Garden Tasks — March
It’s like fully, definitely Spring now, right?
We made it through the crazy cold temps and snow and now daffodils are blooming, trees are leafing, and it feels like patio hangs by the fire-pit are just around the corner. March is a busy month for gardeners, but we can’t get ahead of ourselves. Tennessee can still get some cold nights and even a frost well into April, so for now we just plant cold hardy veggies and keep up with infrastructure tasks in preparation for the busy summer season.
I get to the end of writing these lists and think, “Ack! It’s too much. People will be intimated and not do any gardening at all!” If you’re feeling that way, just book a consultation or coaching session and we can create a garden plan and schedule that suits your time, tastes, and experience. But if you’re feeling impatient and ready to gogogo in the garden, feel free to tackle any and everything listed below.
Here’s what to work on this month in Nashville gardens:
PLANNING AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Take a look around your garden and see what’s emerging, greening up, and even blooming in your flower beds. March in Nashville has so much color! Flowers are bursting from hyacinth and daffodils bulbs, azaleas and forsythia shrubs, and dogwood and Japanese magnolia trees. Notice all these as you go about your life and make a note if you might like to add any of them to your garden. In fact, write it down as a task for the month of October to shop for and plant some spring bulbs.
If you haven’t built raised beds or purchased garden soil or compost for the season, do it ASAP.
Check back on the February tasks and see if there is anything you missed that needs to be done before planting starts.
FOOD — Time to plant cool season crops!
In mid-March you can plant seeds of peas, lettuce, kale, spinach, chard, mustard greens, cilantro, dill, parsley, mustard greens, carrots, radish, beets, turnips, parsnips, onions, and potatoes right in the garden. Yesssssss.
Mid-late March is when we can transplant out any of the greens listed above that were started indoors, plus your seedlings of broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and celery.
If you are starting your own seeds indoors, this is the month to get your tomatoes, basil, peppers, cucumbers, melons, squash and tomatillos planted in a lofty soil mix and set in a REALLY sunny window or under grow lights.
FLOWERS — Flowers are cool too.
Cool season flowers that can be planted now include poppies, snapdragons, bachelor’s button, pincushion flower, larkspur, lupines, and foxgloves.
Gently remove any mulch that’s been mounded over perennial flowers, but leave mulch around the plants. And if needed, apply a layer of mulch to all your flower beds.
If you didn’t do it in the fall, cut back ornamental grasses, lavender, sedum, mums, salvia, black-eyed susans, and other herbaceous perennials to just a couple of inches from the ground.
It’s never too early for weeding.
It IS still too early for summer annual flowers, so don’t be tempted when you go to the garden center. Just because they are selling it, doesn’t mean it’s time to plant it (especially when we’re talking about the box stores).
I love a bouquet in the bathroom.
If you do have daffodils and tulips blooming, cut a few stems to bring inside and brighten up your house.
FEELINGS — How the garden can help.
Daylight Savings Time starts this month! With the extra post-work hour of light, leave that computer screen and get outside to soak up some Vitamin D. This can improve your sleep, help you feel more calm, and less aggressive and impulsive. It’s a healthier Happy Hour.
If you’re feeling anxious about spending more time close to people now that pandemic restrictions are gone, but the world is still kinda tense, spending time outside might help. Studies show that after just looking at scenes of nature, people are more trusting, empathetic and generous.
Happy Spring, y’all. Go see how you can grow.
