What to do in the Garden in March

Planning and Planting

-       Plan your vegetable garden. 

-       Once soil is dry enough, plant cool season annual crops:  carrots, beets, broccoli, kale, leeks, parsley, peas, onion, lettuce, & radishes.

-       Plant insectary plants such as Alyssum, Phacelia, coriander, candytuft, yarrow, and dill.  Click this link for more ideas. https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/pnw550

-       Plant perennial crops- strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, currants, gooseberries, rhubarb, and chives.

 

Lettuce and kale seedlings, 2 weeks old

Propagation

-       Divide hostas, daylilies, mums, anemones, asters, yarrow, garden phlox, and other summer flowering herbaceous perennials. Most could also be done in fall.

Pest Monitoring

-  Watch trees for  leaf rollers.  Click this link for advice.  https://pnwhandbooks.org/insect/hort/landscape/common/landscape-leafroller-leaftier

Leaf roller, photo courtesy of WSU

-  Watch for slug damage and bait with iron phosphate or use a trap baited with bread dough or cucumber.

-  Prune shrubs to allow air circulation, preventing fungal disease.

Maintenance

-  Spread compost

-  Prune spring flowering shrubs after bloom to allow air circulation, preventing fungal disease.

-  Add grass clippings (no herbicides!), yard waste, and kitchen scraps to compost bin