MARCH IS IF-AND-WHEN MONTH: I’ll do things on this list if and when the snow melts, the ground defrosts, and the muck it leaves behind starts to drain off and dry. If and when. Which means I’m starting the month indoors this year, with a last pass through the seed catalogs; finishing up my bare-root and tuber orders (any berry bushes, strawberries, asparagus, roses, potatoes and sweet potatoes), and getting out the seed-starting gear to be ready in a couple of weeks. This month’s to-do list—if and when you can get to it:
CALL IT TRANSITION TIME right now here in Zone 5B. It can be garden-cleanup season, or still deep winter, or some of both. Sticks and stones picked up or raked away—if you can even get outside at all—often are replaced at once with another supply from on high, as if you really needed a do-over. Oh, well.
HOARD CARDBOARD AND NEWSPAPER while you wait, to smother areas for new beds, or thwart weeds under fresh mulch in existing ones.
WHILE INDOOR CHORES such as seed-sowing commence on schedule regardless of weather, outdoor chores sometimes wait until April. Caveat emptor: Be sensible and don’t muck around in too-wet soil or walk unnecessarily on sodden lawns. Love your soil, and protect it.
YOUR PLANT ORDERS should be in the mail, or heading that way. When things arrive, bare-root woody plants will take priority in planting, so think ahead.
GET YOUR JOURNAL, calendar or notebook ready to record bloom times, timing of tasks, successes and failures, and valuable information from catalogs or seed packets.
TAKE A WALKABOUT (IF AND WHEN): Check to see if mulches are in place or heaved, or if burlap and other protectors have come loose, exposing vulnerable plants. Once soil drains, pull and dig up perennial weeds now, before they get a foothold. After some sunny, dry days, rake snow mold off lawns.
EMPTY BIRDS BOXES of old nests.
MUCK OUT WATER GARDENS of fallen leaves and other debris at the earliest opportunity, using a net. Keep an eye out tadpoles and salamanders in every heap; return them to their watery hideouts.
CUT DOWN ORNAMENTAL GRASSES before they sprout anew. Cut back old foliage of earliest bloomers like epimediums, or things that emerge fast and would then prevent easy cutback, like tall sedums. Cut back evergreen groundcovers whose leaves will fade when new crop pushes, including epimedium, hellebores, and European ginger (Asarum europaeum). More on these earliest of all garden chores.
SEEDS & VEGETABLES
STIFLE THE URGE to start seeds too early. Small, compact seedlings are better than older, leggy ones for transplanting. Only leeks and onions should be started indoors before mid-month. After that, the pace quickens: Sow cool-season crops such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi and Brussels sprouts mid-March, to set out six weeks later. (Tomatoes and other warm-season vegetables get sown here April 15. Patience! If you are already at tomato-starting time, read on.)
GETTING READY for seed-starting provides a distraction, and one could always order a few more packets to soothe the soul. Did you do your germination testing yet to see what leftovers are viable?
HELP PREVENT DAMPING OFF, a fungal disease that kills seedlings, by starting with clean containers and sterile soilless mix. Wash previously used flats, cell packs or pots with a 1:10 solution of bleach and water.
IF YOU HAVE A COLD FRAME, sow an early crop of spinach and lettuce. In fact, you can start spinach in the open ground if snow has melted.
AROUND ST. PATRICK’S DAY, or as soon after as soil can be worked (sometimes as late as the first week of April here), sow peas. Lettuce can follow shortly, along with radishes.
DON’T CULTIVATE till soil is beginning to be crumbly, not sodden, which might even be April. When the time arrives, turn in several inches of compost and an all-natural, organic fertilizer rated for vegetables.
HOUSEPLANTS
HOUSEPLANTS ARE AWAKE again, nudged by longer days and stronger light. They will need more moisture and an occasional half-strength fertilizing, but overwatering is still the biggest danger to their health; feel around in the soil for guidance on when they need more. Be brutal with any leggy messes: haircut time.
KEEP AN EYE OUT for signs of pests like spider mites, mealybugs, and scale insects. If tackled promptly, nonchemical methods work: a simple shower, insecticidal soap spray (as directed on label) or with the most tenacious (like mealybugs) sometimes an alcohol swab and Q-tip.
