What can I do in the garden in March?

[Cindy1802]

We moved house last autumn to a house with our dream garden. I've never really been in to gardening but I'm so excited to get stuck in this year. What should I be doing in March? In reality it's going to take years to sort it out, but in my mind my priorities are;

• fixing up the potting shed - needs painting inside and out, I know I can do this now
• pots for the front door/porch/entrance area. Growing up my mum always had amazing, super colourful pots at the front door so I want to replicate - but I think I'm too early for this?
• there are 2 large flower beds opposite the front door in the front garden (south facing) which were completely empty in winter, there are no perennials. I want to make these into cottage style borders with lots of colour for summer, but leaving some green life over winter
• veg patch - there's a large empty border behind the garage which I want to turn into a veg patch, I'll probably fit 2-3 container things (not sure what they are called!

What else can I / should I be doing in March? Or can you point me in the direction of some content which already exists for this?

Id wait a year and see what comes up. Their must be some perennials. I promise. You can weed now. Plan your composting system. Sit outside an work out where the sun, wind and light is in the garden.
Buy seeds. Id start with tomatoes.

Absolutely not doing nothing this summer, the garden is a shambles 😆 We've been in since September, there are no perennials in the 2 beds I am talking about. I just want to know what time of year is best to plant bedding plants is all :)

Do you mean raised beds for the vegetable patch? Good idea.

If no perennials emerge over the spring and summer you can then perhaps do some planting in the flowerbeds in the autumn. This has the advantage that winter rains will water things in and they will establish well and you won’t have to do as much watering in the following summer ( unless there’s drought).

In the autumn I’d be planting roses while the soil is still warm. You can order bare root roses online which are cheaper than container grown but you need to be in when they are delivered and get them into the ground fairly quickly. Or have a look at the container grown roses at the garden centre in high summer so you can note down the names of the ones you love ( and you can sniff them for the best scent )! I am obsessed with roses but I have heavy clay soil and make my own garden compost, both of which the roses love.

Also have a look at shrubs and perennials that are growing well in your neighbour’s gardens to see what does well. You might see something you like. Some one might give you a cutting or a piece dug-up ! Although beware if they have masses of it to give away as it might be a thug.

If you’re scientific you can test the soil pH with a kit but I’ve never done it.

Perennials, roses and shrubs can be planted now but they will need to be kept well watered over the summer. If you’re planting “ bedding” eg petunias, pelargoniums, annuals then you’ll need to wait until there’s no more frost likely.

Fwiw my lupins (perennial) were long gone by September.

Now is a good time for pansies. Have a look in your local garden centre. If you just want bedding plants in the sense of temporary plants that you throw away after they no longer look their best, just buy what the garden centre is selling in trays.

Re veg raised beds, I think you mean pallet collars?

Is your mum around for advice re pots? She'll know what she planted!

Here's an idea for your borders. Why don't you plants some evergreen shrubs - that way you'll have something to look at all year round. Something with berries/and or flowers e.g. pyracantha, holly, viburnum tinus, ceanothus. Then a few shrubs for spring colour e.g. forsythia, flowering current.

Then, later in March/early April, sprinkle the bare patches of earth with wild flower seed mix. Rake it in and wait. Come summer you'll have a riot of colour (for much less than the cost of bedding plants). In the autumn you can replace fill the gaps with bulbs e.g. daffs, tulips, snowdrops.

Winter - evergreens. Spring - bulbs and shrub blossoms. Summer - wild flowers. Autumn - leaf colour on decidous shrubs and evergreens coming into their own.

Lots of perennials disappear in the Autumn, and come back in the Spring. Peonies, bulbs of all types etc. Other plants may seed about the place and just come up in slightly different places but be a perennial feature in the garden. So it’s a bit early to tell what is in that bed yet.

Weed, mulch, plant some cheap bee friendly colour bedding, plan to plant perennials, see where you get full sun or shade, how the soil copes with heat or wet, use pots to buy small evergreens / perennials to reduce the cost and have them ready to plant next year when bigger.

Get to know your garden. How much shade does each area get, what type of soil, what's the ph. Our garden has a few shrub trees in the beds with roots that spread quite far so I needed plants that can cope with shallow soil for that area. We also have a big buried tree stump where it's hard to plant near.

A lot of online gardening advice assumes you are in the south of England. We're in Scotland so we're pretty much a month behind, so if something says to plant in May I'd plant in June etc.

When you're ready, I'd buy small to medium perennials and get them planted. There will be some trial and error, there are a few things that for whatever reason just don't do well in our garden. Look at the gardens in your street, plants that do well there will likely do well in your garden too. I quite subtly but shamelessly took photos of plants in other people's gardens and use google lens to work out what they are.

If any perennials do pop up then they can sometimes cope with being moved if you don't like where they are.

The guardian does a weekly gardening article, I can't always find it though.

One last word of advice, if your gardening gloves have been in the shed all winter, check there are no wasps hibernating in them. There was in mine and I learnt the hard way. Have fun!

If you are itching to start gardening, I would buy a cheap propagator set with lights, a bag of seed compost, and sow seeds. Now is a very good time to do this, and it is easy and rewarding. Sow things like zinnias, marigolds, sweetpeas, nicotianas, Ricinus, basil, zea japonica (ornamental corn), Solenostemon (coleus), lobelia- you will have hundreds of plants to fill your flowerbeds while you plan your long term garden.

Summer bulbs and corms like dahlias and cannas can also be started now indoors, or in a few weeks outdoors.

Start shopping for your front door pots. What flowers do you like? Pelargoniums look great in terracotta pots, but terracotta would be too dry for petunias - plastic, resin or metal would be better. Some flowers (eg Californian poppies, nasturtiums) can be sown outside in pots after the last frosts, and will give you masses of flowers. In the meantime you could fill your pots with bulbs in the green, like daffodils and tulips. Or buy cheap packs of primroses for instant cheerfulness.

do you have access to a tap in your front garden? You will need water for those pots and flower beds, or you need to embrace an arid planting style.

It’s too early to know what you’ve got OP. I know there are all sorts of perennials in my garden which will fill the borders in summer.. but atm it looks very bare out there.

@MyNavyPeerI always assume gardening advice is for Yorkshire! “Plant in late May after the last frosts” 🧐 our last frost in London is typically 3rd week of March…

I forgot to say - March is a good time to prepare for the summer by weeding your beds, enriching the soil if needed, adding organic matter, and generally making things tidy.

Thanks all, great advice. Happy to wait where I need to, I just didn't want to miss the boat on anything I should be doing soon!

Haha indeed! I generally sow things a month earlier than it says on the packet.

I'm in Zone 8 according to this https://www.plantmaps.com/interactive-united-kingdom-last-frost-date-map.php last frost end of March.

@Cindy1802 don't worry too much about what you should do. Enjoy it - don't make it a chore. Some gardeners think of it as 'jobs in the garden', but I find that a bit old fashioned. You're starting a new hobby, it should be exciting!