March gardening guide
Hurrah for March and the arrival of spring! With more frequent and longer sunny days, your garden will start to wake from its winter slumber and become a hive of activity. Now is the time to get busy preparing seed beds, sowing seed, cutting back winter shrubs and generally tidying up around the garden.
Checklist
- Deadhead Daffodils as soon as they look past their best
- Lift and divide overgrown clumps of perennials
- Apply mulch to young trees
- Dead-head spent flowers on spring bedding plants
- Prune bush and climbing Roses
- Attempt to mow your lawn, setting your cut height high
- Top dress containers with fresh compost
- Plant summer flowering bulbs
- Hoe and mulch weeds before they start to take hold
- Plant out your chitted early Potatoes and mound them up to protect from frost
Planning
- Buy plug plants ready to make stunning displays for your hanging baskets
- Catch the spring rains with plenty of well-positioned water butts
- Select fruit trees for planting in the spring
- Keep track of your seeds and sowing by using a diary or calendar
Planting
- Sow seeds of perennials in a cold green house or propagator
- Sow seeds of annual bedding plants and pot these up individually
- Sow lettuce plants under cover in plant packs and grow in a sheltered place
- Sow Broad beans, carrots, Early peas, radish, parsley, rocket and spinach in the open ground once the soil is warm enough
- Wait until later in the month for warmer weather to sow seeds outside. They will germinate better and the plants soon catch up
Maintenance
- Start a compost heap ready for all of your kitchen and garden waste throughout the year
- Clean your patio and seating areas to get rid of moss and algae
- Give borders a thick layer of mulch around existing plants to keep moisture in, condition the soil and help cut down on weeding later in the season
- When the weather is suitable, apply a lawn weed and feed preparation
Top Tips
When pruning established trees and large shrubs, always cut branches just above the collar (where the branch joins the main stem).
Pruning
- Remove winter damaged leaves from Helleborus to clear the way for flowers as they appear
- Prune any straggly growths from evergreen shrubs and conifers
- Prune bush roses and winter flowering shrubs by one third, back to healthy leaf buds
- Dead-head your Hydrangeas before new growth starts
Wildlife and pests
- Look out for early slug and snail damage
- Invest in plants to attract pollinating insects and butterflies to your garden
- Keep watch for nesting birds and leave them undisturbed while they rear they young
- The first swallows will be paying a visit towards the end of the month, feeding on tiny insects
