“This is the perfume of March: rain, loam, feathers, mint.” What a difference a few days of sunshine makes to everything, not just colour, but fragrance as well. March gardening heralds the start of the Spring gardening calendar. The soil is warming up daily, and it’s time to get planting, sowing, and growing again. So, let’s take a look at what to do in the garden this month.
What to do in the garden in March
As usual, I’ll break this blog post down into sections: flowers, vegetables, jobs, wildlife, not forgetting a sprinkling of March gardening tips as well. And to kick off, here’s a photo of Loki, the only one of our three cats who kept me company when I was taking these photos, bless him.
Spring flowering plants in March
Our wonderful Daphne odora is still flowering happily for the fourth month in succession. Last month I opined she was slightly wasted where I’d planted her, but it’s not so. I’ve been working quite a bit in the orchard recently, so I’ve been able to revel in her glorious scent. Definitely one of the best shrubs to consider for Winter and early Spring fragrance.
Other good flowers to plant for colour in March are zingy yellow tete-a-tetes, primroses, vibrant little crocuses, muscari, windflowers, and more. Cheap to buy and easy to grow, ideally you’d have planted them in Autumn for Spring flowering, but garden centres are full of them in pots right now if you didn’t get around to it. Tip: look for pots that are going over as well as in full flower, they’ll be cheaper.
I’m not at all sorry to be sharing yet more photos of our beautiful, reliable Hellebores – expect to see even more of these over the coming months too 🙂 If you’re lucky, you might still find a few plants on the sale tables at garden centres but if not, I urge you to buy some this Autumn instead. Here are a few of my favourites, including this month’s cover picture. Stunning to look at and a fabulous form of early nectar for the bees as well.
March gardening jobs are all about dead heading where flowers and flowering shrubs are concerned. Now is really the last chance to finish pruning my rose bushes and climbers to encourage strong new growth. And to plant out my new bare root rose plant when she arrives (after soaking her in a bucket of water for two hours first). A carry forward from last month is to cut back the ornamental grasses around the fishpond, as is to deadhead our hydrangeas now that new growth is appearing. I’ll also cut back these plants by around a third, to maintain their shape and stop them getting too leggy.
Lastly, later this month I expect I’ll be dead heading some of our daffodils as the flowers finish, although I’ll leave the foliage die back naturally to feed the bulbs for next year.
What to do in the vegetable garden in March
March gardening is well underway where my vegetables are concerned. My November-sown Robin Hood broad beads* and Crimson Flowered broad beads* have been planted out in a raised bed, underneath a frost protection fleece*. And I’m seriously considering doing the same for my sweet peas* as they are growing apace. There’s only so much pinching out the tips to encourage more side shoots I can do – although they’ll need to harden off in a cold frame before going into the ground. Tip: leave the greenhouse vents and door open on sunny days to prevent humidity building up.
Other vegetables to plant in March (or seeds to sow indoors) are our favourite ‘Rainbow Blend’ F1 Hybrid tomatoes* (sweet, colourful, and perfect for lunch boxes). And some equally delicious Burpless Tasty Green cucumbers*. I’ve got my seed compost ready and cleared our windowsills ready for my seed trays… Earlier this month I dug some compost and fertiliser into our outside vegetable beds to prepare for the growing season ahead. And I covered the prepared soil with some black plastic, to help warm up the earth for planting.
Assuming you’ve prepared your soil, you can plant in season crops like early potatoes into a trench, raised bed, or even a container if space is limited. And you can make the first outdoor sowings of carrots*, covering them over with cloches or fleece. We’ll prune our hardy apple and pear fruit trees this month, but leave our soft fruit plum and cherry trees until Summer. And I’ll give our blackcurrant bush and potted blueberry plants a good feed in the meantime. The gooseberries do better on poorer soil, so they don’t need any extra help. Lastly, it’s always encouraging to see our Japanese quince bush and damson tree with early blooms and blossom – fingers crossed for no late frosts now…
March gardening jobs
One of my carry forward Spring garden chores is to finish clearing, feeding, and mulching our flower beds as I want to direct sow some hardy annual flower seeds like calendulas and poppies this month. Other March gardening jobs include top dressing all our pots with fresh compost. Not as glamorous as it sounds, it just means scraping out the top 5 inches of old soil and replacing with new compost for the growing season ahead.
Alan’s nearly finished pressure washing our patios, to get rid of all the dirty and slimy patches. And I’ve been nagging him to make the first grass cut of the year, with the blades on a high setting so as not to shock the grass. He hates this time of year as he has to mow around all our daffodils in the orchard – usually with me following him and squeaking in alarm if he gets too close! Monty Don (Gardeners’ World) is always campaigning for lawns to be left wild and free, but I think we do enough for wildlife in our garden already so that’s not happening here.
