Gardening Tips
Gardening in March- Begin planting tender annuals and vegetables. Be prepared to protect these plants from late-season frosts and freezes. Covering with straw or newspaper will protect them from frosts in early March. If we get a hard freeze, though, be prepared to cover with frost cloth, plastic, or inverted plastic pots over each plant.
- Continue planting fruit and shade trees this month.
- Wait 2 weeks after our last freeze before fertilizing lawn grass.
- Azaleas and camellias can be pruned after they finish flowering. Generally most flowering plants should be pruned right after blooming. Later pruning can interfere with normal flowering cycles.
- Garden soil pH can be checked by taking a sample 6" deep from several areas of the garden. Mix the samples together, dry the soil, and mail to the University of Florida Soil Testing Lab. Soil Test kits with instructions and mailing containers are available from the Extension office.
- Prune any plants damaged by cold weather after new growth has begun. When pruning before the new growth begins, it is easy to remove more of the plant than necessary and it takes the plant longer to recover.
- Begin heavy pruning of hedges any time after mid-march. Earlier pruning may encourage new growth that could be damaged by a late freeze.
Gardening publications:
SP103 FL Vegetable Gardening Guide
CIR375 Organic Vegetable Gardening
HS82 Pruning and Training Deciduous Fruit Trees for the Dooryard
ENY722 Getting Started in Butterfly Gardening
ENH04 Selecting a Turfgrass for Florida Lawns
CIR807 Drought Tolerant Plants for North FL
ENY478 Insect Management in the Home Garden
Gardening in a Minute - Plant of the Month
