This Month in Gardening – March

Spring is finally here this month, and I couldn’t be more excited. This month in gardening – March – is a time to get started with working in the garden, both planting and prepping.

Planning

• There’s still time to plan your garden as a lot of the major planting happens in April and May.
• Map out any new flower beds or raised beds.
• Buy supplies for any raised beds you plan to make
• Buy any pots you plan to use for container gardening, but keep them inside until last frost date

Prepping

• Perennial herbs such as rue, sage and thyme should be pruned back to green wood.
• Roses should be pruned at the end of the month.
• Cut back ornamental grasses and other perennials if you didn’t cut them back in the fall before they begin new growth.
• Prune trees before they leaf out, unless they flower in the spring. In which case, prune after they are done flowering.
• Pansies should be fertilized, other cold-tolerant annuals should not.
• Fertilize perennials lightly as you see new growth with a slow-release fertilizer.
• Fertilize cool-season lawns like Kentucky bluegrass and tall fescue.
• You can fertilize shrubs as soon as they have begun to leaf.
• Fertilize young, but not newly-planted trees.
• Continue to pull weeds as you see them, especially flowering varieties so they don’t leave seeds to grow again next year

Planting

• You can plant cold tolerant annuals anytime this month as long as the ground isn’t frozen – pansies, calendula, snapdragons, and violas will tolerate cold weather
• You can plant some vegetable seeds outside now – carrots, peas, radish, spinach, and turnips
• Shrubs and trees can be planted this month as long as the ground isn’t frozen
• Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and onions can be planted outside
• Bare-root roses can be planted at the middle or end of the month
• You can start summer-flowering bulbs like dahlias, caladium, canna lilies, gladiolus, and elephant ears indoors and wait until April to transplant them outdoors.

How’s the weather in your area? Is it starting to warm up or are you contending with more cold and snow? Are you as excited as I am for spring? Let me know in the comments! Want to get a downloadable pdf checklist? Sign up below!