March Garden Tips

Here's the run-down for March from Colorado Month-to-Month Gardening. I mark mine in BLUE when they are complete.

PERENNIALS, ANNUALS, BULBS
*Plant perennial seeds and transplants.
*Young plants may suffer when you first put in the ground because of Colorado's high sun intensity, temperature fluctuations and wind. Protect them with a 'row cover' available at nurseries or spray them with liquid seaweed or liquid potassium.

TREES AND SHRUBS
*Prune brown branches from evergreens.
*Fertilize (with iron and other trace minerals) maples, wisteria, roses and other plants that tend to get yellow in mid-summer.
*Rake leaves and remove deciduous trees and old fruit from fruit trees.
*Prune junipers.
*Plant container and balled and burlapped trees and shrubs late this month.

LAWN
*If there is no snow, rake and aerate bluegrass and tall fescue lawns.
*If the spring is dry, south facing lawns may need to be watered.
*Apply a pre-emergent herbicide for weeds. Do this before crabgrass and other weeks in mid-April.

KITCHEN GARDEN
*Sow seeds of peas, onions, lettuce, spinach, beets, swiss chard and radishes outdoors.
*Plant seedlings of broccoli, cabbage, kale, brussel sprouts and cauliflower.
*Plant potatoes in late March.
*Plant bare-root asparagus and rhubarb.
*Plant bare-root grapes, raspberries, strawberries and fruit trees.
*Prune existing grapes, raspberries and fruit trees.

GENERAL
*Prepare soil for all Colorado gardens.
*Deep water trees, shrubs and roses as needed.
*Turn the compost pile.

BTW, I'm going to skip the tips that are related to things you cannot eat (mainly flowers) and focus on vegetables, as I'm trying to stick to the more useful plants at least for the first few years. Besides, with water so hard to come by around here, I'd rather not 'spend' limited liquid on non-productive growth.