March Garden Shape-Up for Westchester, New York.

I see the daffodils poking through the mulch–spring is finally in sight. The frosty weather makes me a little stir crazy and I'm anxious to get into the garden again. Here's a general checklist for March gardening chores. 

• Plan new garden beds!  Base your garden planting plans on the sun or shade and wind exposure of your site, along with your watering requirements of the plants you choose.
• Clean and tidy your beds of plant debris. 
• Prune dead, diseased, weak and crossed branches on trees.
• Prune trees and hedges before bud breaks (leafing out).
• Push back winter mulches, and work in 4” of compost into your garden beds as soon as the soil is workable.  Don’t work soil after a heavy rain. It will become compacted.
• Spread gypsum on areas bordering the road to counteract salt damage.
• Prune late flowering shrubs only. Do not prune early flowering trees and shrubs like redbud, magnolia and forsythia. You will cut off the blooms. Anything that was too floppy last year can be cut back 2/3 in height (or more).
• Plants that heave (pop up out of the soil) during the winter can be repositioned.
• Clean out nesting debris from birdhouses and feeders with 1 part chlorine bleach and 9 parts hot water. Clean all openings, vent holes and hinges.  Rinse well with hot water. Let completely air dry in the sun before use.
• Plant deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs.
• Shear ornamental grasses for new growth, cutting to new shoots.
• Add compost and fertilize vegetable garden.
• Sow vegetable and annual seeds indoors.
• Direct sow seeds like radish and lettuce.
• Plant cool season vegetables once the soil starts to warm up.
• Bare root plants like grapes and roses need to be soaked before planting.
• Plant roses and grapes.
• Fill in low spots in established lawns with soil and throw down some seed.
• Top dress established lawns with ½ inch of quality, finely screened compost.
• Overseed your lawn to keep it lush. But no need to fertilize. Too much nitrogen in spring promotes growth too quickly, inviting pest problems. Also, salt damaged leaves and grass are further injured by trying to push new growth.
• Fertilize trees and shrubs with organic, slow release fertilizers (or just top off the soil with good quality compost). 
• Calculate the amount of mulch you will need to redress beds.

And enjoy the warmer weather! 

Catherine Wachs is a landscape designer, serving Westchester NY and Southern CT. Her design company is called The Lazy Gardener