Mar 6, 2015
- Check your irrigation system and do necessary maintenance.
- Fertilize roses, annuals flowers, and berries with slow-release fertilizer when spring growth begins.
- Fertilize citrus and deciduous fruit trees.
- Watch for aphids on new growth on the roses; spray with a strong spray of water to remove them, or use insecticidal soap or horticultural oil spray.
- Prepare garden beds by incorporating compost before planting spring vegetables. You can plant lettuce, carrots, and cilantro directly in the vegetable bed. Mid-March is a good time to plant potatoes.
- You can plant canna, gladiolus, and crocosmia for summer blooms. Early in the month you can still plant bare-root trees and shrubs if the garden center still has any.
- Don't be tempted by the plants in the garden centers unless you have a way to warm up the soil. It is still early for tomatoes, eggplant and peppers (although you could try late in the month if it is still warm.) Nights should be above 55°.
- Prune and fertilize spring-flowering shrubs and trees after they finish blooming.
- Fertilize the lawn with a slow release fertilizer.
- Keep on the weed patrol; pull them while they are small.
- Use iron phosphate bait for slugs and snails or go on a night hunt and kill them up when you find them.