I love March! It is such a hopeful season and it really feels that this is where the season starts. The bulbs planted in the deep winter are starting to show themselves and buds are appearing on branches.
There are lots of jobs to be getting on with in the flower patch. Seed sowing is happening in earnest - now you can start to think of sowing half-hardy annuals (so long as you can keep them frost-free). Hardy annuals can be sown direct now too.
Now is a great time to make a batch of compost tea to use for the rest of the season. There are lots of complicated recipes online, but I like to keep it simple:
- Add a shovel of compost to a bucket.
- Fill the bucket with chlorine free water (rainwater is great, but otherwise, leave a bucket of tap water for a day and the chlorine will evaporate).
- Stir it and leave for a week - stir it once a day (or whenever you remember).
- Allow the compost to settle to the bottom and then decant off the liquid.
- Dilute 1 to 5 and use to water your plants about once a week.
It's not just about the flowering plants - the foliage needs attention too! Now is a great time to cut back willow and dogwoods. It can seem brutal, but cutting them right back, almost to the ground, will allow colourful regrowth for next year.
Don't forget to keep feeding birds too - March can bring cold snaps which make their lives quite tricky. A variety of different types will keep them coming back to your garden which can only be a good thing for keeping on top of pests in the garden.