Gardening Jobs in March – Your Monthly Checklist

Gardening Jobs in March – Your Monthly Checklist

Your monthly checklist of the top gardening jobs in March. Our expert tips and advice will help your garden flourish this March.

Fruit & Vegetables

Start planting your vegetables.

Tomatoes
  1. Sow courgettes, tomatoes and chillies in the greenhouse, or indoors.
  2. Vegetable beds will need hoeing otherwise weeds will start to germinate.
  3. Onions and shallots sets can be planted, keep them 10-15 apart.
  4. Parsnips, spinach, turnips, radishes, broad beans and some carrot varieties can be planted outside.
  5. Early potato varieties can be planted in trenches.
  6. Use a nitrogen-rich fertiliser to feed cabbages.
  7. Bare-root asparagus crown can be planted in raised beds, or well-drained soil; plant in an open sunny location.
  8. Lettuce, early peas and summer cauliflower can be sown outside, under horticultural fleece.

It’s time for mulching.

Mulching
  1. Fruit trees can be mulched with garden compost, or well-rotted manure, keeping away from the tree trunk.
  2. Rhubarb can be mulched, take care not to cover the crown which mulch.
  3. Plant strawberries in hanging baskets, away from slugs. Cover with a cloche to encourage early fruiting.
  4. Blueberry plants can be fed with ericaceous plant fertiliser.
  5. Cut autumn-fruiting raspberry canes down to the ground, to stimulate new growth.

Take care of the ground.

Soil
  1. Dig well-rotted manure, compost or green waste into your garden beds.
  2. Weed vegetable seeds beds for adding your layer of rotted manure, compost or green waste.
  3. Cover any prepared soil with black plastic sheets, keeping it dry and warm for planting.

Flowers

Start pruning.

Take Cuttings
  1. Prune overwintered fuchsia back to one or two buds to encourage growth.
  2. Prune winter-flowering jasmine after flowing, cut back the previous year’s growth down to 5cm from the old wood.
  3. Keep pruning roses to encourage strong growth.
  4. Prune early-flowering clematis once their flowers have finished, and summer-flowering ones before they start actively growing.
  5. Cut back dead foliage from perennials to encourage new growth.
  6. Deadhead daffodils once the flowers finish, leave the foliage to die back naturally.
  7. Deadhead winter pansies to stop them from setting seed.
  8. Deadhead hydrangeas before new growth start.

Start planting flowers.

Plant and Divide
  1. Plant new roses, shrubs and climbers.
  2. Plant faded forced bulbs in the garden for next year.
  3. Plant lilies and other summer-flowering bulbs.
  4. Plant native hedges to encourage more wildlife.
  5. Sow hardy annuals outdoors, including cosmos, zinnia and dahlias.
  6. Sow native wildflower seeds in trays.

Feed & Tidy your garden.

Roses_
  1. Feed roses with a balanced fertiliser or special rose feed as they grow.
  2. Feed hedges, shrubs and trees with a slow-release fertiliser.
  3. Use general-purpose fertiliser on flowerbeds, shrubs, hedges and around roses.
  4. Feed ericaceous shrubs (camellias, azaleas and rhododendrons) with an ericaceous fertiliser.
  5. Tidy borders by removing weeds, then mulch with compost.
  6. Tidy up alpines as they flower, remove dead foliage, and then mulch with grit to keep the foliage off the damp soil.
  7. Check any tender new shoots for aphids, and remove them before any infestations.

Greenhouse

Keep on sowing.

Sowing
  1. Sow sweet peas in deep pots, and place them in a greenhouse or a sunny windowsill.
  2. Sow dwarf french beans in a large pot for a June harvest.
  3. Sow coleus in the greenhouse or a warm windowsill.
  4. Sow annual climbers such as Climbing Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) and Black-Eyed Susan (Thunbergia alata).
  5. Take basal cuttings (bottom cutting) from perennials, such as lupins and delphiniums.
  6. Plant freesia bulbs in a rich, loam-based compost, for a fragrant garden this summer.

Greenhouse maintenance.

Pests
  1. Keep on track of pests such as mealy bugs, and treat them straight away.
  2. Open greenhouse vents on sunny days to prevent extreme humidity levels.
  3. Protect newly sowed beans, mangetouts, sweet peas and beans from mice.

Greenhouse tips.

Greenhouse
  1. Remove bubble insulation in the greenhouse once temperatures rise.
  2. Plant your celery, lettuce, parsley and celeriac indoors before transferring them into the garden.
  3. Pot up any overwintering cannas into compost, then place them into a warm location for optimum growth.

Garden Maintenance

Lawns and soil.

Lawn
  1. Mow your lawn once it starts to grow again, choose a dry day and mow higher than usual.
  2. Recut any lawn edges if required.
  3. Prepare soil for growing lawn straight from seed.
  4. Invest in a soil-testing kit to help choose the right plants for your garden.
  5. Remove emerging perennial weeds by using an electric or gas weeder, try the Green Power Turbo Gas Weeder.

Look after the wildlife.

Birds Wildlife
  1. Continue putting out food for garden birds, especially as the breeding season is underway.
  2. Place bug boxes or small structures where insects can lay their eggs.
  3. Install a new pond or water feature to attract wildlife.
  4. Remove any pond netting that was left over from autumn and winter.
  5. Place slug barrier products around any new shoots of hostas and susceptible perennials.

General maintenance

EasMix Composter
  1. Clean watering cans with hot soapy water to prevent fungal diseases.
  2. Purchase a composter before the growing season gets underway, check out our new EasyMix 2-in-1 Composter.
  3. Clear any moss and algae from paths, driveways and patios.
  4. Top of planters and raised beds with fresh compost and topsoil.
  5. Install an automatic watering system for the summer months ahead, check out our automatic watering range.
  6. Give your shed a spring clean and tidy up.

We hope you enjoyed reading about the top gardening jobs in March. If you’d like to get involved, drop us a comment below with your plans for this month!

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