Wildlife gardening jobs for March
It’s very important to keep your bird feeders topped up before the breeding season gets underway. One of Alan’s daily March gardening jobs is replenishing ours with quality wild bird food* and high energy fat balls*. Another job is keeping the “doorways” in our orchard fence free from weeds, to allow any hedgehogs safe passage from our garden into the next-door field. (As you can see, Loki appreciates them too). If you’re lucky enough to spot any hedgehogs who’ve emerged from hibernation early, leave them out some fresh water and meat-based cat food, not milk as this will give them upset tummies.
Some of our frogs have already laid some frogspawn in our fishpond, although I’m sad to say we’ve had a heron start visiting us again. It came last year and scooped up some of our fish, who’ve since learned to head to the deeper water. But I had to chase it away from our smaller, shallower wildlife pond recently, with a poor frog in its beak. So, I’ve put some metal grilles over that pond to hopefully protect against further snatches. I do realise herons have to eat as well, but I’d rather they didn’t feast on our fish and frogs 🙁
March gardening – a summary
And we’ve come to the end of my March gardening update and reminders of what to do in the garden in this month. I mentioned last month that late Winter/early Spring is a great time to review your garden design, before too much growth gets underway. And I’m VERY excited to share that I’ve had a professional garden designer draw up a plan for the main garden, which on paper looks AMAZING. Now all I need is to find someone to help me make it happen. Watch this space…!
I hope you’ve enjoyed your virtual visit to March in our garden? Isn’t it lovely to see so much colour coming through now? Are you growing anything in your garden or outside space yet? Please do let me know if I’ve inspired you to get sowing and growing. I hope you’ll join me again next month and, in the meantime, do pop any gardening questions you’d like answered in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them 🙂
* This post features affiliate links but all opinions are my own (see my Disclaimer).
Another beautiful and helpful gardening post Lisa! Those hellebores are stunning and something I need to look at trying my hand at. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Jodie, I’m so glad it was useful – and enjoyable!
Oh my. Our garden is still buried under about a foot of snow. Here in Canada, we won’t see daffodils for another 4-6 weeks. Meanwhile, I will start my seeds indoors and think positive thoughts. I enjoyed your lovely pictures, though.
Well, snow is a great insulator so hopefully all your daffodils are growing away snugly! Thank you, Michelle, glad you enjoyed the post.
Daffodils and Tete-a-tete are my favorites! Yellow is the perfect optimistic color for spring 🌼🌼🌼
Yes, it’s great to see something so cheery so early on in the year!
That photo of the quince, such a beauty.
A new designer garden coming. I’m sure to be looking out for that.
In between time, I’ll Google dead heading.
Thank you, Bev! And dead heading is literally cutting off the dead flower heads when they’ve gone over 🙂
Your garden is looking super colourful already. I think the Windflower is so pretty! We actually have daffodils in a plant pot growing at our front door, it is great to see some bright colours in nature again. Thank you for sharing Lisa. Looking forward to seeing more colourful garden posts from you this Spring and Summer.
Lauren
Thank you so much, Lauren, and yes, I completely agree, it’s wonderful to see some brighter colours emerging, as well as some scent. It feels like they’re all long overdue 🙂
So many beautiful colors. I haven’t done much gardening lately but I love the sight of one. The aroma of the flowers and it’s beauty gets me everytime. You have such a beautiful garden 🪴
Thank you very much, Rayo, that’s very kind of you.
Love reading your gardening posts. I’m debating when to move my broad beans over into the raised bed. Definitely a job for this month, I’m just hoping I don’t kill them off in the move. This is my first year gardening, and I think they look pretty good, so a bit nervous incase I ruin my efforts. Haha. I popped my early potatoes in too last week. I’ve got a stack of seeds to get going this month. I’m excited! X
Thank you, Claire! I think you should be fine to move over your broad beans, they’re pretty tough. But I’d recommend a frost protection fleece or a cloche, just to be on the safe side! Exciting times with lots of seeds to sow too, nothing beat the thrill of seeing those first little shoots 🙂 x
I’m loving some of these ideas you’ve shared with us lovely! I do love me a spring plant so I can’t wait to watch gardens blossom and to be surrounded by beautiful flowers. I’m so excited. Thank you so much for sharing Xo
Elle – ellegracedeveson.com
Thank you so much, I’m very pleased you enjoyed the post x
Your garden always looks like something beautiful out of a children’s fantasy novel about a magic garden – I love it! I’ve done my first little bit of gardening and planted some flowers, eek! Your flowers are looking beautiful, so colourful! There’s a local park / lake / manor house near me with a little frog pond and there’s a ton of frogspawn in there, I’ve never seen so much of it! I’m loving going out and about now and noticing all the greenery and the flowers started to pop up, it makes things seem so much happier xxx
Oh Jenny, that’s the loveliest thing to say, thank you so much! And I’m so happy to hear you’ve planted some flowers too, it will be amazing to see them grow and bloom. As you say, it’s wonderful to see all the new colour and greenery emerging, very cheering, which is something we could all do more of right now xxx
The primrose remind me of small daisies and I bet they small good.
They’ve got a really delicate fragrance, you have to get down low to experience it!
