MARCH

In the Edible Garden

• Plant onion sets in late March.
• Till vegetable beds. Never till the soil when wet. Try the soil squeeze test first. Take a handful of soil and squeeze. If the soil forms a ball, let it dry for 2-3 days. If it crumbles easily through your hand, it is ready to till.Clean up last year’s debris in the
  vegetable garden to reduce the potential for disease.Plant potatoes as soon as soil can
  be worked. Buy certified disease
  free seedpotatoes. Cut into sections. Each section should have 1 or 2 “eyes” (buds). Plant sections 1 foot apart and 4 inches deep. Sow lettuce, peas and radishes.Start cabbage, broccoli and Brussels sprouts seeds indoors in early march. They should be ready to transplant outside in 6-8 weeks.
• Start tomato and pepper plants indoors in mid-March. Transplant outdoors in mid to late May.

In the Ornamental Garden

• Prune to remove any diseased, dead, weak or crossing branches.
• Trim back Russian sage and butterfly bushes to a height of 6-8 inches.
• Prune yews (Taxus) in late March. Cut back to green shoots. Taxus can be pruned back as much as half.
• Cut back ornamental grasses to a height of 4 to 6 inches before new growth begins.
• Apply a multi-purpose pre-bloom orchard spray to fruit trees.
• Watch for winter injury (browning needles) on evergreens. Watch for damage on the south and west side of plants. Brown needles will fall off or may be pruned out. New growth will fill in dead areas by late June or July. No need to fertilize.
• Apply horticultural oil sprays to trees and shrubs to control scales before buds open and temperatures are above freezing for 24 hours.
• Control iris borer by cleaning up and destroying the old foliage before new growth appears.
• Prune late flowering and large flowered clematis now. Prune early flowering clematis after bloom.