Gardening Tips for March

[David Cheetham]

March is a guessing game in the garden. Will it warm up soon? Will it stay warm? Will the rains start/stop? About the only thing we can count on is that March will soon turn to April when hopefully we can all get out and about in the garden.

Planting

This month roses will begin that first bloom.

Azaleas and camellias are best planted while blooming. They began their blooming in February, so March is right in the middle of their blooming season. Please don?t feed your camellias until they have completed their blooming. If you do, they will drop all remaining buds. Fertilise to reward the plant after the blooming ends.

Spring colour plants are arriving! Brighten up your gardens with perennials and annuals. Look for perennials such as campanula, columbine, coral bells, delphinium, foxglove (digitalis), diascia, penstemon, salvia, yarrow and so much more. Great annuals to pick from include celosia, coleus, dianthus, linaria, lobelia, marigolds, nicotiana, petunias, salvias, and verbena.

There is still time for planting bulbs!

And, don?t forget to start your vegetable gardens! Veggies as the cabbage family (cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli), squash, lettuce, spinach, peppers, and cool season tomatoes will be in this month. This is also a good time not only to prune back herbs from last year, but also add in new plants such as chives, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon, and thyme.

Maintenance Duties

Fertilise your lawns and roses.

Snails will coming be out to munch on the tender new growth. So stay alert.

Now is also the time to divide perennials such as agapanthus, callas, daylilies, rudbeckia, and daisies. Those with fuchsias can cut them back two-thirds toward the main branches. Remember to leave 2-5 leaf bud/scars for new growth.

You can begin pruning your ornamental shrubs (pittosporum, boxwood, etc.) for hedges. Wait to prune spring-flowering shrubs and trees until their blooming is over.

And if anyone has any specific gardening questions they would like answering, please feel free to email us;[email protected]

Happy Gardening!!

Regards

David Cheetham MSGD

[David Cheetham]

Many thanks for PM's. In answer to the question, hoping to post the tips every month.

Also, thanks for all the individual questions and queries, making good use of my reference library.

Regards

David Cheetham MSGD

[Mick Mac]

should we all be top dressing?

[????]

My lawn is absolutely buggered after all the snow...mainly mud and moss? Any revival tips or start from scratch?

[David Cheetham]

I would leave any revival plans to early April as any treatments should have a greater chance of success as the weather warms up and hopefully stays drier.

Replacing a lawn can be expensive so it's probably worth tackling the existing lawn. But don't expect an immediate success story as good lawn work takes time. You can either tackle the project yourself or there are a number of specialist lawn service companies.

If you have excessive moss then start by applying a good weed/feed treatment. Readily available from a garden or DIY centre. Leave this for 7-10 days before you tackle the dead and yellowing moss/thatch. A metal spring-tined rake is ideal for raking out the dead moss and thatch, hard but rewarding exercise as well. However, there are also mains powered versions available to buy or hire.

Once you have raked over the lawn and removed the moss and thatch then it is worth aerating it as a well-trodden lawn, or grass on heavy clay soil can quickly become compacted.

I prefer to then give the lawn a chance to recover before reseeding with a combination of seed, sand and peat. Top dressing the lawn is best left till Autumn.

I hope this helps.

David Cheetham MSGD

[woofmarkthedog]

Is....

It me or does this thread feel all cosy, smelling faintly of creosote to you too ?

David can you rename it "From the Potting Shed, with David Cheetham "

Then record it as a podcast so I can play it through my Roberts radio, all Radio 4 like

I'll put my pinny on and bake a cake for tea

Keep up the good work

W**F

[karter]

Does West Dulwich tip still take old paint pots?

[Mick Mac]

Dulwich Golf Club are top dressing their greens next week.....although I know professionals are slightly more pro active than the rest of us.

But I thought top dressing helped smooth out the little bumps and hollows caused by the snow and frost over winter - is that not part of the reason for doing it David?

[*Bob*]

???? Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> My lawn is absolutely buggered after all the

> snow...mainly mud and moss? Any revival tips or

> start from scratch?

