March Gardening Tips

Garden Maintenance

• Prune grapes and roses.
• Cleanup: remove mummy fruit and blighted limbs on stone fruit to reduce brown rot. Remove and destroy fallen leaves to reduce peach leaf curl.
• Mulch cane berries, cut out all old canes and reset new canes in twine.
• Cultivate and pull weeds now!
• If weather permits, prepare beds for planting by spading in compost an soil amendments.
• Check irrigation system and perform maintenance as needed.
• Divide and replant herbs.
• To prevent sunburn and borer problems, paint young tree trunks with water based interior white latex paint 1:1 with water.
• Consider replacing plants to improve the safety and sustainability of your property.
• Check dates of Master Gardener classes.

Fertilize

• Cane berries and strawberries.
• Deciduous fruit and young shade trees at first sign f leaves, young conifers, cool season grass and roses.
• Kiwis (give 2/3 of recommended annual PNK, 1/3 in May).
• Citrus are heavy nitrogen feeders. Mature trees need 1 ½ lbs. N per year. Divide this amount by 4 and apply each quarter one month apart for 4 months, beginning in March.
• Daphne and camellia with NPK bloom.
• All shrubs except newly planted. Wait until after bloom for azaleas and rhododendrons.

Spray: Check the California Backyard Orchard website for current information.

• All fruit, nuts, roses with 50% wettable copper powder.
• Stone fruits: fixed copper when buds are swollen and starting to show first color to control brown rot, peach leaf curl, pseudomonas, blossom and canker infections. 
• Apples: for apple scab, when apple buds first show signs of green and repeat spray every 10 days until bloom where scab is a problem. In many cases this treatment may be combined with February insect controls. 
• Check roses for black spot, mildew and rust and spray if needed.
• Watch for early signs of powdery mildew on grapes, roses and ornamentals. Treat at 2-4” of growth if needed. Apply sulfur or potassium bicarbonate when temperature is below 90 degrees.
• Check roses for aphids; control with a strong spray of water or insecticidal soap.

What to Plant in March

Trees, shrubs, perennials

• Container roses, shrubs and trees.
• Grapes, cane berries, rhubarb.

Flowers

• Below 2000 ft: Canterbury Bells, Forget-Me-Nots, Foxglove, Pansies, Primula and other available perennials.
• Above 2000 ft: you can still plant flowering Sweet Pea seeds – now!

Vegetables

• From seed : radish, lettuce, chard, snap beans.
• Greenhouse or Cold Frame: Hardy annuals from seed such as delphinium, nemesia, matthiola (stock). Below 2000 ft: eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, all melons and squash family. Above 2000 ft: lettuce, cabbage family.

Lawns

• Seed and renovate lawns