What to Plant, Prune, and Feed in the March Garden

March is a month of transition—the sun peaks past the equinox, and earthy scents rise in the air all around us. We already sense the coming spring and feel an urge to get into the garden, but every gardener knows that frost is possible all the way until mid-April. It may be tempting to wait, but as it turns out, the gardening season can begin as soon as the soil is dry enough to resist compaction. In fact, March is the month for many valuable tasks, including pruning, feeding the soil, and even planting! Here is a checklist of what to do this month:

What to Prune in March

One of the best times for pruning many shrubs and trees is right before they begin to leaf out. Here are the trees and shrubs to add to your gardening checklist:

• Late Spring or Summer Flowering Shrubs: You can prune flowering shrubs that grow their blossoms this season, such as spirea, roses, potentilla, crape myrtle, or butterfly bush. Since they’ll grow new flower buds this year, there is no risk of lopping off your blossoms-to-be. In contrast, some spring-flowering shrubs, such as lilac, forsythia, and magnolia, already started growing this year’s blossoms last gardening season. Wait until those shrubs flower before you prune them.
• Fruit Trees: Late winter or early spring is the ideal time to prune fruit trees. The goal is to establish sturdy branches and an open canopy that gives light and airflow to the ripening fruit.
• Berry Bushes: Add berry bushes to your pruning checklist as well. The ideal size, shape, and age of canes varies for each species. Blueberries, blackberries, grapes, and some raspberries grow fruit on one-year-old growth. Gooseberries and most currants grow the best fruit on 2- or 3-year-old canes, while some varieties of raspberries will fruit on this season’s new canes.  

‍

What to Plant in March

 Even though frost is still likely, you can still plant many garden vegetables, prepare and plant some transplants, and get new shrubs and trees in the ground in late March and early April. Here is a checklist of planting tasks:

• Sow Hardy Vegetables: Once the soil is clear of snow and dry enough to resist compaction, you can directly sow beets, carrots, collards, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, peas, potatoes, onions, radishes, spinach, and Swiss chard.  
• Plant Hardy Transplants: If you’ve started broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts indoors, you can begin to transplant them outside in late March or early April, as long as they’re big enough. If you haven’t started them yet, add them to your checklist of seedlings to start in March.  
• Start Tender Transplants: You can start tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants indoors, roughly 6-8 weeks before the last frost date, depending on the variety. Transplant them outside once the risk of frost passes.  
• Trees and Shrubs: Early spring is an excellent window to plant new trees and shrubs, as long as the soil is dry enough to work. If you plant them in March, they’ll have the whole gardening season to leaf out, flower, and get established without interruptions.  
• Gardening Journal: Plant the seeds of good record-keeping by beginning your gardening journal in March. It’s an important tool to measure your success, get to know patterns in your location climate, and improve your garden in future years.  

What to Feed in March

With the vegetable plot still unseeded and the perennials still leafless, it’s the ideal time to feed the soil with compost or aged manure. But that’s just one of many gardening tasks on the checklist for soil care:  

• Turn Your Compost Pile: Feed those microbes in the compost by shaking them up and giving them air. Afterward, the pile should be left to “cook” and turned again once it starts to cool. Add compost turning to your weekly or biweekly checklist throughout the gardening season.
• Clean Up Garden Beds: Rake up any leaves and debris collected over the fall, as they can harbor the pests you were trying to deal with last year.
• Add Organic Matter to Vegetable Beds: Adding compost to your beds in the fall gives it a chance to break down and mix into your soil over the winter. If you didn’t do that, early March is another good time to add compost to the vegetable plot.
• Feed Berry Bushes: For healthier bushes and a more abundant harvest, give them a few scoops of compost or aged manure at the beginning of the gardening season.
• Nourish Perennials: March is also a good time to side-dress compost onto your perennials if you think the soil needs it. Existing bark or wood mulch on your beds may be enough nourishment already.

Even though the last frost date in Northern Arkansas is around April 14th, our gardening season can begin in early March. This checklist can help you finish important bed prepping, pruning, and planting, so you can take full advantage of the upcoming season!