March Garden Tips

General tasks and garden maintenance

Frosts can still be a hazard, so keep vulnerable plants protected at night if  frost is forecast. March winds are also notorious for their ferocity so check  exposed plants are well supported.

Now is the time for a thorough spring clean; weed and dig over your borders  incorporating as much organic matter as you can – those chilly   winds will  really help to dry out the soil. Mulch bare soil once you have done the work and  remove moss and weeds from paths, terraces and   driveways. They may be boring  tasks but if you don’t get on top of the garden now (especially the weeds!) it  will be a nightmare for the rest   of the season.

Make new beds and borders – mark the shape with sand trickled from a bottle,  remove the top layer of growing vegetation and dig the ground   over,  incorporating as much organic matter as possible. If you are   making a bed in  the lawn, remove the turf and stack it upside down somewhere out of the way – after a year or two it will rot down into fantastic compost. Alternatively chop  it up and bury upside down in the planting hole a good spade’s depth down.  Beware – if you just dig it in the buried grass will regrow and regrow and  regrow and…

March Plant of the Month

Spring starflower Ipheion uniflorum

• Native range: South America
• Hardiness Zone: US 5+
• Sun: Full sun to partial shade
• Plant habit: Clumping, will spread by bulb offsets and self-seeding
• Water requirement: Low

Spring starflower is a small (6-12 inch tall) perennial, that grows from a bulb, with flat, grasslike leaves and fragrant, star-shaped blue or white flowers. Starflower is a non-edible relative of the onion, and its leaves give off an onion-like aroma when they are picked or crushed. This plant is easy to grow and widely adaptable to many soil types and it can also be grown in pots or containers. Note: Depending on where you live, this plant may spread aggressively in a garden setting. Contact a local nursery professional or Cooperative Extension for more information about growing Spring starflower in your region. Plant the bulbs in fall for a beautiful spring show; they look great in a large mass, or group, in a planting bed. They bloom all spring long, year after year, and go dormant just when summer perennials are beginning to pop.

Flowering bulbs are a beautiful and magical way to introduce gardening to kids. One of the clearest heralds of spring is when bulbs like spring starflower, daffodils, and crocuses push out of the cold wintry ground just as the days are starting to get longer. The life cycle of bulbs are well suited to school calendars. Planted in the fall and emerging to bloom in spring, they need only minor tending and bring attention to the garden when little else is happening.

Other plants that look great in the month of March:

• Witchhazel (Hamamelis)
• Flowering cherry (Prunus)
• Hens and Chicks (Sempervivum)
• Star magnolia (Magnolia stellata)