With Terry Simmonds
Until the 1960s all trees and shrubs, roses and herbaceous perennials were grown in the ground in nurseries and had to be planted in the garden between November and March. Today we are lucky because all these plants are container-grown and we can go along to the garden centre and plant them throughout the year. Raspberry canes and hedging plants such as beech and privet and many plants offered mail order are not container-grown and these must be planted this month.
We should now be sowing under glass the bedding plants such as alyssum, lobelia, busy lizzies, petunias and marigolds and potting up plug plants. Hardy annuals such as godetia, eschscholzia, larkspur, achillea, clarkia, nigella and nasturtium can be sown outdoors now. Under glass it’s time to sow tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, French beans and aubergines. Outdoors in the vegetable garden sow broad beans, parsnips, onions, peas, spinach, beet and some of the brassicas. Salad crops such as lettuce and raddish should be sown now with further sowings at regular intervals.
It is time to plant out the seed potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, onion sets and shallots. Remember to plant leafy vegetables on ground that has been manured but rootcrops , such as carrots and parsnips, on ground that has not been manured. With the exception of basil and coriander, most herbs can be planted now.
It’s a good time to lift and divide herbaceous plants and to plant new ones. Roses will need to be pruned and so too will shrubs such as buddleia. Late-flowering clematis such as C. jackmanii should be cut back hard. The birds will be nesting now so do not cut hedges until the little ones have left the nests.
March is the right time to start work on lawns, scarifying and aerating them and putting on the first application of good fertilizer such as Gem or Evergreen. Moss is quite likely to be a problem this year and lawn sand or a fertilizer containing a mosskiller will help. Don’t cut lawns too short, especially in dry weather. Turfing and seeding new lawn areas can go ahead now, irrigating as necessary for the first month and then it is time to put the lawn sprinkler away in the shed.
Use bonemeal when planting new shrubs and roses and Toprose fertilizer around established plants.Rhododendrons and azaleas need a special ericaceous fertilizer. Mulching with bark chippings or organic material will help to conserve moisture in dry weather and the use of a sheet of landscape fabric beneath the mulch will certainly help to keep down the weeds.
March is always a busy time in the garden and this year the Easter holiday is early and the extra days off should help. We might also have time to visit some of the gardens open to the public such as The Saville Garden in Windsor Great Park and the R.H.S. garden in Wisley, entry to which is free to members of the Royal Horticultural Society.
Chipperfield Horticultural Society holds its Spring Flower Show on 29 March and the Bovingdon Show is a week later. The first big national event is The Malvern Spring Gardening Show which is held from 8 to 11 May. For tickets for this show Ôphone 01684 584924 or go to www.threecounties.co.uk. The big show is of course The Chelsea Flower Show from 20 to 24 May and tickets for this can be booked on 0870 842 2217 or www.rhs.org.uk/flowershows