March Gardening Tips
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Landscaping Tips
- Spring is almost here. March should be one of the busiest months in your garden.
If you have trees or shrubs to transplant, March & April are the last good months
to do it before October. Plants from containers can be installed year-round, but
moving an established plant should happen when the roots are still relatively dormant
and soils haven't dried out.
- March is also a good time to fertilize your plants. Plants need nutrients now during
their growth spurt. Plant, transplant, feed & clean up your yard & garden.
Thin overcrowded branches to improve air circulation, which will also help plants,
stay healthy by reducing fungal infections.
- Rejuvenate stored fuchsias and geraniums by repotting, fertilizing & watering.
Bring them into bright light with protection from late freezes. Keep them indoors
for a while yet.
- It's time to kill the moss. Use a finer powdered moss kill iron like Nu-life.
- You can thatch, aerate and overseed after about the middle of the month if needed.
Over seeding is best if done in March & April. Grass germinates best in these
two months. Thatch if old roots and stems at crown level exceed one-half inch. Check
bare spots in your lawn at night for crane fly larva or dig up a 6x6 inch patch
of grass and soil and thoroughly pull it apart. If you find more then six of the
crane fly larva then consider a lawn treatment. There are a few treatments available
to homeowners but a good healthy lawn can withstand 10-12 larvas per 6x6 inch patch.
When you mow your lawn, cut no more then 1/3 of its total growth in one cutting.
You can also apply your first spring lawn feeding late in the month.
- Fertilize your trees, shrubs and spring bulbs. Shear hedges, and apply organic fertilizer
to early bulbs after blooming. Most flowering shrubs are best pruned right after
the blossom, but check a good pruning book to make sure. If your rhodies are overgrown
or leggy do a heavy pruning right after they complete their blooming. You can also
divide perennials that bloom after mid-June.
- Finish winter cleanups and check for insects and disease on trees and shrubs. Turn
& spread compost in 2-3 inch layers. This month is a good month to add mulch
or bark.
- If you have access to the Internet the Washington State University Cooperative Extension
Office has a fantastic web site at
www.gardening.wsu.edu. Check it out. Also for gardening questions try the
master gardening hot line at (206) 296-3440.
Vegetable Garden
Consider growing open-pollination heirloom varieties and save your own seed. Unlike
hybrids, plants pollinated naturally by insects or wind reliably reproduce similar
plants the following year. Start with peas, lettuce beans or peppers. Dig garden
beds deeply. Add fertilizer or compost. Build up your soil with about two wheelbarrows
of compost and four cups of balanced fertilizer per 100 square feet. Turn under
cover crops in the vegetable garden before they go to seed or get too old & big.
Peas, radishes, turnips, mustard, spinach, chard, lettuce seedlings, broccoli and
cabbage transplants can be planted now. Smaller Cole crops seedlings are less likely
to bolt. Start transplants of warm weather crops indoors for April & May plantings.
Children's Garden
Plant "Pink Panda" strawberries. Soak pea seeds indoors to watch, plant in containers,
and then set them out just as they sprout. Peas are an early season crop but subject
to frost so use care if frost is expected. Plant pumpkin seeds indoors - find a
warm, very light place for the pot. Choose a smaller cultivar like "Jack Be Little"
(Only 3 inches across!) or "Baby Bear". Cut out a pumpkin picture and prop it against
the seed container. Let your child have a smaller garden of their own in your bigger
garden or flower bed.