Garden Detective: A chore a day for March
Crocuses are among the perennials sturdy enough to stand up to March weather. Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto/juefraphoto
In like a lion, out like a lamb. Only sometimes not. In the garden, as in life, it’s good to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. The No. 1 piece of advice this month: Don't place tender plants outdoors just yet, regardless of the weather — or that the calendar says it’s spring. No. 2 is wait until the end of the month to clean up — beneficial insects still need havens. Here’s a tip or chore for every day.
1. Don’t walk on wet soil; you’ll compact it and risk damaging its structure.
2. Even if you’re itching to get into the garden, don’t till the soil until it’s crumbly.
3. It’s time to order potatoes. Plant them next month when the grass greens up.
4. Rake and clear only the beds that hold early spring bulbs.
5. Prune fruit and other deciduous trees (but not ornamental spring bloomers).
6. Relocate trees and shrubs now, before they break dormancy.
7. Prepare beds for asparagus, onions, bare-root roses and other spring plantings.
8. Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. Spend your extra hour of sunlight planting Swiss chard seedlings outdoors; you’ll harvest in May.
9. Give bulb plants a dose of 5-10-5 quick-release fertilizer as soon as shoots poke out of the ground.
10. Start planting new trees and shrubs.
11. Give pussy willows a hard pruning.
12. Cut back last year’s ornamental grasses; new growth will resume before you know it.
13. Move houseplants up to the next-size pot (no more than 2 inches larger) and fertilize.
14. Start annual seeds indoors.
15. Fertilize established trees.
16. Start seeds of broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower indoors.
17. St. Patrick’s Day means it’s time to plant peas (and radish, lettuce, spinach and other cool-season vegetables).
18. Add fish- or bonemeal to the compost pile and give it a turn to speed decomposition.
19. It's the first day of spring! Test your soil’s pH level and adjust, if necessary. Call the Cornell Cooperative Extension for help (516-565-5265 in Nassau, 631-727-7850 in Suffolk).
20. Remember, it’s illegal to fertilize the lawn before April 1.
21. Start tomato, pepper and eggplant seeds indoors in sterile potting mix.
22. For hydrangeas: remove dead stems from oak leafs, thin Pee Gee stems, and cut smooth ones to the ground. (Identify yours at newsday.com/hydrangeas.)
23. Plant smiling pansies in containers, borders and beds.
24. Prepare vegetable beds with compost and fertilizer, then cover with sheet mulch to warm soil.
25. Protect deciduous trees from aphids, mites and scale with an application of horticultural oil.
26. Fertilize garlic as soon as it peeks out of the ground.
27. Cut down last year’s perennials and clean up beds to make room for those about to wake up.
28. Join the world in commemorating Earth Hour: Turn off electronics for one hour at 8:30 p.m. Play charades with the kids; they’ll love it.
29. Rake up autumn leaves that inevitably — and inexplicably — are in the garden. (I know you cleared them in the fall. I can’t explain it, either.)
30. Divide fall-blooming perennials.
31. Ignore — I repeat, IGNORE — neighbors or landscapers who have begun applying mulch. It’s way too early.
