March Garden Tips

What to do in your garden this month:

Now is a great time to get out in the yard in between the rain showers and refresh your garden. Thinking of expanding your garden?? Now is a great time to add a few new raised beds and to fill them with fresh soil and compost. Consolidating? Try some vertical planting if you are out of room but still want to add new plants this year. Climbing plants such as vining cucumbers and beans are great candidates for vertical gardening. You can use objects that you have laying around the house or yard to create solutions to garden space problems. For example, you can make great plant supports from leftover pig fencing, twine, strips of wood or bamboo.

I also love to add unique plant additions every year to see how they do in my microclimate just south of Ukiah. This year I am trying my luck at Horseradish root.

What to plant? (This is where things get really exciting!!!!!!!)

In March, spinach, radishes, carrots, turnips, beets, peas, lettuce, broccoli, fennel and Asian greens such as bok choy and mustard greens can all be directly sown into your garden.

You can start seeds indoors for onions, lettuce, brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, cabbage, etc.), chard, kale, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, melons, zucchini, summer squash, pumpkins.

This month you can take your lettuce, leeks, onions, brassicas, peas and Asian greens that you started last month outdoors to transplant.

Brighten up your yard and home by starting flowers from seed. You can start Lobella, Alyssum, Limonium, Zinnias, Amaranth, Petunias, Marigolds, Cosmos, Tithonias, Ageratum, Strawflowers, Calliopsis, Cleome, Celosia, Sanvitalia, Morning Glory, Nasturtiums, Dahlia, Heliotrope, Gomphrena, Geraniums, Sunflowers, Impatiens, Nicotiana and Thunbergia.

Final thoughts…

Rain brings weeds! Take a few minutes each morning or evening to pull up a few new weeds in your garden area.

For year round tips on what to plant, click Greater Hopland Planting Guide (Peter Huff and Kate Frey's Monthly Planting Calendar for Inland Mendocino, also found at the "How to - Grow Food" page on The Garden's Project Website).

As always if you have a question about what to do in your garden, there is a tremendous body of knowledge about gardening in California, provided by University of California Cooperative Extension. This site, geared toward the home gardener can be found at http://cagardenweb.ucdavis.edu/.

Happy Mendo Gardening!!