GARDENING TIPS FOR MARCH

The spring bulbs are out in all their glory. The early flowering cherry trees are about to complete their flowering and depending on whether you have a spring rain and storm, the petals may decide to hang around a bit longer.

This may also be a good time to test your garden soil because it takes several weeks for the results to get back to you.  Having good soil is as important as the foundation of your house. What you grow and harvest depends on having good soil. 

You can check the pH of your soil with an inexpensive pH meter from your local plant nursery, but a thorough soil test can only by done by your County Extension or private soil testing laboratories. You need to know the organic matter content, soluble salts, nutrient content, and if there are toxins in the soil. The advice you get on how to fix the problem is worth its weight in gold.

This is the time to tidy up the garden. Flowering shrubs need to be cut back after they blossom.

Prune off all the dead and crossing tree and shrub braches. The leaves are not out yet, so it is easy to assess the actual tree branching.

Start your cool season vegetables such as peas, radish, lettuce, spinach in flats under fluorescent lights to be transplanted into the ground when the soil is workable.

Check your soil with an inexpensive soil thermometer so there is no mistake about whether the soil temperature is warm enough to put the seedlings out.

Depending on your part of the country, you can force blooms indoors with cut twigs from cherry, quince, plum, pussy willow, and forsythia if these have swollen buds; and have not bloomed yet. This give you some color and cheer from the dreary winter weather.

Do not forget your feathered friends. Leave out seeds, suet and water for them. Birds love fresh fruit, esp. oranges. Cut an orange into 2 halves and nail it into a twig. Just watch the birds come by to enjoy the fruit and the insects that the oranges attract.