In your garden in March it is time to..
1. Sow sweet peas
ST PATRICK’S DAY IS THE TRADITIONAL day to sow your sweet peas. But you can sow them right up to June! While sweet peas need plenty of sun, in warm climate gardens sweet peas do better in morning sun and bright afternoon shade.
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Choose a spot with good drainage and dig deeply to loosen the soil
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Enrich your garden soil with a mix of mushroom compost and cow manure.
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Sprinkle a handful of lime per square metre and leave for a fortnight before planting.
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Set up a well-anchored trellis or use a fence for vertical support.
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Sow two sweet pea seeds at 20cm intervals. Water with half-strength seaweed solution and do not water again until seeds germinate (and pray for dry weather!). Seeds that don’t germinate within two weeks have probably rotted.
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Sow more, you'll find they’ll quickly catch up.
2. Move cymbidium orchids
INTO FULL SUN NOW to encourage winter blooms. And feed monthly with an orchid fertiliser to promote their growth.
3. Boost citrus
EARLY MARCH IS AN EXCELLENT TIME to give citrus trees a nutritional boost. Apply a generous double handful of rock dust per tree, along with well-rotted chook manure, pelletised chook fertiliser or blood and bone. Water in well with seaweed solution and cover with a 10–20cm layer of organic mulch.
4. Fill your home with dahlias
DAHLIAS FLOWER WELL THROUGH SUMMER AND AUTUMN, so feed them with an organic pelletised manure, such as Neutrog's Gyganicto support their growth. Keep picking them to prolong their flowering. Once flowers have finished, allow the foliage to die down before you prune. Unless you live in a very cold climate, you can leave dahlia tubers in the ground for a few years. We advise to lift them every third year to replenish soil and divide tubers.
5. Prep soil for vegie planting
GOOD SOIL PREP WILL MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE to the quality of your vegetable harvest. Add compost to the soil and dig in well. If you don’t have enough home-made compost, find bagged compost, such as Richgro's Black Marvel Garden Compost, at your local garden centre.
6. Grow green manure
AS SUMMER VEGIES ARE GRADUALLY CLEARED from your garden, it’s a good time to sow a crop of green manure. This involves growing plants specifically to improve soil structure and fertility when dug into the ground. Green manures include legumes such as vetch, clover, beans and peas, grasses, oats, rapeseed, winter wheat, rye and buckwheat. You could choose Mr Fothergill’s Green Manure Mix, that contains oats, broccoli, buckwheat and lots more to add valuable organic matter and nutrients for your proposed vegetable patch. Simply rake the bed level, broadcast the seed, then rake again to lightly cover the seed. Once the crop reaches knee height, it can be chopped down and dug into the soil.
7. Look after roses
ROSES WILL BE PRODUCING FRESH GROWTH following their summer trim. To help them thrive:
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Stake new stems, also known as water shoots, to protect them from wind damage.
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Feed roses with a complete fertiliser. Additionally, apply sulphate of potash around each rose to build up its resistance to fungal diseases.
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Maintain a consistent watering regime during the hot March weather.
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Remove spent blooms to encourage more flowers and keep the plant tidy.
8. Cool your tulips
FOR A FABULOUS SPRING WELCOME, plant tulips in garden beds or terracotta pots. Buy tulip bulbs now and keep them refrigerated until early June, when the garden soil has cooled and conditions are best for planting. Checkout 'In your garden in May...' for planting guidelines.
9. Plant winter veg now!
THE TOP JOB THIS MONTH is to plant your winter vegies as cool season vegetables take longer to grow. Start with slower-growing varieties like cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and kale. You can also plant quicker-growing options such as leek, lettuce, silverbeet, spinach, spring onion and celery. Other seeds to sow include parsnip, turnip, carrot, sugar snap peas, snow peas and leafy greens.
10. Get garlic going
EARLY AUTUMN IS THE BEST time to plant garlic. The bulb thrives in regions that experience a cold spell of 10°C or lower for at least a month. Without this cold treatment, the bulb may stay whole and fail to break into individual cloves.
Step 1: Garlic needs a spot in full sun with friable, well-drained soil. It's a good idea to mound the soil so it doesn't retain too much moisture that could cause the bulbs to rot. Dig in compost and one cup of blood and bone per square metre.
Step 2: Plant cloves bought from a reliable mail order company or local garden centre. Choose cloves that are at least 1cm across at the base for best results. Keep bulbs whole until just before planting. Push individual cloves thumb-deep into rows or along edges of vegetable garden beds. Be careful not to overwater, as this can cause the bulbs to rot. For added colour, consider overplanting with pansies or violas.