Garden Preparation - March

March! Backyard gardeners are probably getting itchy just thinking about digging into their vegetable beds, but so far March looks a lot like February - cold and white.  Here are a few activities that might help pass some time and make you feel that you're getting into the swing  of another growing season. March taxes my creative juices, but like having hot tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich on a cold day,  doing a few familiar activities can be  satisfying enough while waiting for inspiration...

Prune in  cold weather before the evil organisms reactivate
in spring. Photo: Applegarth Farm, MN

• There is still time to catch up on the pruning that you've been procrastinating about... get out there in the snow and carefully trim the grape vines,  remove last year's canes from the raspberry patch and cut the suckers and shoots on your ornamental crabapples!  

• Peas, peas, peas... Later this month, assuming it's warmer and the ground is thawed, you might consider planting peas.  Pea seeds hold up well in cold ground.

• Start cabbage, broccoli and collards as well as lettuce indoors. Unless you have a greenhouse, it's still too early to start the warmer season veggies - like tomatoes - resist that urge.

• And, of course, you can  clean gardening tools. 

• Later this month when the ground becomes clear of snow, if you have a deep layer of mulch on your garden, rake it temporarily away from your rows or cover the rows with landsaping cloth to enable the sun to warm the soil. Note:  if you remember that part of your garden was over run with weeds at the end of last season, use black plastic instead of landscaping cloth to kill the weeds.

• If you don't have a cold frame, much less a greenhouse, start saving those 1 & 2 liter clear plastic bottles and 1/2 and 1 gallon milk jugs (these translucent jugs work, too).  If you do decide to rush the season, by cutting off the bottoms and removing the caps you can use these containers as little cloches to protect your sensitive seedlings when you abandon them outside.  For other ideas about extending your growing season, this  Cornell guide provides more ideas.

And remember...

"The "control of nature" is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and philosophy,

 when it was supposed that nature exists for the convenience of man." - Rachel Carson