March Gardening Tips

[ballparent]

In our house we always plant potatoes, leaf lettuce and onions as close to St. Patrick's Day as possible. Our ground is too wet to work up right now so we need a few days without rain. Here's a few tips to get you started to help your spring yard and garden.

Look for weed problems in your lawn, identify them, select the proper herbicide and apply at the correct time.

Fertilize fruit trees with a slow-release fertilizer in early March.

Do not prune spring flowering shrubs until after they have flowered.

Prune roses. Remove all but 4-6 canes for big blooms. Leave more canes if you want fuller bushy roses. Make your pruning cut above an outward facing bud.

Plant your cool season vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, potatoes, and radishes.

Start your warm season vegetable plants indoors so they will be ready to transplant after danger of frost.

Remove any old camellia blooms to prevent the spread of petal blight. You should also clean any dead blooms off the ground around the camellias.

Be sure any newly planted shrubs receive adequate water.

Daffodils are blooming now. If you want to use cut daffodils in your arrangements, remember to soak them in water by themselves for 4-6 hours before placing them with other flowers. The sap from the daffodil stem will clog the stem and water of other flowers if not presoaked.

Resist the temptation to plant tender summer annuals until the danger of frost has past. The last frost date we use in our house is around May 10.

Here's more info on frost free dates in Central Ohio:

When is the frost-free date (the last spring frost) for the central Ohio area? I have heard two or three different dates.

Every spring there is confusion about the frost-free date for central Ohio; you will often hear both April 30 and mid-May as the appropriate date. We use April 30 as the "frost-free" date, based on weather records. Usually, in seven or eight years out of 10, the last frost occurs before April 30. In one or two years in 10, it occurs by May 10, and in about one year in 10, it is as late as mid-May. From 1992 to 2001, these were the latest spring dates of temperatures at 32 degrees Fahrenheit or below; April 6, 27, May 2, April 25, 27, 20, 5, March 30, April 13, 18.

You will hear mid-May given as the frost-free date. This is actually the "safe planting date" for tender annuals and vegetables. Usually by the official frost-free date, soils are still cold. One of the characteristics of clay soil is that it is slow to warm up in the spring. If tender plants are planted in cold soil, root systems may rot, plants may grow slowly or not at all, or plants take on a purplish discoloration due to phosphorus deficiency, related to cold soil. So think about the frost-free date as April 30, but the safe planting date for tender plants as mid to late May.

Gardeners who are planting in raised beds can probably plant earlier than mid May since soil in raised beds tends to warm up more quickly than ground beds.

[ballparent]

Another thing to add....for those of you that grow ornamental grasses we've got to get them cut down to avoid damaging the new shoots that are soon to appear. That's on my must-do list for this weekend.

[ballparent]

I can't wait to smell fresh cut grass. Simple things in life.

[BigOrangeOne]

The simple things in life make me the happiest.

Me too.... maybe that's why I like BiggDowgg so much.

[BigOrangeOne]

When is the frost-free date (the last spring frost) for the central Ohio area? I have heard two or three different dates.

BallParent
In 2006 we had out last frost here on May 23rd.

[kantuckyII]

Yep..I had close to 100 dollars of annuals just freshly planted that year and wound up having to cover them several nights in a row that year BOO, a pain it was..but..I still like getting that early start!

[BigOrangeOne]

I'm only teasing. Biggdowgg is one heck of a guy. I don't know very many men who raised children to adulthood by themselves.

I wonder when he is going to make it to adulthood himself?

[kantuckyII]

I wonder when he is going to make it to adulthood himself?

I think his master plan was to do it together but..somewhere along the way, they passed him up

[BubbleGumTiger]

I'm only teasing. Biggdowgg is one heck of a guy. I don't know very many men who raised children to adulthood by themselves.

I wonder when he is going to make it to adulthood himself?

man that is cold.............

[kantuckyII]

I'm only teasing. Biggdowgg is one heck of a guy. I don't know very many men who raised children to adulthood by themselves.

I wonder when he is going to make it to adulthood himself?

man that is cold.............

yeah for sure..I know you'd wanted to say it first!

[BubbleGumTiger]

[biggdowgg]

you can always count on Kantucky, picking you up, when you are down

[Runner]

When is the frost-free date (the last spring frost) for the central Ohio area? I have heard two or three different dates.

BallParent
In 2006 we had out last frost here on May 23rd.

2004...Memorial Day weekend, we had a killing frost. It was 70 degrees during the day and in the 50's during the night the entire week before. Went to a reunion in WVA and came back to dead plants. The temps had gotten down to about 25 the night before the holiday. Lost everything that wasn't hearty. Peppers, tomatoes, green beans were gone, and the potatoes did not even get a bloom on them that year..so they were wasted as well.

[orange-n-brown 365]

Another thing to add....for those of you that grow ornamental grasses we've got to get them cut down to avoid damaging the new shoots that are soon to appear. That's on my must-do list for this weekend.

my lab took care of that for me he cut down mine by eating it I figured his tongue would look like ribbons but he's tough!

[orange-n-brown 365]

my yard went to pot last summer when I was down with those kidney stone problems so I am hoping this summer is better and I can get more done.. I think it could be a home school project for my boy right?

[ballparent]

Last year was a pretty bad year for everyone's yards and gardens I think. Way too dry for much of anything. Of course our tomatoes loved it and my roses did better than normal. Didn't have to worry about blackspot or fungus when it stays dry. But my hydrangeas suffered. Hoping for a better year this year. And ONB I haven't found anything that Labs won't chew on.