Garden Notes for March 2023.
Our heavy clay soil is great for retaining moisture, but it is easily compacted, especially in wet weather. So try to use short boards of about 1.5 metres (5’) length to stand on when digging the soil in preparation for all the growing that will come.
An old rhyme to think of when sowing your peas is as follows:
“One for the mouse,
One for the crow,
One to rot,
And one to grow.”
March is the time to start laying the basis for a good lawn through the season. First lightly rake the grass to get rid of all the debris. Do a first cut when it has dried out a bit, but remember to set the mower blades high. Cut the edges with a half-moon cutter, or use edging shears.
It is a good time in March to increase your stock of perennials like delphiniums, pulmonarias, dahlias and chrysanthemums. The way to do it is to look for shoots of about 5cm long, take them as cuttings using a sharp knife to remove the shoot at root level. Pot them up individually in small pots using a mixture of 7 parts compost and 3 parts vermiculite. Put them in a cold frame, or an unheated greenhouse and they should root in about 10 days. Once they are rooted, repot in larger pots of compost (perhaps John Innes No.2). For more detailed discussion on dahlias have a look at the article in the February issue of Capel Parish Magazine
Half-hardy annuals like marigold, sweet alyssum, annual phlox, ten-week stocks, asters and zinnias should be sown in seed trays and kept under cover towards the end of the month. They will benefit from a bit of gentle heat (around 10 ºC) to start them off.
Ornamental grasses that have been left to show their form over the winter should be cut back in March to encourage new growth. Hybrid tea roses should be pruned in March. Cut them back to 30 cm above ground. Remove all disease or damaged stems. Side shoots of floribunda rose should be pruned to about 15 cm.
Protect the new shoots from established plants (like hosta, delphinium and clematis) from slugs and snails with an appropriate treatment.
Traditionally potatoes are planted on Good Friday. The date is 7 th April this year.
Regards
Chris