Jobs for March

By mid-March the long wait for spring is usually over and, as the warmer weather arrives, there are lots of jobs to be getting on with in the garden:

  • get a head start by hoeing weeds as they appear in the borders
  • order seeds and make a plan for sowing
  • watch out for slug damage on fresh new growth and take measures to control them, especially on your newly emerging delphiniums
  • dig up and divide perennials
  • prune bush and climbing roses and feed with a special rose fertiliser
  • top dress container plants by removing the top 2.5cm of soil and replenishing with new compost
  • plant summer flowering bulbs
  • feed your beds with well-rotted manure or compost when the soil is workable. Now is also a good time to apply a general-purpose fertiliser
  • feed trees, hedges and shrubs
  • cut back cornus and salix cultivars grown for their winter colour
  • remove old leaves from hellebores
  • prune winter-flowering jasmine by cutting back last year’s growth to 5cm from old wood
  • cut back perennials and ornamental grasses
  • plant onions and shallots in the vegetable patch
  • cut autumn fruiting raspberry canes to the ground
  • remove the tips of summer flowering raspberry canes
  • protect the blossoms on apricot, nectarines and peaches from frost
  • mulch raspberries, fruit trees and rhubarb
  • feed blueberries with an ericaceous fertiliser

Blog post written by Jo Chamberlain

Spring Bulbs

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