March in Your Garden
Garden tip from Wally Kearns
Evergreen Nursery
13650 Carmel Valley Road, Carmel Valley
858-481-0622
3231 Oceanside Blvd., Oceanside
760-754-0340
Specializing in palm trees, Evergreen Nursery also features a broad spectrum of trees, landscape plants, shrubs and groundcover. At Evergreen there are up to 80 acres of actual growing grounds to walk around or drive through. Home delivery services available.
Work in the Garden — Get your spring garden ready for planting by cleaning all beds of debris and old, dead plants. Lightly cut groundcovers. This is the most important month to fertilize. We recommend a granular fertilizer such as Gro-Power and a water-soluble spray such as Miracle Gro.
Bedding Plants — Start planting annuals such as, alyssum, marigold, petunia, lobelia, gazania and dianthus for the summer garden. For those shadier areas, use begonias, fuchsias, impatiens and primroses.
Vegetables & Herbs — Plant vegetables such as tomato, pepper, chives, onions and lettuce. Plant herbs such as basil, parsley, dill, cilantro and mints.
Fruiting Plants — Plant fruit trees. This is the best month for selection of stone fruit. Choose from apple, peach, nectarine, plum, pear, apricots, persimmon and pomegranate. Citrus and avocado are just about ready for planting as well. Oranges, lemons, tangerines, kumquat, limes and grapefruit are all available. Be sure to ask about planting do’s and don’ts for fruit trees.
Lawns — This is the best month to begin work on your lawn. Rake, fertilize and reseed bare spots. Fertilize with a 3-1-2 fertilizer, then switch to high-nitrogen foods once a month until summer. Fertilize when the grass blades are dry and the soil is moist. Immediately after application water thoroughly.
Roses — Now is the peak time to buy container roses as they are in full bloom and you can see exactly what you are buying. Disbud existing plants to encourage more blooms. Remove dead and diseased sections. Continue spraying with a fungicide. Mid-month begin using treatment as needed for mites. Remove weak, inward growth and suckers that won’t bloom. Pinch off side-buds of hybrid tea roses for larger blossoms. Fertilize every six weeks.
Houseplants — Repot older plants to give them fresh soil.
Pest Control — Keep spraying aphids and spider mites to keep them under control. Gophers are breeding now so it is important that you trap, flood or bait them. If you have a weed problem, your best bet is to pull them regularly, then spray with a pre-emergent herbicide to prevent new seeds from germinating. Apply broad-leaf weed controls to keep crabgrass from lawns. Bait for snails and slugs around new plantings.
