In the Garden with Jane Dale - What to do in March

March in the gardening calendar is early spring; the days are getting noticeably longer and we start to slip from the ravages of winter into the promise of things to come.

This winter may not have been kind in many ways; very wet soil and winds blowing down trees and fences, it has however been relatively mild so far (I still have some summer container plants that would normally have perished months ago, but instead are looking healthy and unscathed). I hadn’t better become complacent though as we could still get some frost/snow in March.

March is the month when we start to get some serious bursts of colour appearing; mainly from spring flowering bulbs; early flowering shrubs such as Forsythia and Chaenomeles; flowering cherries and of course my favourites ‘Catkins’ and ‘Lambs Tails’ from Salix caprea and Corylus avellana respectively.

I am certainly looking forward to getting back into the garden - it seems that whenever I have been free to get some tasks done, the weather has been against me! So whatever tasks you attempt during March make sure that the ground is not sodden.

Tasks for March...

• Apply plant foods to established borders i.e. pelleted chicken manure.
• Mulch bare soil.
• Continue to prune overgrown and late-flowering shrubs and roses. • Cut back perennials and grasses that were left over winter.
• Divide overgrown clumps of perennials.
• Start putting supports around perennials - this is so much easier to do than when they have grown and you struggle to contain them!
• Dead-head daffodils - and other spring flowering bulbs, leaving the foliage until it dies back.
• Plant summer-flowering bulbs.
• Sow hardy annuals out of doors.
• Protect fruit blossom from late frosts.
• Treat moss on lawns.
• Re-seed bare patches on lawns (towards the end of the month) and mow the lawn if necessary - set the blades high.
• Check pond pumps and get them running.
• Make sure the birds have plenty of food and fresh water.
• You may even need to start weeding - if we get any reasonable weather!

Finally, when you do get going in the garden; don’t be like me and spend all day digging, sweeping and pruning and then wonder why you are sore and aching the next day - ease your-self back into it gently.

So until April – happy gardening!

Jane Dale of ‘Designed Gardens’. Tel: 07983 392411.