Spring starts March 20th and we are so excited to plant! 

There are tons of things that we can plant in March for both a beautiful display and a plentiful harvest. However, it is important that before we plant, we prepare our garden space. You should fertilize your garden beds before you plant, either with compost mix, fertilizer, or lime. Personally, we like using Daddy Pete’s soil for our garden beds. Daddy Pete’s Potting Soil provides  nutrients, along with Daddy Pete’s Raised Bed Mix for your raised beds. March is the best time to fertilize your asparagus beds before the spears start appearing.

You can transplant any shrubs or trees during this time. Perennials and biennials such as columbine, hollyhock, coreopsis, daisy, phlox, and dianthus can be planted this month! 

Cool-weather vegetables and fruit bearing plants, shrubs, or trees can be planted now. Mid-March is the best time to plant young broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage plants in the outdoor garden. It is also a great time to plant beets, potatoes, carrots, radishes, Swiss chard, kohlrabi, lettuce, Brussels sprouts, and turnips. If you have the bottom end of a celery stalk, you can sit the stub in fresh warm water in a sunny, warm spot until it forms strong roots then plant outdoors for a strong summer crop or grow celery from seeds. A neat trick for a child’s project is to put the top of a carrot into a jar lid with water and watch it sprout.

Late February or early March is a good time to prune your rose bushes. It’s also a good time to prune abelias, nandinas, hollies and mahonia if they are looking a bit frayed or too large. Be sure not to prune any spring flowering shrubs, such as azaleas, or they will not flower this spring as you have cut off the flower buds.

This time of year is best for starting any seedlings that you’ll want to be ready in time for summer planting. I try to start my tomato and pepper seeds in early March through April so that they’ll be strong enough to transfer to the outdoor garden when it gets hot outside. 

March is a very productive time of year for those who love plants! There’s plenty of growing, reinvigorating, and preparing to do in order to ensure a great harvest!