March Garden Reminders
Spring is on the way and by mid-March it will be light until 6 pm, allowing additional time for garden tasks. check out this month's hints and tips put together by our chairman and horticulturist John Richardson.
1) Prune decorative Cornus and Salix to within 5cm of the old shoots to encourage next year’s coloured winter stems. Don’t prune ‘Midwinter Fire’ types too hard.
2)Use sharp shears to trim winter-flowering heathers as flowers fade away, trim to just below the bottom flowers.
3) Arrange to plant summer flowering bulbs when planting condition is good. (Our cash & carry have a great range in-store at the moment)
4) Finish pruning perennials that have not yet been cut back, don’t remove new green shoots. It is still time to lift and divide large herbaceous clumps. Re-plant or give away the outer sections of the clump and destroy the centre of the plant.
5) Wait until Laburnums and Hawthorn are in full flower before planting out tender plants such as dahlias, begonias, fuchsias and pelargoniums.
6) Hellebores are now very popular, lift seedlings around parent plant and pot up.
7) Start preparing window boxes, always starting with new soil or compost. Pot up using hardy annuals by the end of the month, tender annuals should not be planted until all possibility of frost is past.
8) Forsythia will be in full flower this month. As the flower goes over, reduce older woody shoots by 25% and give a good much to ensure growth during the summer.
9) New shrubs and herbaceous plants can be planted when soil conditions are good.
10) Finish pruning soft fruit bushes by mid-month and give a high nitrogen feed.
11) Lawns may require the first light cut towards the end of the month. Ensure that you brush off worm casts beforehand to prevent dulling the mower blades, and it may well, be worth-while not collecting the cutting so that a light mulch is left on the lawn.
12) Apply a spring dressing of fertilizer high in nitrogen, medium potash towards the end of the month.
13) When daffodils have flowered, remove dead heads to conserve energy.
14) Prune strong growing Buddleias down to about 45cm for a good show by summer. Prune to 60-80cm for a denser but weaker overall growth.
Check out our gardening calendar for further hints and tips here
Posted 2nd Mar 9:44am
