In the Garden: March Monthly guide for gardening tasks, forecasts, and more

UPDATE: This In the Garden, monthly guide for March, has been updated with new gardening tasks and scheduled plantings. Thinking about starting a new hobby? Maybe grow a bit of your own food or flower this year? Get growing and going with this post from the archives, Preparing Your (New or Existing) Garden.

This month's In the Garden graphics are in honor of my late mother, Margaret Ann, or Peggy as she was called, who loved quilts, and window boxes, and blooming bulbs. She admired pretty as much as she was pretty. I miss her all year long, but I hear her voice strongest right around her birthday, March 6. If she's watching, she'll be happy to see that I'm planning my flower boxes. This year, I'm planting jonquils in a public garden in her memory.

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

In like a lion, out like a lamb for much of the country, March will see winter's chilly nights arise to Spring's warmer days, yielding crisp sunny afternoons that just give a peek at the riotous glory to come. It's perfect gardening weather, and that's a great thing, because break's over, friends. It's time to get busy!

Below, find planting information for USDA Zone 8. Adjust accordingly for the zone in which you garden-- you can find more information about your plant hardiness zone on the map below, and here.

Things To Do In March

Fertilize
Begin monthly feedings of hibiscus after pruning. Start a rose feeding schedule; spray and feed camellias. Begin fertilizing azaleas after they bloom. Fertilize established fruit and nut trees with 1 lb. 15-5-10 per inch of trunk diameter. Berry bushes should receive 1/3 cup per square yard of planting area.

Diseases/Pests
Watch for aphids on new growth, spider mites on older leaves and cut worms on young transplants. Spray peach and plum trees for curculio weevils when 3/4 of the petals have fallen (repeat three times at two week intervals).

Prune
Prune hibiscus, also spring flowering shrubs and trees, after they bloom. Prune and train vines. Shape spring-blooming shrubs with light pruning after bloom. Allow bulb foliage to yellow and die before removing.

Set wide the window. Let me drink the day. ? Edith Wharton, Artemis to Actaeon and Other Verses

Things To Plant In March

Flower Plants
achillea (yarrow), ageratum, alyssum, joseph's coat, summer forget-me-not, african daisy, alpine aster, butterfly weed, balloon flower, balsam, blue daze, blue cardinal flower, boltonia, scarlet bouvardia, browallia, calliopsis, candytutft, chocolate plant, chrysanthemum, cigar platn, cleome, cockscomb, coleus, columbine, copper plant, coreopsis, dahlia, dianthus, daisy (michaelmas, shasta and painted). feverfew. gao;;ardoa. geranium, gomphrena, hibiscus, hollyhock, indian blanket, jacobinia, lamb's ear, lantana, liatris, edging lobelia, mexican heather, nasturtium, nierembergia, penstemon, penta, petunia, phlox drummondi, plumbago, oriental poppy, salvia, sedum, spiderwort, stokes' aster, sunflower, torenia, veronica.

Flower Seeds
ageratum, balsam, amethyst flower, candytuft, castor bean, cleome, butterfly pea, cosmos, dahlia, echinacea, feverfew, impatiens, moonflower, cyperss vine, gomphrena, sunflower, nasturtium, flowering tobacco, pinks, portulace, sweet sultan, marigold, tithonia, torenia, verbena.

Bulbs
achimenes, acidanthera, allium, alstromeria, amarcrinum, amaryllis, ground orchid, caladium, calla, canna, crinum, crocosmia, dahlia, daylily, butterfly iris, ginger, gladiolus, gloriosa lily, hosta, spider lily, yellow star grass, liriope, monkey grass, rain lily, society garlic, tigridia, tuberose.

Vegetables: Early�Mid Month: Asparagus crowns, Collards, Turnip. Mid�Late Month: Corn, Cucumber, Eggplant, Peppers, Pumpkin, Squash, Watermelon. All Month: Beans, Lettuce, Mustard, Radish, Tomato Plants.Be prepared to protect plants from frosts and freezes. Give transplants a weekly boost the first month with a liquid plant food or "manure tea".

Herbs: anise, star anise, basil, bay, borage, bouncing bet, caraway, catnip, chives, comfrey, costmary, cumin, fennel, fenugreek, scented geranium, germander, horehound, horseradish, lamb's ear, lavender, lemongrass, lemon verbena, mexican mint marigold, monarda, oregano, parsley, perilla, rosemary, sage, santolina, summer savory, winter savory, sesame, sorrel, southernwood, tansy, tarragon, thyme, common wormwood, roman wormwood, yarrow.

Fruit: container grown fruit and nut trees, vines, bushes

Fun Reading:
Add Charm with Window Boxes: Better Homes and Gardens
Creative Window Boxes: Country Living
Window Box Gardening: Organic Gardening

If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. ~Nadine Stair
Planting and gardening information courtesy of the Garden Guide for Austin and Vicinity, published by the Travis County Master Gardener Association.