Background information
Garden calendar: January
by Aurel Stevens
Garden calendar: March
6.3.2017
Translation: machine translated
Spring is just around the corner. Your garden is now awakening from hibernation. The snowdrops are joined by other early bloomers such as forsythia, daffodils and the first tulips. Now is a good time to bring forward summer flowers or vegetables and get the garden in shape.
Planning
In January's article, we showed you why you should plan your garden. In February's calendar page, you found out how you can extend the gardening season with a cold frame.
In March, frost and snow are still to be expected. Very few plants can therefore be planted directly in the bed. However, you can start some plants indoors on the windowsill or in a covered cold frame or raised bed. Before nature awakens, you can now think carefully about what should grow when and where. As a rule of thumb, you can leave plants outside as soon as the temperature is consistently above 5 degrees - i.e. it doesn't drop below 5 degrees at night either.
Thanks to your plan, you know where the sun often shines and where it is shady during the day. You also know where the soil tends to be moist, where it is sandy and where it is clayey. Armed with this information, you can organise your beds and spaces for your green garden guests. Because not all plants love the same climate and the same soil.
Others love exactly the same locations, but thrive in different seasons. For example: flower bulbs of daffodils, gladioli and montbretias can be planted side by side in the ground. All three like roughly the same soil conditions and plenty of sun. Daffodils bloom in spring, gladioli in summer. And towards autumn, the montbretia displays its beautiful orange-red flowers. This allows you to create different splashes of colour in the same location throughout the season.
Strong and weak growers
In the vegetable patch, you need to know the strong and weak growers. Heavy growers need a lot of nutrients and leach out the soil. These include potatoes, tomatoes and leeks. The nutrients removed must be returned to the soil, for example with mulch, compost or the right fertiliser. It is best to give a heavily used bed a break: Rather plant a low-growing plant or a soil conditioner there.
Low-yielding plants include beans, peas and undemanding herbs. Strawberries also only need a few nutrients. Typical representatives of soil improvers include clover and vetches. They are also known as green manures: At the end of the season, you simply leave them lying around - the dead plants naturally add nutrients to the soil. By the way: Various flowers also serve as soil conditioners, such as marigolds or borage. Their flowers are not just pleasing to the eye: the petals are edible and look wonderful on salads.
Understand the principle? Then let's go! Tables on which plants thrive best when and where are a dime a dozen on the internet. We have customised the filters in the shop so that you can sort seeds by sowing time, flowering time and ripening time. Below you will find some examples of popular flowers, salads and vegetables.
Once you have decided which plants you want to offer a place, the next question is: where do you get the plants? At Galaxus, you'll find a stunning range of several hundred plants and seeds. A sociable option is to exchange seeds or seedlings with gardening fans in the neighbourhood.
You can also collect wild plants in the wild if the species are not protected and you are not travelling in a nature reserve. In my garden, descendants of a wild peppermint are up to mischief, and a native lilac from a sapling also feels very much at home.
The wild garlic is coming!
A propos wild plants: The first wild herbs are already sprouting. If you keep your eyes open, you can harvest the first tender wild garlic shoots as early as the beginning of March. Be careful not to confuse wild garlic with poisonous lily of the valley or autumn crocus leaves. Honeysuckle and chickweed can also be found and are great sources of vitamin C. Wild garlic can also be planted as a pretty ornamental plant in a pot. But be careful: Wild garlic likes to multiply rapidly - you have been warned!
General
Turf
From March onwards, you can do something for the health of your lawn. If there is no more snow and the soil is soft enough, carifying will help it grow. Scarifying is also recommended before reseeding. This removes moss and weeds that spread between the blades of grass. Before scarifying, you should cut your lawn back very briefly. Once these two employees are done, you can reinforce the lawn with some new seed if necessary. To allow the seeds to develop, you should work them into the soil a little with a rake. Watering also helps if the soil is not already very moist.
You should also cut back ornamental grasses now.
Prepare the beds
If it wasn't enough in February, you should prepare the soil for the new season now. In the February garden calendar you will find more tips under "Repotting the soil". If there was a heavy feeder in the bed last year, you should definitely add fresh nutrients to the soil. Horn shavings are very suitable as they gradually release the stored nitrogen. If you work in fresh compost, you will ideally supplement the food supply for the next inhabitants of the bed.
Remove the garden furniture
Nobody needs an extra invitation for this: When the first sunny and warm days arrive, loungers and garden lounges are put into position. If you have stored the furniture away over the winter, the start of the season is the perfect time to oil wooden furniture. Wood will stay beautiful for longer and last longer if you look after it regularly. You can find suitable wood oils here.
Plants
This can already go out into the bed
Once you have prepared your bed, you can plant some plants. Spring is a good time to plant perennials and shrubs. But you can also sow some seeds now. Some examples:
Vegetables:
- Seed bean (broad bean)
- Shell peas
- Parsley
- Carrots
- Parsnips
- Picking and cutting lettuce
- Spinach
- Beetroot
- Leek
- Onions
Flowers that can go out now:
- Cornflowers
- Carnations
- Tulips (and bulbous plants in general, as they are protected from frost underground)
Bulb plants in particular are grateful if you fertilise them well in spring. They will reward you with healthier bulbs and more abundant flowering.
Preplant in a sheltered place
In the greenhouse, in your sheltered raised bed or indoors on the windowsill, you can grow the following vegetable plants from the beginning of March, for example.
- Salads (head lettuce, endive)
- Pepperoni
- Kohlrabi
- Tomatoes
- Herbs such as chives, oregano, basil and thyme
- Chopped garlic
- You can pre-sprout potatoes in a light-coloured place
You can also pre-sprout summer flowers that you want to plant out later. We showed you how to do this in our article from February. The most important things: a clean pot, potting compost, warmth and light. A cover protects the seedlings from drying out. Also make sure you know whether you have a dark or light germinator - this is indicated on the seed packet.
On warm days, you can also remove the insulation from the raised bed.
A ❤️ for animals
If you want to help birds breed with a shelter, you should hurry: March is the latest time when it still makes sense to put up a nesting aid. However, you can also help hedgehogs, birds and other animals in other ways: An attractive environment with different plant species attracts insects, arachnids - and these in turn feed birds and co. bees help the plants in the neighbourhood to pollinate the flowers.
Instead of a purely green lawn, you can, for example, sow a flower lawn. Daisies, speedwell or primroses will grow in it. These flowers grow low and the lawn can be used as normal. You can perhaps even supplement more distant lawns with a flower meadow. This will create islands of higher-growing flowers that you can use to design your garden.
Indoor
Control your potted plants. Due to the dry air and the long period of unfavourable light conditions, some plants may have suffered or been attacked by pests. Repotting is also a topic. You can find out what to look out for in the February calendar sheet.
Products you can use in March
Aurel Stevens
Chief Editor
aurel.stevens@digitecgalaxus.chI'm the master tamer at the flea circus that is the editorial team, a nine-to-five writer and 24/7 dad. Technology, computers and hi-fi make me tick. On top of that, I’m a rain-or-shine cyclist and generally in a good mood.