Category: Tasks

Here is a list of March tasks:

Sharpen those tools you did not get to in November.

Prune, prune, prune.  Now you can see what needs to be removed and you won’t be stimulating new growth at the wrong time.

Make sure you have the supplies you need for the season that starts in April — organic fertilizer (I use Plant Tone and Holly Tone); systemic granule Japanese beetle control (gets put down in March or April and is taken up through roots); Deer Off.

Review the list of changes you want to make to your garden and that, of course, you carefully noted as you were taking down the garden last October.

Line up the help you need.

And how about those houseplants?  Could they use some help?  Good time to repot them.  And while you are out in the garage repotting, take a moment to get the garage ready, because when spring comes, it springs.

For those of us who garden in the northeast, April is a month of mixed weather.  Temperatures can fluctuate wildly, we often get snow, and hopefully we get a lot of rain.  Unlike children, plants like to go to bed wet and to wake up wet. I

n April we get our first good gardening days, bright sun and temperatures in the mid 60’s and higher.  So get out those tools, which you have of course cleaned and sharpened in March, and let’s get to work.

• Cut back ornamental grasses
• Cut back perennials left for winter interest (but not Perovskia, Russian sage)
• Cut back “Annabelle” hydrangeas (arborescens) to 6″ above ground
• Thin red-twigged and yellow-twigged dogwoods
• Rake out leaves and other dead plant material
• Edge beds
• Compost beds with 1″ high quality compost (leaf mulch and/or manure)
• Apply pre-emergent crab grass treatment when the forsythia blooms

April is the perfect time to transplant.  Plants are wet and still asleep and will hardly know they have been moved.