March In Your Garden

• As the weather begins to warm up, you may feel the urge to get out into the garden. Knowing what not to do at this time of year is about as important as knowing what you can or should do. For example, winter and spring rains can leave parts--maybe all--of your garden pretty soggy. Resist the urge to walk on or dig up planting beds when they're wet! Each footstep compacts the soil and makes drainage worse. Before digging, try this test: grab a handful of soil and firm it into a ball. Then drop it. If it stays in a ball, the soil is too wet to work. If it crumbles or breaks apart, go ahead and start digging.
  
  
• As you begin to prepare beds for planting, work plenty of organic matter into your soil. Plants growing in healthy, well cultivated soil need less fertilizer and are better able to deal with disease and insects. In our clay soil, adding organic matter creates structure, increases air space, and helps soil retain moisture in dry weather and drain better in soggy weather. Organic matter includes homemade compost, composted cow manure, leaf humus (which can be bought as Leafgro), pine bark fines and Bumper Crop.
  
  
• Now's a good time to clean up your yard--remove downed twigs and branches, and rake up any leaves left on the lawn or caught in ground cover or on flower beds. Cut back ratty looking foliage on perennials that haven't gone completely dormant. Cut back ornamental grasses, including liriope, to several inches above the ground.

LAWNS

• Lime your lawn if it needs it. Garden lime lowers the acidity of the soil. If your soil is too acid, it won't be able to use fertilizer as well. If you're not sure whether you should lime, bring us a quart-sized jar of soil. We'll test it for you and let you know whether you need to add lime, and if so, how much lime to apply.
  
  
• Fall is the best time to seed lawns , but if you have thin or bare spots that won't wait til then, March is the next best time. After that, it will be getting too warm for the grass to germinate and get well established before the heat of summer sets in. APF offers several grass seed mixes custom blended to do well in our area.
  
  
• When choosing grass seed, the two most important things to consider are the amount of sun the area gets and the amount of foot traffic. In full sun to part shade (3 or more hours of sun per day), choose APF Act II, a blend of turf-type tall fescue, for moderate to high traffic areas or APF Sunny Mixture, a turf-type tall fescue/perennial rye blend, also for moderate to high traffic areas. In part shade to dense shade, choose APF Shady Mixture, a blend of fine bladed fescues.
  
  
• Avoid the rush-- get lawnmower maintenance done early, before you need to start mowing the lawn. Buy fuel for your lawnmower and get the blades sharpened. Dull mower blades damage grass blades and leave your lawn more susceptible to disease.
  
  
• Pre-emergent weedkillers get to weeds before they have a chance to germinate. If you've had problems with crabgrass or other weeds such as clover and dandelions in the past, apply an organic pre-emergent such as Concern CornGluten when the forsythia are dropping their blooms. We'll be happy to provide you with more specific recommendations, depending on the type of weed you need to control.
  
• Want more information on Lawn care visit out Feed the Soil page.

SHRUBS AND TREES

• Prune to remove any broken tree or shrub branches. Don't worry about sap bleeding from pruning cuts on elm, maple, dogwood, beech, walnut, birch and redbud. This bleeding won't hurt the tree.
  
  
• Remove bagworm bags now--they contain hundreds of eggs that will hatch soon. Destroy or throw away the bags--don't just knock them down and leave them on the ground.
  
  
• Hemlocks with little white cottony masses on them are infested with wooly adelgid , a sucking insect that can decimate the tree. Spray the tree thoroughly with Horticultural Oil Spray to suffocate them. Pick a day when the temperature will stay above freezing for 24 hours after you spray.
  
  
• Late this month, prune shrubs that bloom on new wood, such as buddleias, PG hydrangeas, spireas and caryopteris. These are generally plants that bloom in summer, but please ask us if you're not sure about a specific shrub.
  
  
• Prune back forsythias after they finish blooming, cutting off 1/3 of the old canes at the ground.
  
  
• Prune crape myrtles toward the end of month.
  
  
• As long as the ground isn't too soggy--or frozen-- March is a great time to plant shrubs and trees. Planting in early spring gives the plants a chance to get their roots established before the summer heat kicks in.

ANNUALS AND PERENNIALS

• Watch carefully for signs of life in your perennial beds, and remember that each plant has its own timetable--some never disappear, especially in relatively mild winters; some are early to come up; and some may not show signs of life until April or even early May. In your rush to get some early color into the garden or to prepare beds for spring planting, be careful not to dig up a plant that simply hasn't woken up yet.
  
  
• Spring bulbs are emerging. If the weather turns cold (or even snowy) again, new foliage may be burned by very cold temperatures, but flowers should be OK.
  
  
• If you're a new homeowner (or somehow, you didn't get around to labeling all your bulbs when you planted them) now's a good time to map out or label those bulbs. Take inventory of what's blooming when, and make notes of spring flowering bulbs you'd like to add and where. You may think you'll remember this in the fall when it's time to choose and plant bulbs, but trust us, you won't.
  
  
• Snowdrops spread fairly quickly on their own, but if you want to speed the process or move some to another part of your garden, you can divide them after the flowers have faded, while the leaves are still green. Gently dig up a clump, and even more gently separate the offshoots from the main bulb. Replant them 3-4 inches deep and 2-3 inches apart in well- draining soil. Top dress with BulbTone fertilizer or Holland Bulb Booster Fetilizer to speed them on their way.
  
  
• When your daffodils finish blooming, cut back the flower stems, but not the leaves. Don't tie them up in bundles, either! Let them mature naturally--they're storing energy for next year.
  
  
• If you need a splash of color this month in your pots or flower beds, pansies and violas, primroses and ranunculus are your best bets for early spring color. All thrive in cool weather, petering out by May or early June when the weather heats up.

IN YOUR HOME

On warm days (above 55 degrees), you can take your plants out for a little fresh air, avoid direct sun, and bring them in at night for now. If they're battling aphids or other insects, it's easier to wash them off outside and spray with Safer's Soap or a mild houseplant insect killer. A warm day is also a good time to give them a shower. If you haven't dusted your plants all winter, this is a good way to get some of the dust off so they can use available light better as they resume active growth.

Begin fertilizing houseplants again as you see signs of new growth. Use a balanced houseplant fertilizer and follow label directions. If you don't want to worry about regular feedings, try Osmocote time released fertilizer. One application per season is all you need.

Bring spring inside for those inevitable dreary days by forcing cut branches of flowering trees and shrubs. Try crabapple, forsythia, quince, pussy willow, cherry, peach, plum or witch hazel. Simply prune branches clearly showing buds and place in a vase with water.

VEGETABLES

Vegetables - like most people - can be divided into two categories: those that like cool weather and those that like heat. Plant cool weather vegetables such as mustard greens, spinach, lettuce, and peas this month and next. Seed these directly into the garden as soon as the ground can be worked, or -- for a headstart -- plant seedlings. Broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts and cauliflower are best started early in the protected environment of a greenhouse or inside under grow lights and transplanted out in late March or April. We carry seedlings for a variety of spring veggies, as well as seeds.