Your Garden In March
By Colin Dale, Notcutts Garden Centres
Winter flowering shrubs such as Lonicera fragrantissima and Viburnum x bodnantense can be enjoyed over a long season, with their scented flowers and valuable splash of colour, brightening the shortest days. Once they have finished flowering, they can be pruned if need be, by removing some of the old wood to the ground. After pruning, reward the plants with a feed of general fertiliser and a mulch of garden compost or rotted manure, to encourage good growth through the spring and summer.
Whilst the secateurs are handy, prune deciduous climbers such as Honeysuckle and Russian Vine, before they grow away. Thin out the plants by removing some of the older, woody growth and check the supports are up to their role for the growing season. Winter flowering Clematis can be lightly tidied after flowering, but not pruned too hard!
As the weather gets warmer, slugs and snails will become more active and a biological control, applied towards the end of the month will cut the numbers dramatically.
Other effective controls include organic slug pellets, beer and bran traps as well as the traditional methods. Once plants begin to grow away they are less at risk from damage, so it pays to be vigilant early in the season.
A general fertiliser can be applied to all borders and lightly hoed or forked into the surface. Be careful not to damage spring bulbs and tender shoots of perennials which are still just below the soil surface.
Visit your local garden centre and choose from the range of hardy annual seeds such as Candytuft, Virginian Stock and Love in a Mist. These can be sown towards the end of the month in borders where they will provide easy colour through the summer months. Sow the seed in short rows or mark the area with silver sand so that they are not mistaken for weeds as they germinate.
Round up any empty containers to be used for summer bedding and plan plant requirements for your summer show. Half hardy annuals such as Lobelia, Marigolds and Alysum can also be sown and placed in a heated propagator. Check each day for signs of germination and remove the seedlings to a warm green house as soon as they appear. Once large enough to handle, the seedlings can be pricked out into trays or individual pots and hardened off when the weather is warm enough.
March is a busy month in the kitchen garden, with potatoes and onions to plant as well as Broad beans and early salad crops from seed. Place early seed potatoes on a tray in a dark, warm place to ‘chit’ (develop shoots). Dig out trenches to a spade depth and line the base with rotted manure, followed by a thin layer of soil. Plant the potatoes 30 cm apart and cover with soil to ground level. Use the left over soil to earth up the young shoots as they appear to protect them from frosts.
Top Ten Tips for March
1. Winter shrubs which have finished flowering, such as Viburnum x bodnantense and Lonicera fragrantissima can be pruned now if required to remove some of the old wood to the ground. Give these plants a good feed of general fertiliser and mulch well with rotted manure or garden compost.
2. Keep an eye on slug and snail control now as young shoots push through the soil. Plants are at their most vulnerable at this time and there are a number of controls available including organic, biological and traditional methods.
3. Borders can be given a feed with a general fertiliser such as pelleted chicken manure or fish, blood and bone. Apply this when rain is forecast so that it is watered in and begins to work immediately.
4. Round up any containers that were not used for winter bedding plants and clean them out ready for summer use. Spring bulbs that have flowered in patio containers can be transplanted to the garden and given a feed of bone meal.
5. Thin out Honeysuckle that has become congested by removing some of the old, woody growths. Tie in the new shoots as they grow away. Winter flowering Clematis can be tidied as they finish flowering if necessary.
6. Clean out ponds now, removing algae and leaf litter that may have accumulated through the winter. Pond plants that have outgrown their pots can be divided now and re potted into aquatic soil. Trim old leaves from water lilies as the new growth begins.
7. Place early seed potatoes on a tray in a dark, warm place to develop shoots. Towards the end of the month, dig a trench and place some well rotted manure on the bottom, followed by a thin layer of soil. Plant the potatoes about 30 cm apart and cover with soil to ground level. Use the left over soil to earth up the young shoots as they emerge to protect them from frost.
8. Feed all of your fruit trees, fruit bushes and cane fruit with sulphate of potash, which will encourage flowers and therefore fruit. Scatter the fertiliser over the ground and rake or hoe in.
9. Broad beans can be sown in a double row under cloches and French beans can be sown in modules in the green house ready to plant out once they are established. Sweet Peas can either be treated in the same way or sown direct where they are to flower.
10. Towards the end of the month, Hardy Annuals such as Candytuft, Calendula and Love in a Mist can be sown in borders where they are to flower. Sow the seed in short rows or mark the area with silver sand so that the seedlings are not mistaken for weeds as they germinate!