10 March Tasks to Get Your Garden Ready for Spring
March is the perfect time to transform your garden dreams from winter into reality. Starting from the soil and building up, gardening expert Madison Moulton lists 10 tasks that will set the foundation for your most successful growing season yet.
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After a long period of winter, which is especially challenging for avid gardeners, spring is finally on the horizon. For some gardeners, it has already arrived, signaling that it’s time to get into the garden.
If you haven’t begun your spring garden preparation yet (beyond dreaming about what you’ll do when temperatures rise), now is the time to get started. Preparation is vital for a successful spring season, and it begins with these 10 garden tasks to complete in March.
Check Your Soil
Although soil may not be the most exciting aspect of gardening for many, it is the foundation of gardening success. If you don’t consider the health of your soil before the spring season starts, it becomes much harder to improve it later. Building a good foundation now will make maintenance far easier throughout spring and summer.
I recommend testing your soil before you begin. This is an effective way to identify what soil amendments you can make to create ideal conditions for the plants you want to grow. Soil tests will reveal the pH of your soil and identify any nutrient deficiencies you should address before planting.
Regardless of the results, you can’t go wrong by amending your soil with plenty of compost. Adding organic matter to the soil will improve its structure, encourage microbial activity, and provide the right consistency over time for successful planting.
Mulch
Mulching goes hand in hand with improving your soil. If you skipped this garden task in February, March is an excellent time to spread a healthy layer of mulch over your garden beds, especially if they are currently empty.
Mulching offers many benefits beyond improving the soil (when using organic mulches). It also suppresses weeds and regulates soil temperature, creating ideal conditions for planting. Mulching around your existing perennials and shrubs will add nutrients to the soil and protect the roots if any erosion has occurred over winter.
Ensure you have cleared your beds of any garden debris before spreading your mulch. Use a thick three to four-inch layer, primarily for weed suppression, as weeds will become a significant challenge as temperatures rise.
Build New Beds
If you’ve spent the winter months excited about spring but lack the space to fulfill all of your gardening dreams this season, March is an excellent time to build new beds. Getting your beds set up and the soil prepped now will ensure that you won’t have to worry about additional tasks by the time you’re ready to sow seeds or transplant.
Raised beds are a great choice because they provide greater control over soil and allow you to separate crops that normally wouldn’t grow well together in the ground, saving space. You can also clear space in your garden for new beds using methods like the no-dig method. Or you can remove a section of lawn that you’re not using.
It’s easy to DIY your own beds. But if you want to simplify the process, there are options in our shop that are quick and easy to put together, even for beginners.
Install Irrigation
Once you’ve got your beds set up and your soil prepped, installing irrigation is the perfect March garden task. Irrigation is especially helpful for vegetable gardens or any plants that require frequent watering to perform their best.
If you’re running low on time (or just want an easier watering method to spend more time enjoying your garden), irrigation is the way to go. Drip irrigation is a great choice and can be customized for the shape of your garden. It can be installed in the ground or in raised beds, depending on the layout of your space.
If you need a detailed guide on how to install irrigation in your garden, we have instructions here. The process is easy to do yourself, but you can also find kits that come with everything you need to get started.
Watch for Weeds
As mentioned, weeds will be one of your biggest battles in spring. The season is exciting because all of our favorite plants start popping up, but that also means weeds start appearing and need to be tackled quickly.
One of my mistakes from last year was ignoring weeds for far too long. This made the task of removing them much more difficult, especially once they flowered.
Keep an eye out for weeds now as the temperature rises and pull them early while the roots are still fragile. Take a walk through your garden every day while checking or watering, and pick out any weed seedlings you spot to ensure they don’t settle in and crowd out your existing plants.
A layer of mulch (that you hopefully applied from task two) will also help prevent the germination of weed seeds. Those that do get through will be much easier to pull as soon as they pop up.
Sow Seeds Indoors
For those in colder climates, outdoor sowing might not be a possibility yet. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can plant.