TREES & SHRUBS
PRIME PRUNING TIME for deciduous trees and shrubs (including fruit trees) is now, while they are dormant. Don’t paint wounds—let them heal naturally. Always use sharp tools to make clean cuts, and be on the lookout for dead, damaged, or diseased wood and prune out. Remove suckers and water sprouts, too. My pruning FAQ is here.
WINTER DAMAGE is severe here this year from heavy, wet snow. As soon as it melts, assessing and correcting, if possible, will be my first order of duty.
PRUNE GRAPE VINES to no more than four fruiting canes with 7 to 10 buds apiece.
CUT OUT CANES OF raspberries that have borne fruit, and any that are thinner than a pencil. Shorten the remaining young canes by at least a foot.
DID YOU CLEAR TURF OR WEEDS from the area around trunks of fruit trees and ornamentals to reduce winter damage by rodents? Hardware cloth collars should be in place year-round as well.
MOLE AND VOLE PATROL continues, in perpetuity: I am still setting out mousetraps under boxes, buckets or cans in gardens where I see activity, to rid them from beds and borders.
FORCE BRANCHES of spring-blooming shrubs and trees like pussy willow, forsythia, apple and cherry once buds begin to swell. Cut on an angle and put indoors in water. I submerge them overnight, then place them in a bucket of water in my mudroom, draped with plastic, until the buds push off their coverings. The closer to actual bloom date, the higher the success rate (no big surprise).
FLOWER GARDEN
FEED SPRING BULBS with an appropriate all-natural organic fertilizer as green tips push through the ground.
LIKE TUBEROUS BEGONIAS? Get them going indoors late March for setting outside late May. Start them in trays of moistened vermiculite, then pot up individually in a month. Grow in a bright, warm spot.
EASY ROSE-GARDEN groundcover: Scratch up soil under roses or elsewhere to sow sweet alyssum seeds as an annual flowering carpet.
ANNUAL POPPIES can also be sown now, right in the garden. Don’t disturb them during cleanup!
- On using this list in your garden: The monthly A Way to Garden chores and based on my Zone 5B Berkshire MA/Hudson Valley NY location; adjust accordingly. NEW: If you are in a colder zone, refer to last month’s. Ahead of me? Have a sneak peek at the next edition.
Okay, I am taking a deep breath and not starting my seeds yet. (It’s been a long winter) Any recommendations on raised garden beds so those of us in zone 5 will get a longer growing season?
I am in Zone 5 with a lot of wind, and I swear by raised beds. Dig down a minimum of foot and if you have rodent issues, cover with hardware cloth. I don’t so I didn’t and so far everything’s fine. Above ground it should rise about 1′.
Material is according to your budget. Stone provides extra warmth and extra green from your pocket. Slow degrading woods such as cedar or even wood composites are fine. If you can, add a flat ridge around the top to sit on while seeding, weeding, and harvest.
Enjoy,
Karen
Dear Margaret
I wish I could do half of what was on your list however we keep getting hit with show every few days in my zone 5B NJ garden. I’m under two feet, 8 inches before that, another four inches today and later this week more. I’m wondering if we will ever see the ground again! The collecting of paper and seed starting, final catalogue selections etc keeps getting pushed off when I see more snow…. sigh
Welcome, Karen. I swear by them, too — just putting in more (started last fall, will finish when weather clears). Locust has natural rot-resistance, and grows here, so I was able to get rough-hewn 2x10s from a mill locally. I am wondering if we will ever see the ground again here, too, but then I remember how the weather in March can turn on a dome (either way, of course). See you soon again I hope.
@Brenda: Hope this helps; I have had raised beds for more than 20 years, and they allow for easy, early planting without fail. You will need a substantial supply of compost and soil to fill them, and they will need topping up (especially the first year or two) as the soil settles. I always add a couple of inches of compost per year.
Margaret, have you ever investigated “winter sowing”? A friend told me about it, and I looked at a couple of websites. It seems so logical to put the seeds in soil and set them outside to germinate when the outdoor weather is right, but there must be a catch or everyone would be doing it! Your thoughts?
Margaret !
