect early flowers on peaches, nectarines and apricots from frost.
Hand pollinate blooms with a very soft brush.
Apply a mulch around newly planted trees but keep a gap around the trunk. Fruit bushes and canes will benefit too.
Plant grape vines now in the sunniest place.
Prune blueberry bushes by removing weak, old and dead shoots. Cut out up to 25% of all wood.
Plant strawberry runners if you missed autumn planting.
Cover established strawberry runners with low polytunnels or fleece covered tunnels.
Lift the sides slightly on warm days to let the bees in to pollinate the flowers.
Spray pears that have been attacked by pear midge in the past.
The first spray of fungicide should be applied to protect apples from scab.
VEGETABLE GARDEN
Show parsnip seeds into a firm fine seedbed.
Sow tomato, pepper and cucumber seed for fresh home grown vegetables from a greenhouse, for growing outside in about 6 week's time.
You should also sow carrots, peas, broad beans, cabbage, cauliflower, radish, lettuce, sprouts and other vegetables.
Early varieties of seed potatoes can be planted out in sheltered spots now, but delay planting main crop varieties until the end of the month.
Check that asparagus beds are well earthed-up as the first shoots should be appearing very soon.
Early sown peas will need support with pea sticks.
Remove yellowing leaves from brassicas regularly; these may be suffering from downy mildew and can carry this disease over to re-infect new crops.
There is no chemical control for mildew disease, but ‘compost tea’ will keep it in check.
Divide and replant overcrowded clumps of herbs.
Sow parsley, chervil, chives, fennel and marjoram; coriander can be sown under cover.
LAWNS, HEDGES & PATHS
Apply the first combined feed, weed and moss killer dressing to your lawn at the end of this month.
Mow the grass on dry days and top-dress hollows with turf dressing
Roll lawns to even out bumps; this is especially effective when the soil is moist.
Reshape lawn edges using a sharp half moon turf knife.
Consider installing lawn edging to provide support.
THE GREENHOUSE
This is time to sow ageratum, alyssum, antirrhinum, asters, aegonias, marigolds, pansies, petunias, stocks and
many other flowers in a cold frame or greenhouse.
Hang sticky whitefly pads up in your greenhouse and conservatories now.
These will act like fly papers and are completely non toxic to humans.
If you introduce natural predators to control your pests, you must take these pads down.
Re-pot fuchsias, pelargoniums and other over-wintered tender plants.
Cut away any dead shoots and prune back to strong shoots near the base where ever possible.
Top-dress citrus fruits with new compost. Repot those that need it, using special citrus compost.
Transplant seedlings into larger containers as soon as they are big enough to handle.
Buy grow-bags and put them inside to warm up before planting.
Prune bougainvillea quite hard now.
Jasmine and plumbago can be thinned out by removing the oldest shoots.
Open the ventilators on warm days.
INDOOR PLANTS
Pot indoor plants into bigger pots but check that they need it.
Gently knock the plant out of the pot and,
if the roots are covering most of the compost, the plant will benefit from moving into a pot one or two sizes bigger.
If they aren't yet then wait a while.
Increase frequency of feeding using a high nitrogen feed for plants grown for their attractive leaves and high potash feed for those grown for their flowers.
Indoor azaleas should be kept cool and watered with rain water regularly.
Start to feed them when new shots appear. In May they can be put outside for summer.
Remove spent flowers from amaryllis. Keep feeding and watering until the leaves start to go yellow and die down.
SOIL
Mulch the ground around the plant with chipped bark or mushroom compost to suppress weeds and conserve water
PONDS
Remove or switch off the water heater, turn on the pump and start feeding the fish
WILDLIFE
Continue to feed birds and provide nest boxes.
Provide some sheltered and ‘untidy’ areas for wildlife.
MARCH GARDEN CHORES
- Clean and tidy paths and wooden decking.
- This is a good time to remove snails from underneath benches and pots.
- It is a good time to remove tenacious weeds before they grow.