There are many seeds you can sow indoors in March to give you a head start on the growing season. These will be ready to transplant once all danger of frost has passed, giving you a productive garden much quicker than if you had to wait to sow outdoors.
For this March garden task, you’ll need a few supplies like seed trays and a good seed starting mix. For the strongest seedlings, you can also use grow lights and a seed heating mat to provide the ideal temperature for germination.
Some good seeds to start indoors in March include:
- Tomatoes
- Peppers
- Basil
- Broccoli
- Kale
- Onions
Check the specific timing on the seed packets against your last frost date to ensure you don’t start your seeds too early or too late.
Direct Sow Outdoors
For anyone in zone 7 and above, there are also several crops you can start direct sowing outdoors, along with your indoor sowing. This is good for crops that don’t transplant well, particularly root crops.
Some crops you can start outdoors in March in milder climates include:
- Spinach
- Lettuce
- Carrots
- Beets
- Cilantro
- Arugula
If you are in zones 6 or 7, it’s good to keep a floating row cover around to protect young seedlings from any cold snaps. Those in warmer USDA zones shouldn’t have to worry when sowing this month.
Make sure you follow the instructions on the seed packets to sow with the right spacing and at the right depth. Ensure you don’t skip watering for strong and even germination.
Propagate from Cuttings
Sowing seeds is not the only way to fill your garden with plants. March is also a good time to propagate certain plants from softwood cuttings. Hardwood cuttings are usually taken in winter, but for plants with new green growth, you can take softwood cuttings now to propagate and plant out later in the season.
It’s important to take cuttings from healthy plants for the strongest chance of rooting. Popular flowering plants like lavender and rose cuttings can be taken now if there is softwood growth. You can also take softwood cuttings from any young trees to propagate now.
The process will differ slightly depending on what you’re growing, but these are the general steps for propagating from softwood cuttings:
- Find a healthy shoot at least six to eight inches long with green growth. They should be soft and flexible.
- Identify the nodes (the bumps in the stem where new leaves are forming) and remove the cutting below one of those nodes.
- Strip the bottom half of the cutting of all leaves and dip the end into a softwood rooting hormone.
- Place the cuttings in trays or containers filled with a well-draining soil mix and keep the soil moist.
- To provide the right environment for root growth, cover the container with a germination dome or a plastic sandwich bag to maintain humidity.
- Keep the pot in an area with bright indirect light, avoiding harsh direct sun, until new growth appears.
Prune Shrubs
If you skipped pruning in February or have perennials that are starting to grow now and would benefit from a trim, March is a good time to cut back.
Plants that flower on new wood (typically ones that flower in summer or fall) will benefit from pruning now. You don’t have to worry about cutting off the buds that will flower this year, as the flower buds will only develop later.
This March garden task can promote healthy growth and branching, which will give you even more flowers later in the season.
Examples of shrubs you can prune now include roses, some hydrangeas, rose of Sharon, and crepe myrtle. Make sure to avoid pruning any shrubs that flower on old wood, like azaleas, lilacs, forsythia, and camellias. If you’re not sure, double-check the requirements for your plant before cutting to avoid removing all the flowers.
Plant Summer Bulbs
I usually associate bulbs with fall planting. Many favorites, like daffodils or tulips, are planted in fall to emerge in spring. However, you don’t want to fill your garden with only spring bulbs and leave it devoid of color in summer.
Luckily, planting summer bulbs is the ideal March garden task, giving them time to establish so their vibrant blooms pop up in summer. Some great summer bulbs to plant now include dahlias, begonias, canna lilies, and Asiatic lilies. Bulbs are not difficult to grow, even for beginners, so it’s a great low-maintenance way to fill your garden with color this summer.
When purchasing bulbs, they will come with instructions on how to plant. Make sure to follow these instructions carefully, particularly regarding depth and spacing, to avoid any problems down the line.
