March Garden Newsletter

Well, it’s GAME ON!!!  It is TIME TO GARDEN!  Lol!  We’ve all been waiting for the last frost to hit and hopefully it has!  This is always the most exciting time of the year for us gardeners! 

In this month’s newsletter, we are going to discuss:

• What Blooms this Month!

• What You Should Be Harvesting Now

• What to Plant in Ground

• What to Plant Indoors

• Starting Peppers Successfully

• Monthly Garden Chores

• What to Order for Next Month

What Blooms this Month!

One of the most exciting things about this time of year is seeing those first blooms!  What a thrill to see ranunculus coming out of the ground along with daffodils, violas, pansies!! 

So here is a list of blooms that you’ll most likely see this month: Ranunculi, daffodil, violet, pansy, lily, iris, azaleas, dogwoods, Cherokee roses, and camellias!

What You Should be Harvesting Now

Now is also the time to reap the rewards of your fall gardening efforts!  Your lettuce should be in it’s prime!  Salads are going to be a staple on the kitchen table right now!    Also in abundance will be all your greens:  Collards, Mustards, Turnips, etc!  Get that pressure cooker out! 

Here is a list of veggies that you should be able to harvest this month:  Lettuce, most greens, chives, asparagus, celery, parsley, mint, sage, cilantro, thyme, rosemary, lemon balm, and maybe even turnips, carrots, and radishes!!

What to Plant in Ground

Honestly…as a Charleston, SC gardener, March is the month I live for!  Basically, everything can go into the ground!  It’s still cool enough for cool weather greens, radishes, etc.  But it’s also getting warm enough for most everything else to sprout! 

So here is a list of things that you should really focus on first: 

Raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, lettuce, radish, turnips, brassicas, carrots, beets, sweet peas, high scent peas, dill, black-eyed Susan’s, nasturtium, snapdragons, marigolds, and asparagus.  You can also plant Dahlias in late March!

And whenever you feel that the threat of frost has truly past, you can go ahead and get these in the ground as well:  Squash, Zucchini, Cucumber and Melons. 

AS A WORD OF CAUTION… Be aware of the dreaded vine borer!!  I have yet to find an organic method of truly “squashing” this nasty moth!  So the best advice I’ve gotten is to plant your squashes very early and very late in the season in an effort to miss the lifecycle of the vine borer.  This way you might get some produce before it strikes or after it’s lifecycle is complete!   If anyone has ever found a good method of dealing with this pest, please comment below and I’ll try it and share it!  

So these are the squash varieties that I’ll be planting this year:  Cucuzzi, Zucchini, Yellow Summer Squash, Patty Pan and a NEW-TO-ME variety…Rampicante (or Tromboncino)!  My dear friend sent me a reel about this vine borer resistant plant!  So we are both trying it this year and will let you know how it goes!

WHAT TO PLANT INDOORS

If you haven’t already done this, go ahead and get these started in your greenhouse or under your grow lights: Peppers, tomatoes, eggplants and anything else you want to transplant.  This leads me to something that most of you have probably experienced.  Peppers are tricky to get started! So read the next section below:

Starting Peppers Successfully

Peppers can be really tricky to get started, so here are some tips to help you with successful germination. 

1.      Start with good quality seeds.  I love MI Gardener!

2.      Plant no more than 2 or 3 seeds in your containers.  Peppers don’t like competition.

3.      Make sure they aren’t too wet.  Peppers are very prone to root rot, so they don’t need to be sitting in wet soil.  The best way to combat this is to gently spray seedlings with a spray bottle so that only the top bit of soil is getting watered.  That ensures the roots are not sitting in water.

4.      Keep them warm!  They need to be at least 70 degrees.  You can do this with a greenhouse, grow lights, and a heating mat.

For a more in depth look at how to start peppers successfully, check out the latest video from MI Gardener!  He has some really great information in that video!

Monthly Garden Chores

1.      Plant seeds outdoors.

2.      Get seeds started indoors.

3.      WEED.  Weed now so you don’t have to later!

4.      Mulch, mulch, mulch

5.      Fertilize trees and shrubs

6.      Place any needed orders for April

What to Order for Next Month

 So now that we have March all squared away, we need to prepare for April so that we have everything we need on hand when it arrives! 

Baby Chicks: If you haven’t already pre-ordered baby chicks for arrival between April and June, go ahead and do that.  You’ll also want to order any needed supplies for the babies. 

Sweet Potatoes: You’ll also want to order sweet potato slips.

Any other seeds: You’ll want to order any other seeds that you don’t already have on hand for this planting season! 

I hope you all have a wonderful March and I’ll see you again in the next newsletter!!