I am so happy to have a pro in the same zone that I am in so I can closely follow the chore list and the wonderful ideas you share .. such as sowing the sweet alyssum as a living mulch carpet for the roses : )
Unfortunately I am still drawing a blank from a lot of sources here desperately trying to find that illusive Korean Maple .. I can’t tell you how many “pros” have told me they never heard of it (I do provide the botanical name as well) .. I am so disappointed .. I truly want a beautiful specimen tree in this corner of my back garden to look wonderful and provide a bit of privacy screening it is my most important plant project for the year .
In any case .. I appreciate your advice and knowledge here .. I’m enjoying your newsletter very much !
Joy
@Joy: Glad to help. The Korean maple is sold by mail at ForestFarm among other places (not sure if they ship to your area–Canada, no?). I promise I didn’t make the plant up, tee hee. Ask your best local woody plant nursery to inquire from their wholesale suppliers. Really seems silly that they cannot track it down for you, as it is not unknown…and I see that in the Univ. of British Columbia plant forums it is talked about freely, so it’s not banned in Canada or anything. :)
@Johanna: I have heard about it a lot but never anything definitive…I will have to track down a proper resource somewhere. I do my spinach that way and also things like poppies and other annuals inclined to self-sow once you have them going (larkspur, clary sage…).
davesgarden.com/products/ps/go/75003/
Possible site for Korean Maples
@Charlotte: Thanks, Charlotte. Yes, ForestFarm is what I am recommending (previous comment); I do not know the other resource your link on Dave’s Garden site points to so I am not able to say whether it is any good.
Winter sowing = http://www.wintersown.org is the site I read — it’s more like someone’s blog, though. There’s a forum on Garden Web with some gorgeous photos.
I think the idea, as you alluded, is to take advantage of plants that would otherwise self-sow and remove them from limited indoor germination space (of course you have the big rig!). But starting them in containers or flats so you can better space them when planting out. Eliminates hardening off, thinning, and things like damping off. I’m going to try some zinnias and things this year.
Great list, I guess winter’s “rest” is over as soon as the snow melts and I can see the ground again.
How do you cut down your ornamental grasses? I have not found anything that does the job well. I’m daydreaming about chainsaws . . . .
Because we can (out in the country) we burn the ornamental grasses each year on Hubby’s birthday, Feb. 20. For those I can’t burn I use the Milwaukee Sawsall. It helps to tie the stems tightly before cutting.
Love the idea of the sweet alyssum.
Spent February reading Ruth Stout’s books and plan to try a new tomato bed this year. Thanks for sending us to her. In this, my 70th year, any work saving ideas are appreciated.
Hi Margaret — and Judy — Just sitting here reading the comments and saw Brenda’s question about how to cut ornamental grasses. That’s on our plan for this weekend so I was waiting for someone to answer. I refreshed the page and Judy’s comment appeared. Something sounded familiar — we always cut our grasses around my brother-in-law’s birthday, Feb. 20! Hey, that’s my sister Judy! Thanks for the suggestion; we’ll get the sawsall out. Judith, get back to work.
I have a question about your shoes – I also have a pair, only mine are so well loved that they are falling apart. I have looked for them on the internet for the past couple years and cannot find them anywhere :( The replacement pair I did find is ok, but, boy did I get excited when I saw your Birks! Do you remember where you got them?
Thanks for the list of tasks, it’s great to be getting ready for spring – even if the garden is still under snow here in Chicago!
Hi Margaret -
I’ve enjoyed your website since the beginning and now I need some of your expert advice.
After getting “snowed in” to Manhattan on Thursday, I was only able to get back to my Hudson Valley, zone 6b home late Saturday to find 35 inches of snow and some of my favorite trees destroyed. A 25-year old dogwood was split in numerous places and many of my cedars are leaning so far one way or the other that they are almost uprooted. The lilacs are doing a swan dive into the snow. Is there any triage I can perform? Can I prune any of these to see if some part of them will grow back?
Welcome, Lynn, and my condolences. I only had 12 or 14 inches of snow at once, but it was so heavy and wet it destroyed numerous trees and shrubs here, too. I have already been out to try to prevent further damage by making clean cuts to remove anything that’s half-hanging on that will tear off a bigger branch or peel off more bark if is keeps getting whipped around by the wind. So reduce the load wherever a branch is obviously a goner.
