What to do in March

What to do in March

  • Lift divide and re-plant snowdrops as the foliage starts yellowing.
  • Cover areas of soil with black plastic or black landscape fabric to warm it up before sowing seeds and planting out
  • Complete pruning Hybrid T and Floribunda roses.
  • Remove the top 1 to 2 inches of old compost from permanent pot plants and top dress with fresh compost
  • Start winter store dahlias into active growth. Hot firm healthy looking tubers into 3 L pots of multipurpose compost. Water sparingly and keep free of frost.
  • Sprout or chit seed potatoes indoors before planting.
  • Prune established blueberries now while the rounded fat fruit buds are distinguishable from the smaller flat leaf buds. Blueberries fruit on the previous years growth so prune up to a quarter of the older stems each year to promote fruitful young shoots.
  • To encourage healthy new growth tidy strawberry plants now remove dead and damaged or diseased leaves and old runners.
  • Plant soft neck garlic cultivars such as Picardy Wight and Solent Wight
  • Prune the colourful stems of shrub Cornus  and Salix this month Cut all stems back to 2 to 3 inches from the ground or to last year stubs. This process should be done every year.
  • Cut back Epimedium leaves before the flowers appear.