What To Do In March

Average last frost date in Central Texas: March 15!

Plant vegetable seeds. Beets, chard, collards, leaf lettuce, mustard, peas, radish, EARLY MARCH: Beans, endive LATE MARCH: Cantaloupe, corn, cucumber, eggplant, black-eyed peas, pumpkin, New Zealand spinach, summer squash, watermelon

Plant vegetable plants. Broccoli, chard, collards, endive, leaf lettuce, mustard, LATE MARCH: Pepper, tomato

Plant herbs. Seeds: All hot-weather herbs, such as basil, chives, epasote, milk thistle Plants: All hot-weather herbs and perennial herbs, such as artemesias, basil, bergamot, catmint or catnip, chives, comfrey, scented geranium, lemon grass, mints, oregano, pennyroyal, rosemary, santolina, thyme (Plant all of these the second half of the month. Avoid cool-season herbs such as cilantro/coriander, dill, etc.)

Plant flower/ornamental seeds. Cleome, cypress vine, gomphrena (globe amaranth), marigold, moonflower vine, morning glory, sunflower, flowering tobacco (Nicotiana), and many more LATE MARCH: Castor bean, gourds, luffa

Plant annual flower/ornamental plants. Cockscomb, coleus, gomphrena, lion's tail, torenia

Plant perennial plants. Cigar plant, cleome, plumbago, sedum, spiderwort March is the last reasonably mild month to plant such things as trees and big shrubs. Any later and these plants will encounter too much stress in the summer heat.

Plant bulbs. Caladium, calla, canna, daylily, and elephant ear are the main spring and summer ornamentals that can be planted the second half of this month. Planting these warm-season bulbs while the soil is too cool can cause them to rot.

Plant ground covers and borders.

Spray foliage with seaweed. Seaweed, sprayed morning or evening on the foliage of lawns, trees, shrubs, flowers, herbs, and vegetables, benefits all plants with hormones and trace minerals. Regular spraying with seaweed ­ once every week or two weeks ­ can increase plants' heat tolerance, winter hardiness, and pest and disease resistance.

Aerate the lawn. It is best to aerate after mid-March, when there is less chance of a freeze damaging the opened-up lawn. Add compost before or after aerating for greater benefits.

Topdress lawns with compost. This can be done any time of year, except for mid-summer. However, if the lawn is topdressed in spring, the compost can help save water in the summer. Some sources say this one action in your yard can cut your water use on the lawn by half! Throw no more than ½-inch of good manure compost on top of the lawn, rake in, and water.

Clean up debris from winter. Remove the hiding places for bugs and diseases by raking up leaves and gathering fallen limbs and fruits. Put them in your compost pile, and turn regularly to keep pile hot.

Till in winter cover crops. Allow two weeks for the cover crop to decompose in the soil before planting there again.

Find out what your beneficial insects look like. Ladybug larvae and pupae may look like pests when you see them, but they can be your ally against aphids and many other pests! Acquire a good insect identification book, such as the Texas Bug Book by Malcolm Beck and Howard Garrett, or The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control, published by Rodale Press.

Check for aphids on new growth. One surprising solution is to spray them with fish emulsion. One step stronger would be Safer's Insecticidal Soap spray. Sometimes a hard blast with water will dislodge them. Whatever you do, do something every 3 - 5 days, until you get control, as they reproduce rapidly! Note that Asclepias (Butterfly Weed) and aphids seem to always go together. Don't worry too much about them.

Check for whiteflies or thrips (no-see-ums). Many small whiteflies will fly when a branch is bumped. Thrips are almost invisible, slender, pale tan-colored insects that attack blooms of roses especially, but also leaves and flowers of many plants. Thrips damage looks like the color has been removed out of the leaf or flower. Often rose buds and other flowers fail to open up, and petals may have a brown edge. Since insecticides cannot reach inside the flower buds, infected buds should be removed and discarded. (Alas!) For whiteflies or thrips, spray Organocide or All-Seasons horticultural oil once a week for two or three weeks.

Check new foliage on crape myrtles for powdery mildew. Try spraying leaves with milk. Yes, cow's milk is known to be a control for powdery mildew. Use skim or whole milk, and spray every 5 -­ 7 days until you get control. Spray again whenever there is a new flush of growth. An alternative spray is Serenade fungicide.

Take action against plum curculio. This is a pest of predominantly peaches, but ­it may also affect apple, apricot, grape, persimmon, plum, pear, and quince. The plum curculio is a 1/4" - 1/5" beetle with a snout that makes a crescent-shaped scar on the fruit as it lays its eggs. The eggs develop into the very damaging "worms" in our fruit.

Because the adults and/or the pupae may be in the soil around the tree over the winter and throughout the growing season, spraying nematodes in the fall throughout the root zone of the fruit trees and beyond can be an effective prevention. Maintain at least a three-inch mulch on the root zone around the tree, also. Avoid placing mulch up on the trunk of the tree. If it is still necessary to spray, proper timing is critical. Spray Eco-Smart at "shuck split". Shuck split happens right after flower petals drop, the fruit has just barely formed, and the fruit has just expanded enough to split open its papery covering - the shuck.

Another method is to place a sheet underneath the tree, and knock the beetles out of the tree with a padded stick. This is also a good way to monitor your trees for the presence of the plum curculio before shuck split.

Check and repair your watering systems now before the heat hits!

Take a hike! Enjoy one of our many beautiful trails around town. See how the Greatest Landscaper -- Mother Nature -- designs, plants, and mulches our biggest garden on earth!

(Thanks to Howard Garrett's Texas Organic Gardening Book, the Travis County Master Gardener Association's Garden Guide for Austin and Vicinity, and the staff of the Natural Gardener for some of this month's tips).

See our March Growing Tips

See our March Articles: Reflections on Life and Organic Gardening

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