GARDEN

MARCH THROUGH THE GARDEN

by Terry Kramer

Warm brilliant mornings, chilly nights, windy afternoons and gusty squalls make March a tottering foot bridge between winter and spring. Consider the following chores. There is much to do, even if the weather is cool and unsettled.

• PLANT -- March brings us Arbor Day, the time to plant trees. Celebrate by planting a handsome maple, magnolia or red horsechestnut. There are many beautiful trees available. A wide variety of shrubs and ground covers can be planted now. It is also a good time to set out cool-season bedding plants like pansies, violas, calendulas, nemesia, schizanthus, forget-me-not and daisies. Sow sweet pea and poppy seeds. Vegetable gardeners can put out cool season vegetable starts like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collards, lettuce and mesclun greens. Sow pea seeds this month.
• DIG AND DIVIDE -- March is a good month to divide crowded summer-blooming perennials. Agapanthus, day lilies and Shasta daisies, ornamental grasses, epimedium and hosta are good candidates.
• CONDITION THE SOIL -- If your soil is too wet for weeding and spading, try smothering weedy areas with cardboard, a thick layer of newspapers or black plastic. This will prevent weeds from expanding and going to seed. This is also a good month to spade in organic amendments and fertilizers. Beef up the soil with compost, composted manures and leaf mold.
• VANQUISH PESTS -- If you don't have the time to bait or trap slugs and snails, don't even consider planting flower or vegetable starts this month. These hungry invaders can decimate new plantings overnight. Watch out for aphids on newly sprouted roses. Beware of sow bugs and earwigs. Greenhouse gardeners need to be wary of white flies and aphids this month. Place yellow sticky traps about the house for early detection. Spray with insecticidal soap or neem extract if pests appear. If oak moths infested your trees last year, now is the time to control the larvae. Spray trees with bacillus thuringiensis to kill the larvae.
• FERTILIZE -- All plants sprouting new growth need to be fertilized this month. Annuals, perennials, berries, citrus, roses and established shrubs and trees will benefit from a complete fertilizer, like 12-12-12. Top dress blueberries and cane berries with a mixture of manure and compost. Mulch rhododendrons, azaleas and other acid-loving woodland plants with cottonseed meal. Feed broad-leaved and needle-leaved evergreens with a high-nitrogen fertilizer. Now is the time to fertilize the lawn.
• PRUNE -- Prune after bloom is the rule of thumb when it comes to rhododendrons, camellias, flowering ornamental trees and the like. If you planted clematis last year, now is a good time to prune in order to achieve a thick well-developed vine loaded with flowers. The first spring after planting, a clematis should be pruned back 10-12 inches from the ground. This makes a low branching, heavier flowering vine that will give you years of beauty.
• SOW SEEDS -- Indoors, sow seeds of warm summer annuals and vegetables. Marigolds, dahlias, cosmos sprout quickly and easily indoors. Tomatoes, eggplant and peppers along with squash, corn and green beans can be sown indoors this month. If you are not starting seeds in a greenhouse, provide plenty of supplemental light so plants will not become leggy and weak.

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