Garden Tips - March

Flowers

This is without doubt the best time to prune your Roses, the heaviest of the frosts should now be a thing of the past and consequently dieback of the pruned shoots will be reduced to a minimum. Hybrid Tea Roses should be pruned the hardest, cutting back each shoot to around 6 inches (15cms) from the base. Floribunda or Cluster Roses should be pruned to around 12 inches (30cms) from their base. This type of pruning can only be successfully done on roses which have either been newly planted or those which have been regularly pruned correctly every year. Any that have been neglected can only be pruned back to 2 or 3 buds on the wood produced last season. Cutting back on older wood should only be done one at a time over several years as they may well not produce new growth. After pruning feed the Roses with a balanced general fertilizer and then mulch around the bushes with compost or manure – this will help to reduce the attack of Black Spot Disease. The spores of this fungus are now dormant on the surface of the soil and are spread to the new emerging young growth by being splashed up on to it by heavy rain. Climbers and Rambler

Roses should be pruned by cutting away all of the older wood and tying in the new growth produced last season. Shrub Roses can be pruned into shape with a pair of shears or hedgecutters – this may sound drastic but really works well.

Remove the dead heads from Daffodils as they fade and then feed with a high potash feed. After the flowers have finished is when the bulb needs this feeding to build up the bulb for next year’s display. The bulb is capable of this task for only 6 weeks after flowering. 

Divide summer flowering herbaceous perennials now or as soon as growth commences. When dividing large clumps such as Michaelmas Daisies, Helenium or Astilbe, etc keep only the parts nearest the edges of the clump not from the centre.

If you have a greenhouse or some form of protection, Dahlias can be started off now by putting the tuber in the smallest pot it will comfortably go in, just covering with soil and water in. Keep only just moist and most importantly frost free. If you intend to plant directly outside, leave for another month.

Shrubs

Cut down the stems of Cornus or Salix which have been grown for their coloured winter stems to induce new growth from the base which will give you the best display next winter. Remove the old stems from Grasses now to allow the new growth to take its place unhindered. 

Any shrub growing in a large pot should be top-dressed now with fresh compost. JI No.3 would be the best for this purpose. With a trowel remove the top 2 inches or so of old soil and replace with the new. Be careful not to damage the stem when doing this but don’t worry about the surface roots which will inevitable be cut as this will not affect the plant in any way. One exception to this is Camellias – ericaceous compost should be used for them.

Vegetables

Plant out Onion sets and Shallots now, leaving just the tip showing above soil level. Many kinds of vegetables can be sown now especially if you have the protection of a cold greenhouse or cloches. Peas, Lettuce, Carrots, Parsnips and Herbs are among the best for early sowing. Take care to protect emerging seedlings from slugs and snails as they emerge from their period of winter dormancy.

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