In a host of ways, March is one the most exciting months of the year for gardeners!
Yes, there’s a MASS of things to do, but hope is in the air for the best season ever in your patch. Let’s begin with some timely pruning, plant division and starting off tomatoes and dahlias…….
Dogwoods, willows and more
Have you got some dogwoods (Cornus) or willows in your
That means that they need a hard prune right now in early March. You can cut them right back to the ground (‘stooling’) or keep a woody trunk and prune all the stems back to that. That’s what I’m about in this week’s feature pic. For much more detail on how to do it, watch Laura’s video on the subject – the link is at the bottom.
One word of warning – you may actually have a willow that is grown for its lovely buds or catkins rather than its stem colour, so don’t prune those back (if you need to do it at all) until after their spring show is over.
You can also hard-prune ornamental white-stemmed brambles now for the same reason. Cotinus, the Smoke-bush will also take hard-pruning to re-invigorate it, as will elders. There is another interesting trick that you can do with trees like Paulownia (foxglove tree), Catalpa (Indian bean tree) and variegated poplar (Populus x jackii “Aurora’).
By cutting the whole plant back to the base in March, all the sap becomes channelled into just a few buds. These vigorous stems produce MUCH bigger and more dramatic leaves, and their colour and variegation might be intensified too. So if you don’t have room for a large tree in your
Tomato countdown
Please tell me that you grow at least one tomato, even if you aren’t a veg grower in any other respect. There is simply nothing as delicious as the scent and taste of a homegrown tom straight off the plant. And they really are easy, honest. This is what you do:
- Buy a couple of packets of tomato seed – there are zillions to choose from – I usually go for a couple of ‘cherry’ ones like ‘Sungold’ or ‘Gardener’s Delight’ but you may prefer plum varieties or even the big, chunky beefsteak ones.
2. Fill 9cm pots or a small growing tray with multipurpose peat-free compost, level the surface, firm and water the compost.
3. Space your seeds at least 1.5cm apart, barely cover them with vermiculite or sieved compost, and put the pots on a warm, sunny windowsill. If you DO have a propagator or can put clear plastic bags over the pots, great, but it’s not vital.
4. Your seeds should germinate in about a week. Keep them in a well-lit place for about a fortnight.
5. Prick them out by teasing them out using a widger and holding them by their seedling leaves (the stems are very delicate and can get damaged easily) to tuck them into individual 9cm pots of compost.
6. Keep them growing on, potting them on as needed, in a frost-free bright place, before planting them out in their final positions either outside, in a greenhouse/frame or deep pots.
That’s it. You could definitely do this and look forward to the delectable taste of your own toms this summer.
Divide to multiply
This is a great time to divide all sorts of perennial plants – hardy geraniums, daylilies, rudbeckias, asters….. You dig up the plant, discard old woody parts, divide the outer vigorous bits and plant them into refreshed soil. Their roots will overcome the disturbance quickly in the warming soil.
Just a couple of notes about specific plants:
Hosta roots don’t really like all the upheaval so only divide these when they have definitely outgrown their space.
Heucheras must be divided at least every 3 years, or the middle becomes very woody and unproductive. Replant the strongly-growing bits from around the edge, each with a few roots and shoots.
Bergenia clumps can get very congested and have the odd habit of hauling themselves out of the ground. Dig them up and replant 15cm lengths each with a leaf rosette more deeply than they were before.
Grasses are much better divided in spring than in autumn because of the danger of the newly-planted crowns rotting in winter wet. Carex, Festuca, Stipa, Calamagrostis and Hakonechloa can be divided now, but leave Miscanthus, Panicum or Pennisetum until late April or May because they are even choosier about settling down in cosy soil after a disturbance.
One more thing on grasses – cut down the old stems of grasses like Miscanthus now – it’s a darn sight harder to do once the new green growth starts pushing its way up through the dried yellow ones.
Gardening shorts
- March is generally the last month that you can get some bare-root hedging in, which is a reassuringly inexpensive way of adding borders and boundaries to your space. Bare-root plants are often easier to establish than pot-grown ones, too.
- Plant bulbs and corms for spring and summer colour – I’m going to be planting lilies and gladioli in big pots in the next couple of days and Caroline has been planting anemone coronaria corms – though I believe her puppy, Mrs Parker, has been hard at work unearthing them again……bless 🤣
- Hurray! – it’s time to start your dahlia tubers into growth again: check your stored tubers and only use the firm ones; fill a large pot to halfway with good compost, place the tubers in and fill up with compost. Only water lightly until you see signs of growth – you don’t want them to rot in wet soil. Keep in a frost-free place until that danger is over in your area.
- Prune your mophead hydrangeas now, cutting off the dead flowers back to the first pair of healthy buds. If the shrub is old and crowded with weak shoots, some of these can be cut back to the ground to open up the centre and allow air to circulate.
- Deadhead the daffs as they fade – no point in them wasting energy on creating seedheads. Leave the leaves on though, to feed the bulbs for at least six weeks after flowering.
- Don’t know about your hellebores but mine have just adored the wet winter. Unlike the daffs, I’d advise you NOT to cut the seedheads off these, because this genus self-seeds readily. Leave them until mid-summer when the seeds will have been shed, and since they are masters at hybridising, you might end up with some thrilling new petal colours among the seedlings!
Suttons are offering £14 off a £35 spend on plants, seeds or
Here is Laura’s short video on pruning cornus and willows
This early spring rhizomatous perennial is hardy, cheerful and reliable – qualities that one might look for in a partner, frankly! No wonder Louise chose it as one of her Great Plants this Month:
10 best climbing plants for a shady wall
Laura has some great suggestions for good climbers on that awkward north-facing shady wall of yours! You’ll find them here
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