What to do in the Garden in March - Garden To Do

I want to go out and work in the garden more this year than I have in many years!  The snow has not even melted off my grass or raised beds yet and I am still thinking, I could go out and do this or that.  I have a rule, no visiting the offsite herb garden until April 15.  The day after Tax Day I can go look at the garden and start making my to do list. If I go out there sooner, I will be tempted to just “fix” this or that and walk around in an area that is way too soggy in early spring to resulting in compacting my soil, so I ban myself from my own garden as a result of past missteps! 

However, the home garden is right out the backdoor and nothing can stop me from trekking out there, once I can step off the porch. So I had to ask myself, what can I do in the garden now that would be helpful, not harmful in the coming months.

Then I remembered that the tree service removed all my stepping stones so as not to break them when they were removing the logs from the yard. I have a wonderful March project to work on. I should also fix the uneven stone in the Thyme walkway, but that might be a while if this snow pile is any indication.  You cannot even see that there are thyme plants under there yet.

Stepping stones in the lawn and garden can become unstable due to excessive rains or heaving, caused by alternating periods of freezing and thawing. So they too should be stabilized and leveled to make them safe to walk on. To fix, this requires that you actually lift the stones and add soil or gravel beneath them. Use a level to verify that they are even with the ground.

Repair a Dry Stacked-Stone Wall

I am also considering replacing the now fully decomposed wood sides to my herb bed with a dry-stacked stone wall.  This is also a great time for you to repair an existing dry stack wall. A dry-stacked stone wall means that they're not actually mortared in place.  However, they do have a tendency to shift during the winter months. As a result, the border becomes a bit unsightly, not to mention dangerous, especially if kids occasionally walk on the stones.

Late winter to early spring is an ideal time to reposition stones. Sometimes minor adjustments are all that's needed; simply moving the larger stones with smaller ones can stabilize the border. It doesn't take all that much time or effort, and the payoff is worth it in terms of enhanced aesthetics and safety. And with the soil being wet and soft this time of year it makes the task even easier.

Correct Tunnels Made by Garden Pests

Unstable stones aren't the only hazards that can lead to a sprained ankle. There are also tunnels and mounds of dirt created by moles and gophers. They too should be leveled with a metal rake and tamped firmly. The exposed soil can later be reseeded with grass seed or left as-is if your turfgrass is the type that tends to spread.

Spring-Flowering Bulbs

It's not unusual for the foliage of early spring-blooming bulbs to turn brown, especially at the tips, when temperatures drop suddenly. Although the foliage may not look all that great, the bulbs themselves will be just fine and will flower pretty much on schedule.

Now is a good time to do a quick sketch of where your bulbs are. This will help when the foliage fades later in the year and you begin planting annuals and perennials in the same bed. You'll have a map of where the bulbs are and avoid destroying them as you dig.

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Touch Up Mulch

You may need to wait until the snow is gone to do this, but my mulched beds tend to lose snow first, making this an ideal time of year to inspect your mulch, particularly its depth. Chances are organic mulches, especially those made from shredded or chipped wood, have decomposed somewhat or have been washed away by heavy rains.

With a metal rake, fluff your mulch a bit and try to level it out over your garden beds. Along the way, use a ruler to determine the average depth of the mulch. Ideally, you want at least a 2-inch layer, and 3 to 4 inches is OK, especially for southern gardeners.

Winter Pruning Trick

If you haven't already completed pruning your deciduous trees and shrubs, there's still time. Especially if the heavy snow damaged the shrubs in the last big snow.

First, stare at the tree or shrub in question with an eye toward its desired shape. Stare at it from several different perspectives from a distance at various angles, from just a few feet away, and even looking up into its canopy.

Now, rather than doing any pruning, tie some colored ribbon or twine around each limb or branch you think you want to prune. Over the course of several days, each time you walk by the tree or shrub, at different angles and various distances, try to imagine what it will ultimately look like if you were to remove the selected limbs.

Feel free to change your mind. If you're not sure about one of the limbs you've selected, remove the ribbon or move it to another limb. Then re-evaluate your selection. Within a few days, you'll get a better feel for where you should make your pruning cuts and greatly increase your chances of success when you finally make those cuts for real.

Clean your Tools & Pots

If you did not have time during fall cleanup to clean your gardening tools, now is a great time.  Wait for a warm day bring out a bucket and a scrub brush and clean up and sharpen your tools.  I get a set of cheap grill cleaning brushes and use those to scrape and clean my shovels, rakes and hoes.  I use a stone to sharpen my hand trowels to a cutting edge so they can easily slice through the earth.  I like to do this in spring so I can also remove any rust that has formed.

I grow many herbs and flowers in pots so now is the season for me to clean them and get them ready for new plants.  A mixture of 1 part household bleach and 9 parts water is the way to disinfect clay, ceramic and plastic pots.  I clean and remove residue from the inside and then soak them for at least 10 minutes in the disinfecting solution, then spread them out in the sun to dry.  If they need new paint, this is when I spray paint them. 

I like a terra cotta look to all my pots.  It gives my garden a cohesive look.  However real terra cotta is heavy and dries out very quickly, so many of my pots are plastic.  I spray paint them all a terra cotta color so you cannot tell the real from the plastic.

For a bit Later in March

I leave the seed-filled branches up for the birds and animals in winter, but when the grass starts to green, those branches become unsightly. So I will trim down my perennial grasses to about 6 inches tall and tall browned branches on other fall-blooming perennials to ground level.  Tarragon and lemon balm die back in winter, so I want to remove the dead tops once I start to see the new sprouts. Refrain from trimming your lavender, no matter how bad it looks, in March or even April.  It is slow to return and if you trim it too soon it will not bloom in the spring, so take a wait-and-see attitude with lavender.

• Scrub clay pots.
• Clean tools.
• Remove leaves from the bottom of ponds or other water features.