March – even more than January to the Middle West should – be considered the Janus-faced creature that looks both ways. I have seen this month as mild as May.
That year many vegetable gardeners planted beans at the last of that month and, strangely enough, they won. There was no freezing weather and their crops matured long before those of experienced gardeners who waited until May.
Again, we may have zero weather almost up to the end of the month. This uncertainty presents a problem for the gardener.
Oddly enough, I am always ready to plant a crop of snap beans if we have warm days early in March, even though I am certain that frost will come again in April. I treat the seeds with a good fungicide to prevent their rotting in cold, wet soil. With the soil frozen over the row, following a drop to 25° degrees Farhenheit or above, I have still made a crop weeks ahead of my neighbors.
Planting Hints
Peas have never been a satisfactory crop in the Middle West south of Lake Michigan due to the fact that the springs turn hot too quickly. For the past three years, however, new varieties have shown an amazing resistance to heat and has changed the picture.
If the soil is too soggy to work on St. Patrick’s Day— the traditional date for pea-seeding — you can still get a crop from later seeding.
Speaking of peas, sweet peas no longer have to go in on March 17. The new hot-weather varieties do well if seeded later. Try to make that early planting for earlier bloom.
When Spring Is Late
Our problems arise when spring is late, wet and cold. If you do not have good facilities for starting plants indoors, make arrangements with other local community gardeners for at least part of your needs.
Half a dozen petunias in a bed will give some early bloom, and seeds can be sown among them to produce plants for later bloom. This isn’t a bad idea with many annuals! Our long summers usually exhaust early plants long before the frost comes.
Cool-Weather Annuals
If you failed to seed cool-weather annuals last fall such as Shirley poppies, annual larkspur, bachelor’s-buttons, annual phlox and others, you can sow them right now on muddy beds if you avoid tramping the soil.
Such early seedings will germinate and give you bloom in June and early July, long before other seedings can flower. They are about as early as transplants started indoors and require much less time and labor to produce. Don’t depend on them much past mid-July however. Have other plant material to move in when they begin to run out.
Other March Items
Now is the time to set out pansies and English daisies from coldframes. If the weather is nasty, give them the protection of some straw until they get established.
If the lawn is not too soggy, seed bare spots now. The earlier this can be done, the better, for the more time you give the seed to get established, the better chance you will have to get a stand in the spring.
Grass needs a feeding at this time because natural nitrogen in the soil is not usually available until later in spring. The application of fertilizer gives the grass an early start and this, in turn, helps grass to overcome weeds. (Shrubs, trees and perennial borders can also stand a feeding now.)
When can winter mulches be removed? Tell me what the weather is going to be and I can answer with authority. Unfortunately, we must gamble with the weather.
Don’t leave mulch on so long that shoots are beginning to show on roses and tender shrubs. Remove a little at a time to accustom the plants to sun and the weather.
Tulips and narcissi must be uncovered now or their shoots will grow through the covering and the mulch will be hard to remove later.
When the temperature can be depended upon to stay above 40°degrees Farhenheit for at least eight hours, apply dormant oil sprays. The dormant oil spray for the control of lilac scale is particularly important now.
Now is the time to start a new compost pile or turn the old one. Don’t forget that the bacteria that rot compost are plants that need the same fertilizers your garden plants require.
Use some of the fertilizer on the compost pile to speed up the breakdown of organic matter. The plants will get this later when the bacteria die.