What to do in the garden in March:
It's the busiest month of the year – your chance to kick-start the season in style. By the end of the month windowsills are groaning with seedlings and the garden is bursting into life – so let's get started!
General tasks:
- Mulch bare soil in with lots of organic matter – well-rotted farmyard manure or home-made garden compost is perfect.
- Re-seed bare patches in the lawn making sure you choose a patching mix suitable for conditions in your garden.
Ornamental garden:
- Move evergreen shrubs, cutting back top growth by about a third and then digging up with as much rootball intact as possible.
- Prune roses and late-flowering clematis at the same time: clip clematis back to 45cm and trim roses into an open goblet shape.
- Coppice dogwoods by cutting all old growth back to about 15cm above soil level to encourage brightly-coloured young growth.
Kitchen garden:
- Plant new potatoes towards the end of the month, covering the rows with two layers of horticultural fleece in case of late frosts.
- Sow hardy veg outdoors as long as the weather is kind: carrots, beetroot, turnips, peas and broad beans can all go in now
- Prepare onion beds, weeding and removing large stones then scattering slow-release fertiliser before sowing sets 10-15cm apart.
