March gardening jobs - Preparing your garden for spring

Spring is finally here and I’ve already seen Brimestone and Comma butterflies! March is the month that gardening begins to kick off again, as the sun shines for longer and rain is less frequent… hopefully anyway, as it has been raining so much here lately. March gardening jobs are key to transforming your garden from winter to spring. I’m looking forward to sowing my first seeds of the year; last year I did them on my birthday, so I might do that again.

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Start/continue weeding your beds

You may want to wait a bit before sowing seeds, so the start of March is a great time to get your weeds under control. Sorting out and removing weeds now will give you a clear bed to give your plants and seedlings their best chance at succeeding. Starting with a clear bed is so much easier, and it will be easier to manage the weeds in the future. I find weeding quite relaxing, but if this is a job you dread, I would recommend using a hoe to tackle weeds. At the moment, the ground is still quite soggy from all the rain, but I’m hoping it will dry out soon.

Pick daffodils

Another of the March gardening jobs is picking daffodils. The beautiful spring flowers are blooming in a greater abundance now that the sun is starting to shine more. They last a lot longer outside, kept on the plant. But they are so lovely picked, and brighten up a room so much, especially with their lovely scent. It is also important to deadhead them when they have gone over to ensure that they bloom the following year.

Other spring flowers such as hyacinths, crocuses and tulips are flowering as well.

Plant seed potatoes

It is almost time to plant seed potatoes. The first earlies will be going in from the middle to the end of March. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t been chitting your potatoes, they will still be okay to be planted. Vitabella is my favourite potato variety, which is a first early so hopefully those will be going in soon.

Seeds to sow in March

Broad bean seeds

Broad beans are my favourite thing to harvest from the allotment! You may have planted broad beans in October or November that will be ready to harvest in early May. Broad beans can be sown in March and April for a summer harvest. I prefer to sow my broad bean seeds in trays to then transplant when they are bigger. But you can also direct sow into soil. If your soil is soggy, you may want to avoid this for now so that the seeds do not rot.

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Chilli seeds

Chilli seeds can be sown as early as January in a propagator. If you don’t have a propagator, March is a great time to sow chilli seeds indoors. Wait until the plants have grown to 7.5cm and have two true leaves before transferring to a bigger pot.

Peas

Similar to broad beans, you may have planted peas in the autumn, ready for an early harvest. Alternatively, or as well, you can sow peas in March. These can be direct sown, but I prefer to sow them in a seed tray, and transplant when the plants are bigger.

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Tomatoes

Tomatoes can be grown between March and April, even earlier if you are growing them in a greenhouse. My dad loves tomatoes so we always grow a lot – he was eating them until December! There’s nothing better than the smell of tomato plants – so summery. I’m not the biggest fan of tomatoes, but I will admit that the variety Gardener’s Delight is pretty yummy. Such a classic.

Cosmos

Cosmos is one of my favourite flower varieties, so I try to grow them every year. Last year, most of my seeds didn’t germinate and I was too busy with work. I’ve bought a new pack of seeds as the previous pack was 3 years old. Cosmos seeds can be sown from March to May. When sowing them in March, you will need to keep them under a propogator until they germinate. This usually takes between 7 and 15 days.

Cosmos varities I’m hoping to grow this year: