Greetings members, and welcome back to a new gardening year! The weather is still unsettled, with warmer days interspersed with cold spells. However, signs of spring are definitely here: the hellebores, daffodils and snowdrops are flowering; muscari are pushing up green leaves, and the flower buds of pear, apple and plum are all plumping up. I know all of us are itching to start gardening and planting again!
garden Borders and beyond
Cut back ornamental grasses if you have left them standing over the winter. Prune back the leaves of hellebores and epimedium to allow the flowers to take center stage. If you have not pruned back your panicle hydrangeas, early March is a good time to do so. Most other types of hydrangeas flower on last year's wood, so just take off the dead flower heads and take the winter damaged tips off to the point where you see new growth. Do not prune them or you will not get any blooms.
You can prune off any dead, diseased or winter damaged wood of any shrub, but leave the main shaping/pruning of spring flowering shrubs till after flowering, or you will prune off the flower buds. Tidy up the garden beds and weed on sunny dry days. This is a good month to plant all your bare root trees, roses and shrubs. March is also a good month to survey your garden to see which plants have overgrown their space and need dividing.
in the vegetable patch
It's seed starting time!
This is a good time to tidy up the vegetable garden if you have not done that last fall. As the weather continues to warm up, weeds will start growing as well. Attention to weeding, turning over the compost piles and mulching the beds with compost are activities that can precede the actual gardening season. Do this only when the soil is not too saturated to prevent damaging the soil structure.
Early March: Very hardy vegetables and herbs can be sown outdoors, as long as your soil is not waterlogged, as overly wet soil will cause the seeds to rot: chervil, fennel, arugula, radishes, garlic cloves, shallots and onion sets, fava beans, peas. With the protection of a cloche, these vegetables can also be sown: Asian greens, lettuce, cilantro, beets and spinach.
Late March: Potatoes can be planted between St Patrick’s Day and Easter.
Indoors: This is a good time to start vegetables for transplanting after the last frost: leeks, chives, onions, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce. Tomatoes, eggplants and peppers can be started indoors this month to plant out in May as the weather warms up. Flowering annuals can also be sown now to give them a jumpstart.
For a detailed planting calendar, please refer to:
- Seattle Tilth's "The Maritime Northwest Garden Guide" book
- Oregon Tilth planting calendar
- Oregon extension service 's monthly calendar
- Washington State University extension service's information
Helpful March Gardening Tips
Enjoy this monthly column by Arlington Garden Club member and gardener extraordinaire Kian S.