I did not try to dig out buried things as I could do more damage. I did gently knock heavy snow loads off some evergreens as the snow was falling to prevent buildup. I always use a broom and I make my movements in a upward stroke (not pulling downward).
I am not going to do major corrective pruning until all the snow is gone and I can see clearly what I am facing. Many shrubs will come back even from a hard pruning (near the ground) or can be re-shaped and will then outgrow the loss of a few branches. Some will not; I have a lacebark pine that is beyond repair (probably a 15-foot tree) and a few daphnes that are definitely goners that I can see so far. Ugh.
I have found here that as the snow is melting, some things are gradually righting themselves so as I say, I’m only on the lookout for torn/partly severed limbs that could do more damage if they hang awhile longer. For instance, I lost two big side branches of a kousa dogwood, but by cutting those shoots off from the larger branch they were attached to, the larger branch sprung back up nicely and was salvaged. The weight of the half-severed side shoot might have otherwise taken the bigger branch down, too.
So just true triage right now. With the cedars I’d be looking to see if the bark is damaged where the bending occurs, hoping it’s not…and maybe prop them up a bit AFTER they have a chance to recover for awhile (but that’s very hard when the ground is frozen and you cannot really insert proper stakes and so on). You may see great rebounding just from the plant recovering on its own gradually; don’t hurry.
Focus on removing dangling damaged things first and let’s wait and see. (Maybe I am in denial, but it is all I feel I can do until the snow recedes more, and I don’t have the load you do).
So very sorry.
I was looking more closely at the picture of you sitting on the pathway, amonst all your plantings and came up with 2 questions.
1) When do you find time to sit down? (OK, just kidding, that one doesn’t count)
1) Would you ever consider creating a copy of that picture with the names of the plants superimposed? I’m pretty good at identifying annuals, but perennials stump me. I see things that I would like to research further, but I don’t know if it is a grass, fern, etc.
2) Do you do any thing special to get perennials to grow beneath a tree? In that same picture, I see there is some sort of cedar behind you. I have one in my yard, but I have a hard time getting anything to grow underneath it. The roots are very near the surface, and seem to suck all the moisture and nutirents from the soil.
Thanks much!
-Larry
I am so excited to have found you! My husband and I love gardening. We live in an apartment and only have a balcony to try to grow things on (which was a huge disaster last year!), but we are trying! I am excited to learn so much from you! Hooray:)
Just to let ya know, I’m having a giveaway if you’d like to come check it out:)
Happy Monday.
I’m exhausted just reading that list. And, my garden doesn’t even have the bones, yet. I’ve got a lot of work to do.
Ohh man, I really need to get on it. If only the rain would subside….
Great reminders, suggestions and ideas. Thanks..I can’t wait til I can finally get out in the garden to start doing something other than shoveling snow….last week’s snow in NJ did a LOT of damage and I’m going to have a lot of pruning to clean things up in my garden.
Welcome, Ashley. I am heading over to see what’s up, thank you. I am glad to hear that you two are into gardening despite the small space, which is actually a great way to begin. Hope to hear more of your adventures.
Welcome, Dirty Girl. :) It has rained for days here, too, and I am hoping to just get out and take a nice long walk or something tomorrow — shall we? Soon, soon, soon we will be pulling weeds and shoveling compost and mulch, say it’s so. See you soon!
@Christine: I don’t know this store, specifically, but you are needing to look for Birkie clogs, like this place lists. I see them various places online, but not always where they sell other Birkenstock shoes. Hope that helps.
Soon! Soon! I need to buy seeds!
March for us here in Phoenix is the getting warmer and everything’s blooming month! Good luck this spring with all your chores! Cheers~
Arrrrrrgh! My silly tulips have made up their minds that it’s time to wake up and they’re convincing the daffodils and hyacinths to join the party. I’m in zone 5–just a bit Northwest of you. I know they’re all hardy, and I have confidence they know what they’re doing–sort of–but it seems kinda early. Should I plant them deeper this fall?
