March Landscape, Lawn & Garden Tips for Zone 8

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March signals that Spring is just around the corner. That means it's time to get serious about getting the landscape and garden ready for its arrival!

ALERT! - Though some retailers in the South are offering spring annual flowers at this time, we highly recommend that you wait to plant these tender plants in your garden until early to mid-April, when weather forecasters have said all chances of frost have passed.

Fertilization & Soil Preparation Tips

• Fertilize shrubs and trees - March is a good time fertilize most shrubs and trees. That being said, you want to wait to fertilize spring flowering shrubs until the flowers have started to fade. Non-flowering shrubs can be fertilized now. Know your plants feeding requirements before fertilizing them. Most ornamental shrubs and trees like a slow-release, well-balanced "shrub & tree" type fertilizer. If you want to be on the safe side, you can use non-burning organic or natural fertilizers. If you are unsure as to what to feed a particular type of shrub or tree consult with your local nursery and garden center professional, arborist, or extention agent.
• Fertilize Roses - If you didn't feed and prune them in late February, March is also a good time to feed and prune roses. SEE: How To Fertilize Roses and Pruning Knock Out Roses and Pruning Hybrid Tea Roses
• Fertilize Perennial Plants - Fertilize established perennials after new growth appears with a good flower fertilizer or natural or organic plant food. SEE: How To Fertilize Perennial Plants
• Fertilize Bulbs - Feed any bulbs, such as daffodils and hyacinths, that have finished blooming with bone meal or a bulb fertilizer.
• Feed Pansies - Feed your pansies for the last time of the season with a flower food containing a "nitrate" form of nitrogen.
• Prepare Vegetable Garden Soil - It's time to prepare the veggie garden for spring planting. You'll need to till or turn in a 1/4-inch layer of composted organic matter such as mushroom compost, composted manures, etc. SEE: Organic Garden Soil Preparation
• Prepare Seasonal Flower Beds - March is a good time to prepare your seasonal flower beds, gardens, and containers for the upcoming spring. SEE: How To Prepare A Flower Bed SEE: How To Plant Flowers In Containers
• Apply Lime to Fescue, Bermuda, and Zoysia lawns - Lime is not a fertilizer, however, you may notice after applying it that your lawn greens up quickly. This is due to the correction of the pH, which then allows plants to readily use nutrients applied. Make sure to use "pelletized" lime as it activates instantly. You can test for soil pH with a soil testing kit. Buy a soil testing kit online or purchase one from your local nursery and garden center. Your local cooperative extension service may provide soil testing services as well.

Planting Tips & Reminders

• Plant Vegetables - Plant early spring vegetables such as asparagus, potatoes, onions, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, celery, leeks, onions, radish, spinach, chard, cabbage, cauliflower, and other hardy vegetables can be seeded or set out late in the month.
• Plant Fruits - March is a great time to plant strawberries, blueberries, grapes, blackberries, pomegranate, fruit trees of all kinds and other fruit bearing plants.
• Plant Shrubs & Trees - March is a great time to plant shrubs and trees because they'll benefit from the spring root flush. SEE: How To Plant A Shrub SEE: How To Plant A Tree
• Transplant Shrubs or Trees - If plants and trees are still dormant we're nearing the end of the safe time to move and relocate existing shrubs and trees in your landscape. If flower or leaf buds are swelling or open it's too late to transplant this year. SEE: How To Transplant A Shrub or Tree
• Seed or Overseed Fescue lawns - March is a good time to seed or overseed a fescue lawn. I recommend using turf-type fescue because it has thinner blades, grows upright and has demonstrated higher resistance to heat and to mowing. SEE: How To Overseed A Lawn / How To Plant A New Lawn With Seed
• Plant Perennials! - Perennials are flowering or foliage plants that return year after year after you plant them in your garden. There are hundreds and hundreds of varieties of perennials, many of which bloom in spring and others that bloom in summer, fall or winter. Some bloom all season. SEE: Gardening With Perennials

Pruning Tips & Reminders

• Prune Roses - If you didn't prune and feed your roses in late February, do so in early March. SEE: Pruning Knock Out Roses and Pruning Hybrid Tea Roses and How To Fertilize Roses
• Prune Crape Myrtles - If you haven't done so already, prune crape myrtles, but only if they are still dormant and have yet to leaf out. SEE: How To Prune A Crape Myrtle
• Pinch Back Houseplants - Houseplants will react to longer days and brighter light at this time by putting out new growth. March is a good time to pinch them back to generate new growth and to thicken them. Turn your houseplants a quarter turn each week to make sure all sides of the plant receive adequate light, and to keep the shape of the plant balanced. SEE: How To Prune Houseplants
• Cut Back Groundcovers and Ornamental Grasses - Cut back mondograss, liriope (monkey grass), pampas grass and all other ornamental grasses before new growth appears. SEE: How To Prune Groundcover Plants

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