What To Do In March

Last updated on December 2nd, 2011

MARCH IS THE PROCEED-WITH-CAUTION MONTH, with warm days to tempt you to uncover everything, and winter days to wish you hadn’t. The best plan is to make haste slowly these final weeks of winter. Around here, there will be plenty to do outdoors — if and when the snow melts! Seed-sowing, of course, continues regardless of weather. Here is my list of chores:

Outdoors:
Seed-sowing. Early this month, sow spinach seeds in a make-shift greenhouse.

Raised Vegetable Beds. If soil has settled, top-off beds with shredded leaves and a source of nitrogen. Tackle this early in the month so beds will be ready for spring planting.

Lawns. Rake up the accumulation of twigs and branches when it’s dry enough not to damage grass. On a windless day, scratch soil, then seed bare spots; apply fertilizer only after grass has begun to grow, using an organic, high-nitrogen formula, such as 10-6-4.

Arborvitae. If heavy, wet snow (such as we experienced here last week) has flattened branches, lash them back into place with twine. Stems should regain their upright habit over the course of spring and summer.

Roses. Wait until the end of the month to uncover bushes; prune them at your convenience but before the leaf buds break. Don’t try to prepare new beds until the ground is well thawed and the soil is workable.

Pruning. Definitely relieve trees and shrubs of dead wood. Also, prune for shapeliness your peegee hydrangeas, Rose of Sharon, and any other shrubs that bloom in late summer. Cut Buddlejah back to ground-level.

Iris. Examine these and other perennials for signs of heaving. Especially if your garden has not been mulched, you will need to go over plantings and firm back roots dislodged by frost.

Spring-Flowering Trees & Shrubs. Any time now you can cut stems of forsythia, pussy willow, and crab apple. Provide the stems with water, light, and warmth, and they will bloom for you in only a few week’s time. Here is a more detailed list of what to force for early beauty, and when.

Indoors:
Annuals. Early this month sow pansies under fluorescent lights. Mid-month sow snapdragons, lobelia, impatiens, ageratum. Follow this schedule.

Vegetables. Begin seed-sowing this month beneath fluorescent lights. What to sow when? Check this schedule.

Tulips, etc. Continue to water and fertilize your forced hardy bulbs after flowers fade. Once the foliage withers, withhold all moisture. Then store the bulbs someplace cool and dry. In autumn you can give them permanent positions in the outdoor garden.

Lily of the Valley. Ask your florist now for cold-storage forcing pips. In twenty-one days they will bring a lovely fragrance to your rooms.

Random Thought. Want to find good-size plants at bargain prices? Visit your local garden-show. Mine, in the Hudson Valley, is March 26-28. On the final show-day, landscapers usually offer in-bloom rhododendrons, lilacs, and other flowering shrubs as well as evergreens for a fraction of the retail price. Why? Because these shrubs were obtained purely for design demonstrations. Landscapers have little interest in keeping them once showtime is over.

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