Welcome, Cheryl. Here, too, along with various other things in spots where I can see the ground. I am not worried. Are we talking an inch or two of growth or ????
Hello also to Gilbert. Trying to make us jealous? :) We will be there soon enough, I guess.
Hi Margaret,
How about my caladium tubers? Should I be waking them up yet?
Welcome, Cathy. I don’t know where you are or when your last frost date is. Mine is Memorial Day or slightly after. I wake up the cannas and other tubers and such later this month or in April like this. Hope that helps. Of course, check to see if they are waking themselves up early, and to also make sure if any have decayed so they are all in good shape when it’s time. See you soon.
OK, so this may be a really stupid question, but I don’t see anywhere in the archives a beginning-of-season thing about soil. This is the first year I’m attempting to do a lot of this myself, having lost my gardener and don’t want to rely on a landscaper. What about soil, and all the old mulch on top? Should I be layering compost on top of it, moving the mulch aside? Then put new mulch on top? I get the idea of the three squares not just the odd fertilizer, but is there an action plan somewhere on the site I’m missing? Sorry for such a beginner question.
@Virginia: Not stupid at all. I use a fairly fine-textured mulch so that it simple decomposes into the soil gradually and I layer on some finished compost each spring and then more mulch, on and on year after year, BUT if you have what I call “baked potato mulch” (i.e., giant hunks of bark that look like potatoes to me) then it’s a little trickier because that probably isn’t going anywhere fast. What mulch do you have on there now, and is it breaking down or staying put?
On most of the beds, it’s what he called “triple shredded” mulch. Except for one new bed, he didn’t add more on last year so it’s had a year to sink in. On the four beds around the patio I had cocoa shell mulch there because I liked the smell. Now I’m wondering if that was a bad idea. There’s a pretty heavy layer of that that got put on last spring as it got put on two years running.
@Virginia: The problem with most mulches, even the shredded bark, is that they haven’t been composted before they are bagged, so they don’t break down very well, but rather form a sort of coating on top of the soil. I use a composted stable bedding (formerly tiny chips/shreds of wood that were put in stables to soak up waste, then mucked out and heaped up and composted well…then sold as mulch). You can learn about a similar product at this link (but beware…it automatically plays a video, at least on my machine). You can at least quickly get the idea of the texture I am speaking of.
Good mulch breaks down and improves the soil below. I don’t mean it breaks down in a week or a month, but over the course of a season or two, and what you do is “top dress” with your all-natural organic fertilizer and an inch or more of compost right on top of the old, partly decomposed mulch and then top the mulch up on top of the amendments. Or at least that’s what I do.
If you have a thick layer of mulch that’s not breaking down nicely, and the layer is just getting thicker and thicker each year, you may want to rake some away and them add your amendments and maybe start using a new mulch this year on top of that? I don’t like cocoa hulls.
Here’s my longer version of mulch how-to info, from my Forum.
Thanks for taking the time to respond – much appreciated. You’re doing great work that has increased my confidence in gardening astronomically since I started reading this a year ago . . . YES I CAN do this myself!
Hi,
I live in VT and would like to enlarge a bed in my garden. When y ou smother the weeds with newspaper and cardboard doyou put shreaded pine bark mulch on top of the paper.
Lynn
Welcome, Lynn. I do apply a few inches of mulch on top of the paper or cardboard, yes. This weighs down the paper, looks better, and is there once the paper below starts to decompose. I use other things for mulch besides bark products, as you can read here in my Mulch FAQ, but the shredded bark seems better to me than the big chips of all the bark materials. Hope to see you again.
Hi – I live by the Northern beaches in NJ & just moved onto a 100 year old farm house. a heart shaped, purple-tinged stem plant began popping up around my garden last October. It stayed green through the winter and is still green after the massive snow melt. The house was incredibly overgrown when we moved in in september. I don’t know what this is & want to get at them if they are invasive. My mom thought it may have been a hollyhock so we left it last fall. can you help me identify? I have a picture but don’t know how to post it here.
Sounds like garlic mustard, Jennifer (and welcome!). Look at this page to see, where there are lots of weed ID links to follow (and a photo of it in spring is up top) and if it’s what you have, yes, it’s a terrible invasive.