Learn to love the moss. It's quite nice stuff, really. And it doesn't need mowing.

[David Cheetham]

Yes Mic Mac you are right about top dressing smoothing out the hollows and bumps. The combined mix I put down of seed, sand and peat will do the same.

With regards paint pots karter - I did see a load there the last time I went

And, woofmarkthedog, thanks for the comments - I think/hope!!

Quite like "From the Potting Shed, with David Cheetham " as a title, so maybe next month.

Regards

David Cheetham MSGD

[woofmarkthedog]

Mick Mac Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Dulwich Golf Club are top dressing their greens

> next week.....although I know professionals are

> slightly more pro active than the rest of us.

>

> But I thought top dressing helped smooth out the

> little bumps and hollows caused by the snow and

> frost over winter - is that not part of the reason

> for doing it David?

__________________________________________________

David

Mic mac lives on the 11th floor of a tower block in the Old Kent Road ( he's the old guy who throws empty Guinness bottles of the balcony)

So take no notice of him

I do however mean what I say, I like the "sheddy fell" of your thread

Keep up the good work

W**F

[David Cheetham]

W**F

Thanks for your message. I must admit I like the 'sheddy feel' to the thread as well. So much that I have actually tracked down and ordered a copy of Percy Throwers' Garden Notebook - so hoping to share more nostaligic gardening moments and advise next month.

I know we all have hetic lifestyles to juggle but for me gardening was always about my dad in the greenhouse or shed and my mum complaining about the lawn being to long - happy days.

Regards

David Cheetham MSGD

[*Bob*]

David,

Can you offer any tips for stopping the birds from pecking at my cherries?

Pigeons, mainly. The little bastards!

Thanks in advance.

[ImpetuousVrouw]

I can loan you one of my cats!

[David Cheetham]

Hi *Bob*

Having birds in the garden is beneficial as they eat unwanted insects but they can be destructive as you have exeprienced.

There are a number of things you can try;

1. If it flaps or flickers then hang it in the tree. Basically, hang anything shiny and reflective such as pieces of perspex mirror or temporary barrier tape (the pastic red and white one is good) in the trees. The birds don't like them.

2. You could put bird netting over the trees

3. You can invest in a range of gadets including an electronic owl and a motion sensor that sends out hawk sounds

And finally, this one was told to me but I have never tried it. Try hanging plastic Christmas baubbles in the tree. Apprantly the birds/piegons will go for these first instead of the fruit because there are bigger but soon get bored when they can't peck into them.

I hope this helps.

Regards

David Cheetham MSGD

[Lord Sornoff]

Ever thought of fighting fire with fire, *Bob*?

[Sue]

What's MSGD?

[katie1997]

Sue Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> What's MSGD?

Master Something Garden Design?

[HAL9000]

http://www.msgd.co.uk/

[David Cheetham]

Thanks HAL9000 but not sure who Mary Stevenson is??? at www.msdg.co.uk

MSGD stands for Member of the Society of Garden Designers

Regards

David Cheetham MSGD

[The Minkey]

Shannon's Garden Centre in Forest Hill sell dangly mirror mobile things which look quite attractive hanging in trees and will do the sparkly thing to deter birds. Alternatively, you're welcome to encourage my sparrow hawk over to yours.

[*Bob*]

Good cherry tips.. thanks all.

When a fat-arsed pigeon gingerly edged down the last lowest-hanging branch last year to deprive me of my final cherry, it nearly threw me over the edge. Someone suggested CDs on string too.. though that might just look plain weird.

[????]

BBW would have had a good solution for the unsqeamish *Bob*

[woofmarkthedog]

???? Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> BBW would have had a good solution for the

> unsqeamish *Bob*

___________________________________________________

Yes he would....

Though " Lord Sornoff " might have a solution

W**F

[Lord Sornoff]

I've already offered a "solution" to the chap concerned. It's up to him as to whether or not he wishes to pursue the measure I've suggested.