March, garden work

March marks the arrival of spring, the most beautiful season of the year. Finally, the frost of winter ends, the temperature rises, the plants grow and prepare to bloom.

The nature around us is reborn and we are ready to go out into the garden or on our balcony, to enjoy our plants and to deal with our favorite our hobby, gardening.

So we start preparing for the planting of spring vegetables, while at the same time we harvest fresh and seasonal vegetables, which increase as spring progresses.

At the same time, as the temperature rises, we start the first waterings and put fertilizer on the plants in our garden so that they grow and give us wonderful flowers and tasty fruits.

In March we will make sure to prune the ornamentals of our garden so that they germinate in the spring as well as start pruning the lemon, orange and tangerine trees.

And of course, at this time, we can make new plantings of ornamental plants and fruit trees, do various transplants as well as start sowing and planting lawns.

So let’s see in detail what cultivation work is done in March, to plan the care of our plants so that we can enjoy a wonderful spring garden.

1. What fresh seasonal vegetables and fruits do we enjoy in March? March is the month we harvest vegetables from the late fall plantings, such as lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, beets, spinach, Swiss chard and carrots. From our winter vegetable garden, we will harvest herbs such as parsley, dill, arugula, coriander, spring onion and fresh garlic to make wonderful salads and accompany various cooking recipes. From the fruit trees we have in our garden, we will also have a harvest of fresh delicious fruits from there. This season, we harvest Encore tangerines, Merlin navel oranges, lemons, as well as the very nutritious grapefruits and avocados.
2. We do new plantings and transplants Spring is the season of new plantings and transplants. In March, we start to plant ornamental plants and aromatic plants in our garden or in pots on our balcony. To transplant the plants into a larger pot, we choose pots, with a size two sizes larger than the previous pot they were planted in. When transplanting the plants, we break the thin roots of the plant, at the ends of the root, pinching them with our fingers to renew them and not absorb water and nutrients better in the new environment.Also, at this time we can also plant fruit trees that are rooted in a pot with soil, from apricots and figs to lemon and orange trees, in contrast to the winter period when planting is done with bare-root plants without a ball of soil.
3. We plant the first spring vegetables In March we start planting our first vegetables for the spring season. We plant seed potatoes for potato cultivation and corn for dry onion cultivation, in fluffy soils to have a good production after 3-4 months, in the summer. At the same time, we continue to grow winter vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, parsley, dill, beetroot and carrot. In the southern regions we transplant to the first spring vegetables and start tomato cultivation, pepper cultivation, cucumber cultivation, pumpkin cultivation and eggplant cultivation. Perhaps, we think of our first horticultural plants to protect plants from the cold. In early plantings, night frost can stunt the growth of our young vegetables and reduce fruiting.
4. We start the first waterings in our garden We start the first waterings of our garden, in the month of March, especially in the southern regions of the country that show no rain. Proper watering is probably the most important cultivation care for our garden plants to have good growth and flowering. During this period, we also plan the watering of our vegetable garden, in the new plantings. In these cases, we choose the drip irrigation system that is more efficient, more economical and more environmentally beneficial. For the special watering of our vegetable garden, we need good quality water, without much else because otherwise we may encounter significant problems in our vegetables, both in terms of growth and fruiting. Those who have collected rainwater for their plants, certainly cannot be used.
5. We put fertilizer on our garden plants In the spring, the plants grow and need nutrients. We start putting fertilizer on all the plants in our garden from the horticultural, ornamental plants, fruit trees and aromatic plants we grow. As part of organic farming, we use organic fertilizer, digested manure and compost, which we incorporate into our garden house. In this way, we enrich the soil with organic matter and provide nutrients that will be better used by the plants. We avoid using excessive doses of fertilizers, especially nitrogen fertilizers, which can create problems for young plants as well as make them susceptible to fungal diseases.
6. We prune ornamental plants and citrus trees Pruning is well done in the month of March as we prune the ornamental shrubs of our garden and balcony to give new growth and flowering in the spring. Using the right tools, this season we make the pruning the pruning gardenia, viburnum, angelica and hydrangea. After the winter frosts have passed, we start pruning citrus, lemon, orange, tangerine, grapefruit and kumquat. Citrus trees are pruned in the spring after fruiting is complete as opposed to deciduous fruit trees such as the apricot tree, peach tree, pear tree, pomegranate tree and apple tree which are pruned in the winter. We avoid pruning in rainy weather so as not to be affected by diseases. To protect the plants, after pruning we spray the foliage with a copper formulation and cover the large cuts of the branches with twig paste.
7. We do new lawn seeding and planting in March, it is also a very good time for new lawn plantings or to fill various gaps that have been created in the lawns. The gas seed, in the appropriate environmental and temperature conditions, in 10-15 days. At this time, in addition to sowing lawns, ready-made turf can also be installed. The installation of ready-made turf has a significantly higher cost compared to seeding, however, it offers an immediate and guaranteed result. In any case, before seeding or planting the lawn, it is important to improve the soil by removing stones, gravel and incorporating various materials such as peat, compost, perlite, zeolite and attapulite to make it more fertile. Thus, we ensure better aeration for the lawn and the removal of excess water after watering.
8. We protect the plants from diseases and insects As soon as spring comes, the temperature and in combination with the humidity, the plants that are in growth and flowering stages, become susceptible to attacks from diseases and insects. To protect the plants, we use organic preparations that we get from agricultural stores, such as copper, sulfur, summer pulp, Thuringia bacillus, natural pyrethrin and the rest. Alternatively, on a preventive level, we can make improvised preparations with natural materials for the ecological protection of plants to spray our plants. Some household ingredients we use in the garden are baking soda, green soap, milk, vinegar, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and nettle. And of course let’s not forget the ash we apply around the plants to protect against snails and slugs, as this period of observed mobility due to increased humidity.