What to do Might do in March
- Get rid of those perennials weeds now and hoe your paths on dry days.Though dandelions are a fantastic source of early pollen for our bees.
- As the soil warms up, so do the slugs. A application of Nematode can work wonders, but simply using your Osslating hoe can disturb slug eggs and nature will do the rest. Seed trays in a protected structure check the bottoms for lurking creatures and remove before they devour your precious seedlings.
- Pot up dahalia tubers, other summer flowering bulbs, such as: Gladiolus, Freesia, Begonia, Oriental Lily, Bearded Iris, Liatris spictata, in other words quite a selection of bulbs,tubors, and corms. If you are unsure where to place them in your garden plant in pots and when in bloom, position into those gaps where they will shine.
- All the seedlings you have sown, most should have germinated by now, if they have been on a heat mat, take them off now. Some can also be potted up into individual containers.
- So now that your heating mats or cables or window cells are bare, there are many more seeds that can be sown now such as : sunflowers, hollyhock, lettuce, larkspur, cauliflower, turnip, kale into you beautifully prepared ground you can sow, poppies, carrots (choose a variety that is root fly resistant) and chard.There is more.
- Still time to chit potatoes, if the ground is not frozen or waterlogged you can start sowing First Earlies, either in the ground or pots towards the end of the month.
- Check on-out door containers, drying out can be a problem especially as growth begins again.
- Snow drops, can be decided and replanted in more interesting spots. Daffodils, dead head and allow leaves to die down naturally as leaves are feeding bulbs for next year-final retreat can be as late as mid June.
- Last chance to plant bare rooted trees and shrubs.
- Prune overwintered fuchsias back to one or two buds on each shoot.Prune winter-flowering jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) after flowering, to encourage new growth for next year’s blooms. Trim winter-flowering heathers as the flowers disappear, to prevent the plants becoming leggy.