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Gardening Tips for March 2004
Thea Fiskin, UC Master Gardener

Time to get outdoors and enjoy the spring weather. If Mother Nature stays true to form, then it's safe to plant frost tender plants after March 15. My goal is to get all the garden maintenance done early in the month, so I can spend the rest of the month planting to my heart's content. It's time to plant all your permanent plants, like trees, shrubs and vines. Planting in March allows time for roots to establish before the hot days of summer arrive. If you're planning on changing out your old bedding plants with summer color, make sure soil is deeply dug, rich in compost and fertilized. I space plants closer together than recommended and plant in mass to get eye catching color.

What to plant
Annuals - Nurseries will be bursting with new stock to replant those tired flower beds. Try alyssum, begonias, marigolds, petunias, and salvias. You can seed bachelors button, cosmos, impatiens, and portulacas.

Bulbs - For summer bloom check out your favorite nursery, catalogs, and the internet for cannas, caladium, calla lily, dahlia, gladiolus, ranunculus, tuberose and zephyranthes. Stagger the plantings of gladiolus corms over several weeks to get blooms throughout the summer.

Citrus - All citrus can be planted now. Try grapefruit, kumquats, lemons, limes, oranges, mandarins, pummelos, and tangelos (a cross between a mandarin and grapefruit).

Herbs - Plant chives, dill, French tarragon, oregano, lavender, mint, sage, rosemary, and thyme.

Lawns - Seed or sod cool season lawns such as fescue and fertilize established fescue lawns. Wait until April to fertilize bermudagrass and May (or until the weather is nice and warm) before seeding bermuda lawns.

Perennials - Try brachycome, butterfly bush, coneflower, coral-bells, coreopsis, diascia, dianthus, liatris, osteospermum, and phlox just to name a few favorites.

Veggies - You can plant beans, beets, lettuce, peas, potatoes and radishes directly in the garden. Plant from seed, either inside or in a protected area, bell pepper, cucumber, eggplant, melon, squash, and tomatoes. Summer veggies will also be available in six packs, but use a hot cap to protect them in case we have a surprise frost.

Garden Chores

1. Check irrigation equipment; soon it will be time to water again so check drip systems, sprinklers and hoses. Locate those sprinkler heads that disappear during the winter.
2. Stay on top of weeds. Spring rains will encourage rapid growth, so hand pull or hula hoe.
3. Fertilize annuals, bulbs, citrus, shrubs, roses, and any other plants that are actively growing.
4. Trim hedges to retain their shape. Hedges should be trimmed so they are narrow at the top and wider at the bottom so the plant gets maximum light to prevent bald spots
5. Divide any crowded perennials.
6. Pinch off the spent flowers on your winter annuals to prolong the bloom.
7. Pinch off spent flowers on bulbs, but leave the foliage until its brown. Don't braid or tie foliage, this prevents nutrients for next year's flowers.
8. Put pheromone traps in apple trees to monitor codling moth.
9. Watch for fireblight in apples, pears and roses. Remove all branches affected at least 12'' below the infected area with disinfected pruners. Clean pruners after each cut so you don't spread disease

Critter Control
Snails will be out in force - use snail bait and hand pick in early morning or evening. Another trick is to use a flat board and elevate it a couple inches; the snails will hide under it during the day. Flip the board over and throw away the snails. Repeating this regularly in spring will cut down on the snail population this summer.

Watch for aphids on new lush spring growth, a blast of water from the hose will control them.

Take steps to prevent pests in your citrus. Prune any branches that touch the ground to prevent access to ants, slugs and snails. Clean the tree with the hose to wash off leaves to prevent mites. Finally use a sticky ant barrier on the trunk like 'Tanglefoot' following the directions on the package. Preventing ants from getting into your citrus will allow beneficial insects to attack aphids and scale, which the ants protect. Be sure to have family time out in the garden: plant a tree together on Arbor Day, March 20, take a nature hunt for bugs, or gather for a picnic on the lawn.

March 4, 2004