Pat’s Jobs for March

1. I sowed my sweet peas early in the month five seeds to a 3 inch pot and then placed them on a light window sill or greenhouse if you have one. They don’t need bottom heat and I don’t soak or nick the seeds but of course you can if you wish. Keep turning the pots so they don’t all lean towards the light.

2. Remove browning blooms from camellias to keep the display going especially the white ones which never seem to drop their spent blooms. I just wish I had room for more as they’re such a cheerful sight.

3. Top dress trees and shrubs in containers by removing the top 2 to 3 inches of compost and refresh mixing in some granular feed or pelleted chicken manure. Top dressing with gravel will conserve moisture.

4. If flowering has finished prune Viburnum bodnantense varieties cutting one in five stems back to the base. If not kept under control, they can become huge shrubs.

5. Watch out for slugs and those little snails which hide under leaves and then chomp my primrose flowers at night!

6. As primroses finish flowering and start to set seed sow while they are still green by pressing into trays of compost and covering with grit. They can be a bit slow to germinate but its a cheap way of increasing your stock.

7. Don’t forget to dig up and split your perennial plants for our plant sales removing any dead or woody parts and replanting with some fresh compost.

8. Tidy up strawberry plants by removing dead and damaged leaves and removing runners or pegging them down to make new plants. Detach the runners when they’ve formed new roots.

9. If you have enough space you can start sowing lots of veg now under cover such as peas, carrots; peppers and herbs.

10. Now is nesting time for birds…I watched them today making a nest hidden by ivy, so leave out material they can use to build their nests such as wool, straw or moss you may collect. My garden is covered in it at the moment.

Pat K