We can start to feel that autumn has announced itself with sudden cooler temperatures making themselves present, with a drop in morning temperatures as we slowly start to swing towards the winter months.
March can be a busy time in the garden with loads of sowing, planting and planning to be done in preparation for winter and spring.
General March Garden Tasks
• Look at Lifting and dividing your summer – flowering perennials such as Agapanthus, Hemerocallis and Iris. Replenish planting holes with compost and cut plants back. Keep the divided clumps to a fair size, so that the plant can recover in time for next season. And be sure to water the newly divided plants well.
• There will loads of weeds after the abundant rains we have recieved. Pull them up regularly and before they go to seed as they compete with your garden plants for nutrients and water.
• Feed your garden and the lawns with a potassium rich fertilizer like 3:1:5. This will help to strengthen the cell walls before winter and its frost arrives.
• Your shrubs like Azaleas, Camellias and Gardenias will start forming their buds now. Keep them moist to avoid bud drop before they open in spring.
• Be sure to regularly deadhead your summer annuals that are still in flower and remove the spent ones. Prepare beds for winter annuals by spreading a thick layer of compost and 2:3:2 fertiliser according to instructions.
• Fertilise your rose bushes with a balanced rose fertilizer and water twice a week if needed. Continue checking and treating for fungal and insect infestations, a good product to use is rose care plus.
The Food Garden
• Divide and plant strawberries towards the end of the month in well composted beds or pots be sure to add plenty organic foods like bonemeal and flower power to ensure great fruit production.
• If you have a dedicated vegetable patch and enough space to rotate crops, plant a green manure like Lucerne, clover, mustard or buckwheat. Dig the whole plant into the soil before they go to seed – they will release nutrients, especially nitrogen, into the soil, enriching and improving it for summer crops.
• Ensure that cabbages are kept moist and feed them fortnightly with an organic, liquid seaweed- or fish- based fertiliser or once a month with a balanced organic fertiliser, like 6:3:4.
• Pick the last of your spent summer vegetables like tomatoes, brinjals and peppers and pull up the plants. Prepare beds for winter vegetables by digging in a thick layer of compost and some organic 2:3:2 or bone meal according to instructions, good soil prep is essential for healthy vegetables.
• Harvest annual and frost tender herbs now while they still have zest and flavor. That doesn’t mean you’re in for a bland winter. Preserve the harvested herbs by drying, freezing or making a pesto or things like herb butter. They can also be preserved in thongs like oil or vinegar.
• Keep your citrus trees moist while the fruits are swelling and spray with a kelp solution to provide trace elements. Thin fruit out if the tree is overloaded, to help with a great fruit at the end of the day.
• Feed your fruit trees that have finished fruiting with an organic 8:1:5 fertiliser. Spread the fertiliser along the dripline of the tree and be sure to water thoroughly.
• Feed all berries with an organic fertiliser you can look at using things like flower power or gwano pellets.
March is the sowing month
It’s the start of seasonal change and seeds that are suitable for sowing now and in the coming cooler months are now available on our shelves. Choose and sow your favourites from the following:
• Vegetables: Brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, celery, Chinese cabbage, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, marog, onions, Oriental greens, parsnips, peas, radish, spinach, Swiss chard and turnips.
• Herbs: Dill, parsley, borage, chives, garlic chives, rocket and chamomile.
• Flowers: African daisies, Alyssum, Snapdragons, Calendula, Chrysanthemum paludosum, Dianthus, Bokbaai Vygies, Hollyhocks, Pansies, Poppies, Primulas, Stocks, Violas and fragrant favourites, Sweet peas.
• The end of March is also a great time to look at Sowing your evergreen and shade over lawn seeds.
• Prepare beds for bulbs by adding a good helping of compost and bone meal, vermicast or organic 2:3:2. Good drainage is essential. The preferred position will be indicated on the packaging that the bulb comes in, as well as the plants’ suitability to being containerized. Cover planted bulbs with a layer of mulch. Water bulbs deeply every four days and if you planted them in pots look at watering them more regularly.
• Summer-flowering bulbs will be going dormant now – mark the spots in which you planted them to protect the bulbs from being dug up whilst doing garden maintenance. Start feeding summer bulbs as soon as they have finished flowering with a special bulb food or 3:1:5. If you are thinking why now? It is because they will store this food in their little bulbs in preparation for their spectacular show next season.
Ornamental grasses are in their prime at the moment. These grasses are low maintenance, waterwise, extremely showy and definitely on trend. Plant them in mass and in contrasting swathes of colours and textures to create a stunning show, especially when they sway in the breeze or catch the early morning light.
Grasses also provide nesting materials and seeds for birds. Assorted grasses are a sure-fire way to add dimension, drama and structure to any garden.
Happy Gardening!
