What to do in the garden in March
General Gardening
- Plant shallots, onion sets and early potatoes
- Sow tomato seeds indoors, lettuce, parsley and radish
- Top dress containers with fresh compost
- Sprinkle a general fertiliser around trees and shrubs such as Growmore or Fish, Blood and Bone
- Treat or repair fences before climbers start to grow over them
- Prune roses, making sure you apply a thick layer of compost and rake up leaves from the ground to avoid black spot
- Protect new spring shoots from slugs
- Lift and divide overgrown clumps of perennials
- Cut back Cornus (dogwood) and Salix (willow) left from winter
- Deal with weeds early before they get out of hand later in the season
- Plant rhubarb crowns
Lawn Care
- As a result of the heavy rain and flooding vital nutrients have been leached out of the lawn and it will need some help to recover
- Feed the lawn to increase vigour and help prevent weeds
- Spring is the time to remedy lawn moss problems. Use Lawn Sand or a complete feed and mosskiller
- Over-seed any areas damaged during the winter
In the Greenhouse
- Do not over water your plants, water only when the compost is dry
- Check regularly for moulds & fungus on your plants
- Ventilate only on warm days
Wildlife Gardening
- Put up nesting boxes for birds
- Top up bird feeders and put food out on the ground and bird table
- Avoid chunky foods that might cause young fledglings to choke i.e whole peanuts
- Keep the bird bath topped up and clean
- Put out log, twig and/or rock piles to create shelter for wildlife
