Expert Gardener's Top March Planting Tip and Essential Spring Tasks
March heralds the vibrant arrival of spring, offering a welcome reprieve from the gloomy, cold days of winter. For gardening enthusiasts, this season of rebirth means there is no shortage of jobs to get stuck into as the weather gradually improves.
Essential Spring Gardening Jobs
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) advises that March is a critical month for several key tasks. Gardeners should focus on pruning roses, planting onion sets and shallots, and mowing the lawn when conditions are dry. BBC Gardeners' World legend Monty Don concurs, emphasising that lawns will need mowing in March but cautioning against cutting them too short.
In his blog, Monty urged gardeners to give the lawn a light trim throughout the remainder of the month. Additional expert advice has surfaced on social media, with Michael Griffiths recommending feeding roses to achieve better blooms. Meanwhile, professional gardener Rob Brett highlighted that spring presents a great opportunity to get planting underway, describing it as a period with so much to do.
The One Key Plant for March
Rob Brett explained that choosing one thing to plant in March is a challenge due to the abundance of tasks. However, he pinpointed summer flowering bulbs as his top recommendation. He noted that we often neglect these, as we concentrate on planting spring flowering bulbs in autumn.
Looking ahead, Rob observed that summer is a great time for wonderful plants like Gladiolus, with particular favourites including Nerine and Eucomis, renowned for their pineapple flowering heads. He emphasised that March and April are also ideal for planting traditional vegetables such as early potatoes, onion sets, and shallots.
Additional March Gardening Tasks
Beyond planting, the RHS has outlined a host of additional tasks for gardeners to tackle this March. These range from planting potatoes to managing overgrown perennials. Rob Brett also highlighted that March is the last opportunity to plant bare-root trees and shrubs, depending on weather conditions.
He added that March is a great time to split and divide clumps of herbaceous plants, relocating them to different areas of the garden or giving them to friends and neighbours if not needed. For those venturing into the garden for the first time this year, Rob advised taking stock of what's looking good, what's flowering, and what needs cutting back.
March signals a time for cutting back herbaceous plants left over winter and is also crucial for pruning shrubs and climbing roses. Rob wrapped up by expressing hope that people have been enjoying their gardens throughout the winter, noting they can become a beautiful visual statement and food for wildlife.
