In March, the garden slowly awakens to new life. So now is the right time to do some gardening. You can find out what measures are due in March below.
Roses and other shrubs can be pruned in March
Raised beds with plenty of scope for individuality
A lot has already been written in the Garden Journal about the unbeatable advantages of a raised bed and its different designs, for example in this article. Sowing and planting of the back-friendly beds can begin very early, as the rotting process inside the soil ensures favorable thermal conditions in the soil, which in turn promotes the growth of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, etc.
If the weather plays along, we can be relatively certain that a lush and low-loss harvest will ripen. In most cases, the considerable effort involved in building and filling such a bed box is already made up for with the first harvest. It is therefore worth taking care during construction, but also choosing high-quality material, so that even raised beds made of wood last at least three to five years and often even much longer. Our short tips:
- Hardwood, properly processed, is characterized by a much longer durability than pine or spruce. Cheap offers of planks and boards made of oak, Douglas fir or larch are more likely to be found directly in the sawmill in the area than in the hardware store next door.
- Even the best protective coating does not make wood of any type completely resistant to moisture. Therefore, if possible, line all parts that come into contact with the ground and the inner walls with a stable and temperature-resistant pond liner.
- The side height of the bed boxes is best based on the body size, so that the upper edge of the bed is at hip height, i.e. around 90 cm.
- Raised beds for vegetables have a similar effect to underfloor heating in the house due to their favorable heat development. The advantage: even cold nights with occasional ground frost have very little effect on the early planted vegetable crops. To be on the safe side, the cold can be insulated with gardening fleece placed over the bed, which protects the young plants in particular from freezing to death.
- At the start of spring, snail protection in the raised bed is particularly important. The slimy climbing artists can be kept relatively safely away from the growing plants with a copper band approx. three cm wide, which is attached to the upper area of the bed box. Coffee grounds can also slow down predators very efficiently if you distribute them generously at the edge between the wood and the garden soil.
- Similar to the compost heap, the soil in the raised bed will visibly sag over the months and lose between 20 and 30 cm in height over the year. At the latest after the harvest, new and good garden soil should be added before the soil is completely replaced after five to seven years.
Spring awakening in the rose garden
In March, our shrub and standard roses need special attention, because the possibly frozen or brown shoots have to be rigorously cut back in favor of the healthy ones. However, an important prerequisite would be that the mild weather continues at the end of March, which also makes the existing winter protection and the earth heaped up in late autumn superfluous.
Pruning varies depending on growth habit
Since the coming days and weeks will mainly be about the new shoots of the roses, fertilizer can be used for the first time between the end of March and April. A special rose fertilizer (€12.86) on an organic basis is ideal, but it should still be used as sparingly as possible. Extremely important when cutting: Ideally, start about five millimeters above the eye of the new shoots and cut as slightly as possible at an angle. This ensures that the irrigation water or rainwater cannot settle on the surface of the cut surface and, in the worst case, cause rot there. How far the pruning takes place depends on the desired growth result but also on the exact breeding method of the plant.
- Shrub roses: Can be shortened by a third, generously remove old shoots;
- Hybrid tea and bed roses: Leave a stable basic structure with four to six slightly stronger and healthy shoots and shorten to 20 to 30 cm;
- Climbing roses: For plants that bloom several times a year, only cut back the side shoots to three to a maximum of five healthy buds;
- Wild roses: Depending on the species, thin out as needed for the first time after the first flowering of the year;
The rule of thumb for all growth forms of roses is: severe pruning results in strong but only a few long shoots. If pruning is too weak, short but many regrowing shoots can be expected.