Peter's Tips for March

First signs of spring?

A dry day at last and sunshine!!!  Plenty of signs at last of spring after this ridiculous autumn/winter weather.

The mild, boggy, soggy weather has totally confused plants.  I’ve got webbed feet and water on the brain!  Somehow, I have continued to prune wisterias, fruit trees, roses and now hydrangeas, in vile conditions.  It can only get better and it will!!

Many plants, trees and shrubs, bulbs and herbaceous are flowering incredibly early.  The damage from the various storms has also been extensive – fences, trees down, broken branches, roofs blown off, climbers ripped off walls and pergolas - and of course the flooding….

Many of us are going to be playing catch up for weeks to come and some may not be able to plant for months until the ground dries up sufficiently.

The snowdrops came and went within a few days – battered by ferocious winds and rain that went on for days.  But there is light at the end of the tunnel.

This is going to be a spectacular spring with everything bursting forth altogether.  Spring bulbs, camellias, rhododendrons, magnolias, cherries, forsythias, bluebells and daffodils will create an incredible spring crescendo of colour.

As always when the weather has been so poor, there are catch up jobs, which you can tackle in whatever order you are able to, weather permitting:

• Finish pruning apples, pears, wisteria, roses and buddleias, and hydrangeas as soon as possible.
• Check for damage in the garden such as broken tree stakes, ties and fence posts, felt on shed roofs, blocked gutters and drainpipes.
• Rake up debris if the ground isn’t too saturated.
• Spread mulch if the ground isn’t too saturated.
• The recent weather may have washed many nutrients from the soil, so give it an added boost with Vitax Q4 or 6X Natural Plant Feed. 
• Cut down last year’s growth of herbaceous plants, grasses and old ferns, and leave loosely stacked in a corner for bugs and beasties to come out of hibernation or even hatch out.
• Now is the time to give your plants an added boost as we come into spring. Roses, hydrangeas, acers etc, all require different nutrients to flourish and there are a range of feeds available including Vitax’s range of specialist feeds. 
• Lawns, unless you are on sandy soil, are in pretty poor shape - loads of moss, boggy and a mess.  Leave alone until you can walk on it without a squelch or your boots sinking in!!  Aerate and hollow tine only when it dries out sufficiently.
• Apply a moss killer and leave for two weeks minimum before you rake the dead moss out or scarify with a machine.  Raise deck on mower for first cut.
• Start seed sowing peppers, chillies, tomatoes, cucumbers in a heated propagator in the greenhouse/conservatory.
• Hardy annuals of sweet peas can be sown too.
• Clear weeds now and then mulch veg areas ready to sow and plant (no dig method).
• Vegetable wise – peas, broad beans, salad leaves, pea shoots and many others can be started off with protection, check info on packets of seeds.  
• Plant onion sets, shallots and garlic now. Protect peach and nectarine flowers from frosts with fleece or net curtain.  If no bees, pollinate by hand with a small, fluffy paint brush.
• Seed potatoes need buying now – some varieties are in short supply already - then place in egg boxes in a bright, sunny place which is frost-free to encourage shoots on the potatoes called ‘Chits’ – hence ‘Chitting Potatoes’.
• Ponds – frogs, toads and newts return to ponds to breed, some have started already.  Best to leave them to breed and Do Not Disturb.
• Herbaceous plants can be dug up, split and divided.  Work off scaffold boards or planks to spread your weight and avoid compacting soil and messing up soil structure.
• If you suffer with slugs, then due to the mild, wet winter we could see more than normal this season.  Preparation is the key and using a deterrent such as Slug Gone will help keep plants and new shoots slug free.

Those jobs should keep us all busy! Wishing you a drier, sunnier spring to be in the garden.

Happy Gardening

Peter

About Peter Mills:

Peter has over 35 years experience in horticulture working in garden centres before becoming a radio gardening presenter with BBC Radio Southern Counties. Working as freelance consultant, Peter works with the RHS as an external advisor as well as trouble-shooting many gardening-related problems for a range of clients.