Monthly Gardening Tips - March 2021

I never want nature to overtake me in the garden. A few warm sunny days in early March and we see buds bursting before our very eyes. Its really too late to prune Cherries and apricots, as flower buds are about to become flowers which are easily damaged. Here is my Apricot on 21st. February:

Apricot

Despite recent icy weather the evergreen Clematis armandii is already in flower and has .5m of growth. The yellow flowering winter jasmine - Jasminum nudiflorum- can be clipped to tidy in late March after flowering:

clematis
jasminum

So-called Heavenly Bamboo - Nandina domestica - has pale flowers in spring but excels over the autumn and winter with masses of scarlet berries. Cut main stalks down by at least a third in March/April to prevent them getting topheavy. Often missed are the amazing seed heads of Cyclamen which are forced into the ground on their spiralling stalks, half covered by foliage:

nandina
cyclamen

And here is what you can do in March to keep your Olive trees under control!:

olive
pruned olive
Kew Horticultural Society - Gardening Tips - March 2021

A few other seasonal tips come to mind:

  • If you have large clumps of snowdrops you can dig them up after flowers have faded, and replant them singly or smaller clumps ‘in the green.’ Water them in.
  • Clip overheavy Trachelospermum jasminoides now, before the sap rises.
  • Check ties and stakes on all your plants.
  • Softwood cuttings can be taken from indoor geraniums:
geraniums

VEGETABLES

I like to hand-dig, with a spade, or rotovate my veg. area in early March. Given some frosts and rain the ground will settle within a week or so and be ready for treading and raking, prior to seed sowing. My first seeds sown this year were radishes last month. Early sowings avoid flea beetle damage. Summer sowings tend to bolt and are more susceptible to slug damage.

Check seed packets for optimum sowing times. Keep hoeing weed seedlings weekly during drier spells; they will shrivel up in the sun.

Urgently prune your raspberries (below,) blackberries, and currants. and vines.

Good luck!

seedlings
raspberries
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