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South Downs Nurseries
Brighton Road
Hassocks
West Sussex
BN6 9LY
T 01273 845232
F 01273 847700

March

January   February   March   April   May    June 

July   August   September   October   November   December

March is a very unpredictable month with a great variety of temperatures and conditions.

• Flowers and Bedding.
  Many plugs and seedling are available in garden centres from January onwards. Depending on the space and time you have they can be grown on in the greenhouse or windowsill until about the end of May. Autumn grown sweet peas can be planted.Sow hardy annuals and half hardy annuals,plant summer flowering bulbs.

• Perennials.
  Plant lilies in containers. Weed beds and keep an eye out for slugs and snails.Start Dahlia tubers into growth and plant Gladioli. Check Irises and protect from slugs and snails.

• Shrubs and climbers.
  Plant deciduous shrubs up until the end of the month.After this time they will need a lot more help (watering) to establish their roots sufficiently to survive the summer.Prune out any damage that has occurred over the winter. Cut back Caryopteris, deciduous Ceanothus and Hypericum calycinum. Cut hard back any Cornus and Salix grown for their coloured stems. Cut Fuchsias and Lavatera back to live wood.

• Trees and hedges.
  Plant deciduous and evergreen hedges (not broad-leaved evergreen). Weed around hedge bases and apply weed killer if used. Top dress and mulch trees.

• Roses.
  Finish planting bare root roses. It is still alright to plant container grown roses as long as the soil is workable and not too dry. Prune floribunda, repeat flowering shrubs and climbers, and standards.Cut out all dead, damaged and diseased growth.If you use insecticide and fungicide, start using them now. It is next to useless to start in June or July when the problems become apparent.

• Lawn.
  Re-seed and repair any damage done during the winter. Start to mow regularly with the blades set high. Apply combined feed, weed and moss killers from now till July. It is a suitable time of year to turf and seed new lawns.Put weedkiller. down on paths and patios.

• Vegetables.
  Sow maincrop sprouts, parsnips,salad onions, radishes, late summer cabbages, leeks, and summer spinach. Potatoes can be planted from the end of the month.

• Fruit.
  Finish pruning and start your spraying programme if appropriate. If you do not wish to spray, then start looking for pests and diseases, that is how you will stop them becoming too bad.Prevention is always better than cure,and vigilance is part of prevention.

• Greenhouse.
  Pot on and tidy up overwintered plants. Start feeding Pelargoniums. Start Cannas and Begonias into growth. Aphids will start to appear on the soft new growth.

• Pond.
  Replace about a third of the water in the pond and generally tidy it up after winter. Feed fish if they are lively. Top dress water lilies and marginals. Slugs will appreciate the tender new leaves of your marginals and bog plants.

• Indoors.
  Start increasing the amount of water and feed that you give your plants. Move plants from south and west facing windows to north and east facing ones. As the weather warms up the sun will become too intense for all but succulents and cacti.Be honest with yourself and replace plants that are tatty. The rest of the world thinks the British are very funny for treating their houseplants like pets, so use it as an excuse to buy lots of lovely new ones.

Shrubs suitable for heavy shade