Your beautiful plants and gardening skills always leave me in awe! I’d love to just spend time in this space before the bugs come out and the weather gets too warm. It looks really relaxing – and Loki seems to think so as well 🙂 Such fun to read about what you’re planting and doing to prepare for the height of spring and the upcoming summer!
Ah Stephanie, thank you so much, that’s so kind of you! Um, well, the midges are out already but not too bad at the moment, haha. Glad you enjoyed the post 🙂
I love seeing the daffodils at this time of year, reminds me that Spring is on its way! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
Yes, absolutely, yellow is the colour of Spring! x
i love daffodils! we created garden beds in our back yard last fall. i hope to plant some flowers this year to add a bit of color & life to the backyard. thanks for all these helpful gardening tips.
You’re most welcome, I’m glad they were helpful – happy planting!
Oh your garden is absolutely beautiful like always! I love your cat, haha, and the Daphne odora is getting so big now – it’s so pretty! I love the primroses and windflowers too. Thank you so much for sharing x
Thank you, Ceri, that’s very kind – so happy you enjoyed the post! x
This will be very useful when I get a garden. I will know what to do. Thanks for your updates. You have an amazing garden by the way. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you very much, I’m very pleased my updates are helpful!
I am proud to say we have prepped our garden for spring planting (save one bed) and planted two batches of seeds under our basement plant light! This time of year always has me feeing up and ready for spring. 🙂
Jaya, that’s great to hear, you’re ahead of me already, go you!
I wish I could be in there in your garden enjoying the aroma of the Daphne odora too. The long four month bloom really is amazing!
I wish I could bottle it as a download, haha, it’s an amazing fragrance!
Amazing to see the spring flowers! Thanks for the garden update. Have a great day!
xoxo
Lovely
http://www.mynameislovely.com
Glad you enjoyed the post – you too 🙂
March is such a beautiful time in the garden, we have so many primrose and
hyacinth is my favourite.. Love the fruit blooms..
It really is, we’re very lucky that it’s been so mild and so much has opened up.
Your garden is stunning and so many different flowers and vegetables! I struggle to keep house plants alive haha. How long have you been a gardener?
Oh thank you so much! I must confess my houseplant game is rubbish, I’m much better with outdoor plants 🙂 I’ve been gardening for about 8 years now – all self-taught, learning from my mistakes!
Wow… so many flowers blooming. You garden looks extremely beautiful now. I wish I can visit your garden. Hehehe. Thank you for this virtual tour.
Thank you, Fadima – perhaps one day you will, insha’Allah!
I love the idea of gardening, and have a huge garden – well, area/paddock of grass, and a wall of randomly planted flowers that probably need digging up as last year ants took over and the flowers didn’t really happen. But it’s just so much work and I’ve got basically everything else I’d rather do instead. Plus I know nothing about gardening. What I’d like is someone to come and create an easy no effort garden that just needs a bit of weeding. I could cope with that.
I feel you! That’s pretty much what we were looking at in some areas, but you do what you can in the time you have. We had to get a gardener in for a couple of hours every fortnight in the early years, that helped massively. Now I just squeeze in the time where I can because I love it and it’s my self-care (even if my nails don’t agree) 🙂
Lisa your garden is so beautiful and huge, you are so lucky. I wish my was a lot bigger like yours so I could grow more😍Thanks for all the info & tips♡
We are very lucky, Marie – it’s a big upgrade from a window box in an apartment, which was my garden for 15 years 🙂
Great overview of what to do in March. It’s such a brilliant month for the gardener with so much beauty ahead, and a little preparation to get us back out in the fresh air.
Thank you, Gail, that’s very kind of you – and yes, I completely agree about the fresh air.
I love the name ‘burpless cucumber.’ I need to get going with my garden.
It’s hilarious, isn’t it? 🙂
I’m so looking forward to walking about the local botanical gardens again now that the weather is starting to improve here; it’s lovely to learn about gardening from your posts as I get understand more as I walk the parks near me! Lovely gardening info (as always)!
Oh that’s lovely to hear, Molly, I’m so pleased, thank you!
Oooh I absolutely love broad beans! I’ve got herbs to plant soon!
Exciting times ahead, Amie 🙂
Oh thanks for share all your tips
xx
You’re most welcome, thank you for reading.
I love seeing the difference a month can make in your garden. The plants have gotten so much bigger and I see even more flowers. Love it. We still have more snow than anything, but this week we are expecting some above-freezing temperature so we are getting some melting, but it will be another 2 months before we see grass and another month after that before the garden can be started.
Ah, thank you, Sarah! And yes, just a few weeks of sunshine and warmer weather really have made a HUGE difference over here. I feel very lucky, I don’t think I could cope with not being able to garden until halfway through the year!
All the photos of the flowers are so beautiful! There are more flowers blooming here & I’m excited for the start of spring. The photos of Loki are cute as well!
Thank you, Karalee, we are very lucky over here, there are lots of new flowers!
Lovely to see the cat and the garden. You have a lot of beautiful flowers, as always.
Thank you, Anca, we are very lucky.