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What To Do In The Garden In March

March 12, 2020 By Jill Anderson 2 Comments

What To Do In The Garden In March- pale green hellebore flowers, snowdrops in the background

Cream & pale green Hellebore flowers in my garden

Fat little buds are developing on trees & shrubs in the garden, & the glorious sound of singing birds has begun. All this is usual for this time of year, but it’s been a very unusual few weeks.

There have been deluges of rain, terrible floods for many in other parts of the country & more recently the Corona virus. It’s very concerning, but maybe this could be the wake-up call we need, to make changes to the way we live? I’m not sure yet what changes could be made to avoid these situations, but just stopping & thinking about it all is a good starting point.

Meanwhile I’m out in the garden as often as possible. There’s something comforting about keeping up with regular tasks, especially when they take you outside. Apparently daylight, especially at mid-morning, is good for your regulating your Circadian Rythm, & helping you sleep well.

I’m gradually getting my vegetable plot ready & have started sowing & planting. I hope you’re finding time to get your plans underway? My vegetable garden is small, so I can’t grow huge numbers. Instead I’m going mostly for plants that are packed with flavour & also not easily available in the shops. One of my biggest motivators, is that whatever I grow will be guaranteed organic & fresh.

Fresh herbs add flavour to just about everything. With this in mind, I’m sowing flat-leaved parsley & Coriander. I’ll sow them in big, shallow pots to be placed by the kitchen door. They’ll stay in the cold-frame protecting them from varying day-night temperatures, until they’ve become strong & sturdy. I’ll sow Dill & Basil next month, when the weather is a little milder.

Gooseberry bushes, & other berries, need covering with netting to keep the birds off. I left it too late one year & it was so disappointing. Though I was also a little in awe of how a bush can be completely stripped of fruit overnight.

Birds need a helping hand:

This may sound converse given the gooseberry experience, but I do want to encourage birds into the garden. They’re such a great ally for organic gardeners. One good thing to do, as birds start serious nest building is to provide nesting materials. The dried clippings of pruned grasses, bits of moss, off-cuts of garden twine & wool are all good for this. Continuing to put out water & bird food will also be welcome, making your garden an attractive proposition.

Plants in Pots:

I’m giving my permanent pots of plants a boost this month. Soil in pots gets compacted over time, resulting in water not being absorbed into the soil. It flows through quickly taking nutrients with it. A gentle scraping off of the top couple of inches of soil (taking care to avoid any surface roots) & replacing it with fresh compost works wonders.

Rose Pruning:

It’s the last month to prune shrub roses. Give them a feed of non-chemical fertiliser such as blood, fish & bone, & mulch round the base of the plant with compost, to encourage new growth. Take care not to cover the stem with compost.

Herbaceous Perennials:

I’m talking about hardy geraniums, angelica, verbascum, these are mostly plants that die back every year, though some, like Bergenia, are evergreen. It’s a good time to plant & let them settle in ready to perform later in the year.

I’ve just cut back perennials, Perovskia (Russian Sage, not from Russia or a Sage, but that’s common names for you)* & Penstemon in my garden, leaving about 8in/20cm of growth in place.

small lavender coloured flowers of Verbena bonariensis -

Verbena bonariensis is easy to grow from seed, either where they are to flower or germinate them under glass before planting out.

Shrubs with red tips-Cornus alba Midwinter Fire shrub-What To Do In The Garden In March

Cornus alba ‘Midwinter Fire’ at Wisley Gardens.

Cornus/ Dogwood:

I’ve got Cornus cericea ‘Flaviramea’ in a sunken bed that serves as a drainage area, for excess rainwater in my garden. It’s a small version of a Rain Garden, it was well-used last month!

The Cornus are  well established, so I cut them down to about 10in/25cm, the new, bright growth looks fabulous.

Nip over to Higgledy Garden online shop to buy flower seeds, & there are tips about how to sow & grow.

  • Russian Sage, was named by a Russian botanist after a Russian Governor, & is thought to be called Sage because the grey aromatic leaves are reminiscent of that plant. So although botanical names are a bit bulky at times, they are accurate & also the same all over the world, which is handy.

Enjoy being out in your garden,

Jill

All photos: Jill Anderson

 

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Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Growing Food, Plants Tagged With: how to prune Cornus, what to do in your garden in March

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Comments

  1. Jeanne richardson says

    March 12, 2020 at 4:51 pm

    What a lovely positive post and just what we need right now.
    Norway going into lockdown fairly fast so it is just to Keep Calm and Carry On – a good dose of humour and seed sowing helps hugely too.

    Reply
    • Jill Anderson says

      March 30, 2020 at 10:07 am

      Jeanne, I’m so glad you liked it. Keeping positive during these times is so important, though not always easy. I hope you & your family stay well.

      Reply

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Hello, I’m Jill Anderson.
This is where you’ll find good, solid information about gardening, growing fruit & vegetables and how to keep it all looking good.
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The healing, calming power of nature in one photo. The healing, calming power of nature in one photo.
These wonderful autumn colours won’t be around for much longer. But that’s ok, because now is what matters, & their fleeting beauty makes them even more precious.
It’s easy to see how being among trees & nature is so beneficial for our health & wellbeing. 
Have a great Sunday.
Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it lo Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it look spectacular with this bold front door.
Today has been hard work, after a lovely time last week in Norfolk. The north coast there is spectacular. Realising these last few months, that there are so many beautiful places here. 
Have a nice evening.
Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Vis Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Visiting to see the Anish Kapoor sculptures, which are amazing, but unprepared for the beauty of the grounds & garden. 
Such a treat, worth coming to Norfolk for this alone!
Hope you’re keeping well, & managing to smile some of the time. x
P.S. more of Houghton Hall & Anish Kapoor on my stories
We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberrie We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberries, after coffee & cake, sitting in the churchyard - the cafe was full, & the churchyard is a quiet, peaceful spot..... as you’d expect.
-
One little advantage of lockdown is walking so much more, rather than using the car. Though it shouldn’t have taken something as momentous as this, for me to change bad habits 🙁
Hope you’re weekend is going well.
My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from a random clump of hazel on the garden. Now looking much better covered in winter squash plants, so you can’t see just how ramshackle it is. I like to think it has a certain home-spun charm .

Great for small space gardening, imagine how much room you need to grow these without vertical supports.

I’ve got 2 Uchiki kuri, lovely nutty flavour.
1 Turks turban, for its flamboyant shape & colours, though it also tastes good.
One unknown, grown by my grandsons in their homeschooled science lesson.
Close-ups of the squash over on my stories.
Stay cool my friends x
I wanted to show you this lovely lily ( Lilium reg I wanted to show you this lovely lily ( Lilium regale) which is flowering right outside our bedroom window. 
It gets sun for about 4 hours only, you can order the bulbs now for planting in September. It’ll reappear every year & waft delicious scent around your garden, or through your windows.
Have a very happy Monday x
It’s British Flower Week, there’s a lot to be It’s British Flower Week, there’s a lot to be said for fabulous seasonal flowers that haven’t travelled thousands of miles ...... & are wonderful for biodiversity
A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-s A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-summer!) & it’s, mostly, all growing nicely.

Spinach, courgettes & garlic in shot here. 
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday x
Hope is a decision I’ve thought long & hard abou Hope is a decision
I’ve thought long & hard about how to view the tumult in the world we’re living in now. 
The only thing that works for me, is to choose hope.

It’s a tall order, but avoiding mainstream news & speculation helps avoid the anxiety, that’s often waiting in the wings.

One day soon there’ll be grandchildren clambering over this again.
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