Here is a comprehensive garden task list for gardeners in the greater DC metro region for March, courtesy of the Washington Gardener Magazine. Some of the items are weather-dependent (particularly the planting/seed-sowing bullets), so I’m leaving them up to your good common sense- pea shoots aren’t going to be happy if you have to dig through 5” of snow to plant them. Your comments and additions to this list are most welcome.
- Avoid walking on and compacting wet soil in the garden
- Prune grapevines
- Put up trellises and teepees for peas, climbing beans, etc.
- Plant peas, potatoes, beets, turnips, radish, cabbage, mustard greens, onion sets, carrots, & kale
- Set out traps for mice, moles, & voles
- Get a soil test
- Soil preparation- add lime, compost, etc. as needed
- Mulch beds lightly
- Start or update your garden journals
- Clean out any old debris from last season from your growing beds
- Turn your compost pile
- Repot root-bound houseplants and start fertilizing them
- Clean leaves & debris from your water garden
- Do not be alarmed if your pond turns green from algae bloom, this is natural until your water plants fill the surface area.
- Cut back ornamental grasses
- Water during dry spells
- Cut your daffodils for indoor bouquets, but do not combine daffs with other flowers in one vase. They give off a toxic substance that may kill your other blooms prematurely.
- Weed by hand to avoid disturbing newly forming roots
- Walk your garden- look for early signs of fungal disease
- Divide perennials and herbs
- Fertilize new growth
- Plant and prune roses
- Transplant small trees & shrubs
- Buy or check on your stored summer bulbs (such as dahlias & caladiums). Pot them and start to water, if you want to give them an early start on the season.
- If you started seeds last month, thin them and start the hardening-off process
- Start some more seeds- try flowering annuals such as petunias
- Prune fruit trees as their buds are swelling. Check for dead & diseased wood to prune out. Cut a few branches for indoor forcing, if desired.
- Build a raised bed for vegetables. Add lots of manure & compost.
- Buy an indoor plant to liven up your office space- try an orchid or African violet.
- Cut back & clear out the last of your perennial beds.
- Feed the birds & provide nesting materials (try dryer lint) as well as houses for the start of their family season.
- Read a good gardening book or magazine.
- Cut some branches (forsythia, quince, bittersweet, redbud, willow, etc.) for forcing indoors, or to add to your flower vases.