Plan, prune, plant in busy March

March begins a season when we need to plan, prune, plant, prepare soil, and pull weeds on our properties.

It’s time to choose seeds, buy onion sets and seed potatoes. If your land isn’t large enough for even a tiny garden, some vegetables will grow in large containers.

Container depth is critical. Lettuce needs only four or so inches of soil but peppers need at least eight, tomatoes and carrots require a foot minimum. Good drainage is important, but nearly any sort of container, whether a pot, old wheelbarrow, window box or barrel, will do when it has good drainage and is deep enough to support plants.

Balmy March days are pleasant for the outdoor jobs which never seem to end: uncovering emerging bulb foliage, clearing flower beds, turning compost piles for better aeration, collecting limbs blown down by March winds, spading a vegetable patch.

Don’t forget your treasured houseplants. Nearly all were dormant over the winter months and needed little care from November to March. However, they are vigorous again, so give them room-temperature water and a half dose of fertilizer.

Daytime temperatures soon will be moderate enough to set houseplants on your porch on warm days, but they should spend nights indoors until air temperature is warm enough to furlough them until September.

Also:

If you stored dahlias, caladiums or other tropical bulbs over winter, start them indoors this month to be ready for planting out when the time is right.

Cut back Russian Sage, leaving just a few inches of woody stem. Pinch out tips of new growth to encourage a bushier plant.

Trim ornamental grasses to about six inches above the crown. I find clippers inefficient for this job so generally use scissors.

Cut butterfly bushes, leaving six to 12 inches from the crown, to force new growth. Other summer-flowering shrubs (hibiscus, some hydrangeas), and vines such as sweet autumn clematis, can safely be pruned in March and April.

Before buds begin to swell on your roses, remove dead canes and any which cross or grew in the wrong direction. Cut winter-damaged canes back to healthy green wood.

Sharon Daniels is a Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardener volunteer.