March is cleanup month, when we set the stage for the miraculous unfolding of spring. It’s pleasant to get outside on warmer, sunnier days and prepare for the season ahead. This is the time to prune and rake, before you have to worry about trampling delicate shoots. Never step in the garden when the ground is wet, or you will compress the soil. You can start enjoying your garden by cutting branches of April-bloomers such as forsythia, Japanese quince, February daphne, pieris, shadblow, plum, and cherry. Do this on warm days, so there is not a great temperature difference when you take them indoors. If you recut the ends under water and soak them in a tub overnight before you put them in a vase, they will bloom indoors ahead of schedule.
Now is also the time to remove damaged branches. You should be able to cut off split or broken branches less than 2 inches wide with a sharp long-handled lopper. The secret of pruning is never to leave a stub. Cut back to the base of a fork, where there is another branch emerging that can channel the plant’s energy by continuing to grow. Pruning is easier before trees and shrubs have leafed out because you can see the internal structure better. Remove excess interior branches of highbush blueberries and fruit trees so sunlight will be able to reach and ripen all the fruit. Cut out raspberry canes that fruited last year — they won’t do it a second time — but leave the unbranched new stems. The same is true of blue hydrangeas. Remove multibranched stems that flowered last year, but spare the stick-like new ones with this year’s flower buds.
This is also the time to cut down those perennials you left standing over the winter. They are probably flattened by now and thoroughly dried out and dead-looking, like fallen scarecrows. You can find yourself in a race with time to get last year’s stalks cut down before this year’s new growth is poking through the debris. I stack woody branches for a burn pile, but put last year’s perennial tops and leaves in my compost. It’s easier than bagging everything up for trash collection and ecologically sounder, too. My compost pile is very rudimentary, just a 6-by-6-foot square surrounded by heavy wire held in place by metal fence posts. Many municipalities sell compost holders at cost. You really don’t have to do anything for it to break down into humus, a rich “black gold’’ full of micro-organisms that is much more effective than chemical fertilizers. I don’t compost invasives such as bittersweet or plants that don’t break down very well such as ornamental grasses, which tend to blow around. Those go out with the trash to municipal composting, as do plants with weed seeds. One reason I compost is that a good-sized garden produces a tremendous amount of organic debris to clean up, and I want to keep things simple. Because I compost, most of it never has to leave my property. I always shudder when I see a house with 20 expensive leaf bags waiting for the trash hauler.
Reminder: Beware of Lyme disease if you are clearing brush in an area frequented by deer. Cover up. It’s especially important to protect your ankles from deer ticks looking to jump aboard. I do this by tucking my pants into my socks and spraying my shoes, socks, and pants with permethrin. Do not spray permethrin directly on your skin. It will remain on your clothes through six wash cycles. Always wash them separately. After you shower at the end of the day, check for ticks. They are small, about the size of a pencil dot.
Many people order plants now, but it’s easy to be seduced by colorful catalogs and overorder after a winter of sensory deprivation. I buy plants from local nurseries as the season progresses and I can see more clearly what I actually need and want. The place to plan a garden is in the garden itself during the growing season, not on a computer screen indoors during the winter. You can lose touch with reality and find you have a lot less space to fill than you imagined. Starting seeds indoors is a good exercise, and if it is new to you, choose easy varieties such as basil, marigold, and zinnia. Follow seed-package directions and start them under grow lights or in a south-facing window. Though most plants must be started indoors, you can seed peas outdoors now.
One way to get quick outdoor color is to group pots of budding tulips and daffodils in containers on the front steps. They will last only a couple of weeks but are surprisingly weatherproof. Or fill those planters with a fast-draining lightweight soil-less mix and plant pansies, which are also very cold hardy. As the season progresses, you can replace the flagging pansies in June with annuals such as geraniums, and then these with chrysanthemums in September, all using the same pots. All these plants should be regarded as disposable. (This is another reason you need a compost pile!) The soil-less mixture will be more disease-free than garden soil and retain moisture better.
This is also a good time to repot houseplants before their spring growth spurt. Let the games begin!
Events
The Boston Flower & Garden Show is a revered tradition that will get you in the mood. It runs from March 16-20 at Boston’s Seaport World Trade Center. This year’s theme, “Nurtured by Nature,’’ will celebrate gardens, flower arrangements, houseplants, well-designed landscapes, and vegetable gardening. Tickets are $20 for adults. There will be mini workshops, and you can rest your feet at back-to-back lectures on topics ranging from pruning roses to keeping chickens. For more information, visit www.bostonflowershow.com.
Please send your garden questions to Carol Stocker at carolstocker@gmail.com. Please include your name or initials and your community.
