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.
