Northeast: March To-Do List

March has to be the most intriguing calendar month for Northeastern nurseryman . The weather is aggressively indecisive — balmy one daytime , snow the next — and we are ready to GO . But if we tidy up the garden ’s isolate mess too presently , we risk damaging give ’s early and tender novel growth . We also imperil the lives of our garden ’s good workforce : the native pollinators , beetles , butterfly , and spider that are still shelter in leaf litter and empty stems . So no matter how much the disorderliness excruciate you , leave that stuff and nonsense alone . There are other things you could do to prepare for the season ahead .

scavenge out the shed . Sharpen , polish , and organize your tools . Experts say the good time to prune is when your loppers are sharp , which brings me to …

Complete your hibernating pruning choreswhile your plant life are still dormant . dispatch water shoot and crossed limb from fruit Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , and prune for shape and flow of air . Coppice shrub that flower on new Sir Henry Wood to keep them from grow leggy and weird . Place some stems from give blossom shrub and tree diagram in ardent pee to force them into early bloom indoors . save up sturdy branchesto utilisation as crutches for top - heavy works such as dahlias , cosmos , and tomatoes .

Sow seeds . post a come order if you have n’t already ( it is n’t too late ) , and pencil seed date into your calendar . Direct - sow seeds that need stratification as soon as possible .

inseminate your houseplants . Even indoors , industrial plant respond to the Lord’s Day ’s higher , brighter angle . begin doling out a dilute solution of an all - aim ( or specific ) fertilizer once per calendar month .

Kristin Green is writer ofPlantiful : embark on pocket-sized , mature Big with 150 Plants that Spread , Self - sow , and Overwinter , and gardens in Bristol , Rhode Island .

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March Garden To-Do List for the Northeast

Northeast: February Garden To-Do List

Northeast: April To-Do List

Southwest: March To-Do List

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