Garden Chores By Month: March

Updated for 2015: a list of the garden tasks you can look to accomplish during the month of March.

March is probably one of the most exciting months of the gardening season for us in the north (where the last frost is usually sometime in April) – when everything starts waking up, there are some sunny days and the dreams of a perfect garden are still fresh and within the realm of possibility. Hey – that’s what gardening dreams are all about aren’t they? Every year could be THE year.

Whether we’re aiming for perfection or just getting by, the chores for March revolve around catching weeds while they’re little, starting seeds, and finishing any garden clean-up we need to do.

Garden Chores for March

Vegetable & Fruit Garden:

• Plant small lettuce & spinach seedlings, as well as direct sow (the seedlings will be ready a couple weeks before the seeds sown at the same time, providing a staggered planting)
• Plant kale and chard – direct sow or seedlings
• Plant onion seedlings
• Plant peas and potatoes around the 17th (or earlier if the ground and weather allows)
• Fertilize berries with compost or organic fertilizer
• Plant 1st rows of carrots & beets
• Make sure asparagus beds are clean – cut brown foliage back (if haven’t yet) and cover with layer of compost to prepare for new growth

Flower Beds:

• Do any garden clean-up needed – cutting dead growth, etc.
• Get aggressive with weeding before the weeds become established
• Start applying newspaper and mulch to beds as they are weeded
• Continue working on pruning and dividing perennials as needed
• Plant dahlia & gladiola bulbs
• Fertilize evergreen shrubs (rhodedndrons, azaleas)

Seed Starting Inside:

• Tomatoes
• Peppers
• Brassicas – cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. (second set or first if none started in Feb.)
• Chard & Kale
• Basil
• Annual flowers

Note: This list is not comprehensive by any means, but meant to provide a jumping-off point to organizing your garden chores. Feel free to print the list and add any of your own specific chores to the sections.