March tasks |  |
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This is the beginning of the busy season, when there aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done. |
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Borders | | | • | Individual cloches can be used to protect vulnerable plants or to warm the soil before planting. | | • | Slugs are out and about - and hungry , so be ready to apply some means of control before they devour all those tasty new shoots. | | • | Keep supporting bulb stems with canes if necessary and remove the dead flower heads to stop them wasting energy producing seeds. | | • | Prune dogwoods and Willow (Cornus and Salix) that are grown for winter colour. The best colour comes on the youngest stems, so you can prune them back hard ready for a bright display next year. | • | Remaining flowered stems on mop-head Hydrangea can be pruned back to the base. | | • | Clear away any remaining dead leaves from herbaceous perennials to allow the new growth room to come through. | | • | Be ready to mulch around plants to reduce the need to weed and water over the coming months. | | • | Remove faded flowers from early bulbs such as crocus and daffodils so they don't waste energy producing seed. Feed now to build up the bulbs for next year. If the clumps are in need of dividing, mark their position with a cane ready to lift and split them in the summer. | | • | Divide snowdrops while they still have leaves on. |
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Seedlings & young plants | | | • | Check for grey mould, which will spread right through seedlings if not stopped. Uncover larger seedlings regularly to maintain good air-flow. | | • | New plants will be tender, so keep fleece to hand for cold nights. | | • | Unpack plug plants as soon as they arrive and keep them warm (and watered). Pot them individually or transplant them into the garden when the conditions are suitable. | | • | Move plants into individual pots as soon as they are large enough and pot them on before they become pot-bound. Any delay can cause a growth check. | | • | If you sowed seeds into a tray or large pot, then they will need moving out individually into pots of their own, known as pricking out, as soon as they are large enough. Once the second set of leaves begins to appear, then the seedling should be large enough to handle. Always hold the tiny plant by its leaves, never the stem - if you happen to damage a leaf, it can grow another, but if you bruise or break the stem, it will die. Water well after you finish and, if necessary, shade the plants from bright sun for a day or two to give them time to recover. | | • | If the weather is good towards the end of the month, you can begin to harden off the larger plants by standing them outside during the daytime to get them used to outdoors. They will still need covering every night for a few weeks. |
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Containers | | | • | As winter containers finish flowering, stand to one side to allow the bulbs to die down naturally, ready to flower again next year. | | • | Water containers regularly if rainfall is low. | | • | Keep patio containers on pot feet (or bricks) to prevent water-logging in heavy rain. If a pot becomes too wet, lay it on its side for a day to drain. |
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Lawns | | | • | If the weather is mild, give the lawn a trim with the blades set high. | | • | Towards the end of the month, apply a spring lawn treatment to give the winter-starved grass a boost for the summer. It will help it withstand the heat better. |
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Fruit | | | • | This is the last opportunity to plant soft fruit or young fruit trees as bare root plants. | | • | If your gooseberries had mildew last year, spray now with a fungicide to kill off any fungal spores as they emerge with the young leaves. |
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The vegetable garden | | | • | Continue sowings of early varieties of peas at 2 week intervals to get continuity of cropping. | | • | Sow parsnips as soon as the ground is ready, as they are slow to germinate and like a long growing season. You can also sow radish in the same seed drill, the radish will have been harvested before most of the parsnips germinate. | | • | Make raised beds about 15 centimetres (6in) deep for growing asparagus: prepare the ground well and cover the crowns with 15 centimetres (6in) of good soil after planting. | | • | Plant out either home-grown or bought-in broad bean seedlings sown in pots in December or January. | | • | Have fleece ready to protect from frost any tender seedlings which have germinated early. | | • | Mulch areas with black plastic to warm up the soil ready for early planting and sowings. | | • | If the soil conditions are dry enough, plant the first early potatoes 10 centimetres (4in) deep and be prepared to lightly earth up any emerging shoots to protect them from frost damage. |
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The greenhouse, polytunnel & conservatory | | | • | Re-pot house plants in fresh compost or remove the top 2-3 centimetres (1in) of compost and replace this with new compost - this is particularly useful if you don't want to move plants into larger pots. | | • | Start to increase the watering of indoor and conservatory plants as days lengthen and the plants show signs of new growth. | | • | Add a liquid feed once the plants start to grow more quickly. | | • | Keep a look out for any emerging insect pests and use a control method before the populations start to increase. |
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Ponds | | | • | Divide and re-plant water lilies as soon as they start showing signs of growth, and feed any that are not being divided. | | • | If you have fish in the pond, start feeding them when they become active. |
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General tasks | | | • | Trim back plants that have encroached on to paths and patios. | | • | Continue to re-lay paths and carry out other hard landscaping if the ground is firm but not frozen or too wet. |
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