March Happenings
We’re halfway into March, and even with lots of snow on the ground, we’re ready for planting time!
Mid-March is when things really ramp up around here, garden wise. Seeds are still being started weekly, and our earlier seedlings are being potted up, moved around, and getting ready to go in the ground (as soon as the snow melts).
Right now, I have more dahlia cuttings flourishing in the grow room (aka my home office) than I had planted in the ground last year! These cuttings are very high maintenance as I water, pot up, and watch closely for the next 8 weeks or so. By the time they are planted (after the last frost, around mid May), they will be twice their current size!
On the left are cuttings taken almost two weeks ago - the ones on the right are the first round, taken the last week in January. I actually took cuttings from these cuttings this past week! Taking those cuttings actually acted as pinching the plants, encouraging them to branch out. This will result in more flowers come mid-Summer!
This week the first few rounds of cool flowers will start the hardening off process. Hardening off is a step that can’t be skipped, as it lessens the shock of plants experiencing temperature fluctuations between night and day. For the past few weeks, cool flowers such as bachelor’s buttons, snapdragons, sweet peas and the like have been kept at a steady 50 degrees. These plants can all handle temps into the low 20’s (sweet peas can handle temps into the teens), but they need to be gradually introduced to outside temps. I’ll place the trays outside (protected under an overhang) for a few hours a day to start, increasing the amount of time until they’re out overnight by the end of a week. At that point, they’ll be moved out to the greenhouse where they will wait for the snow to melt so they can be planted in the ground! This begins the back and forth for me of going from house to garden (greenhouse) a few times a day. As the greenhouse is warmer than the outside temp when the sun is out, it will need to be vented (all manually at this point) so that the cool flowers don’t overheat. It’s a process!
(This rack is our cool flowers, currently hanging out in the garage)
Over the next two weeks our “hot” flowers will be sown. These are plants like celosia, hibiscus, orach, dahlia seeds, etc - flowers that thrive in warm temperatures. These can’t be started until 4-6 weeks prior to the last frost, so that they don’t get too big and stunted prior to planting. I look forward to this point SO much because it means warm weather is coming! These can’t be planted until after the last frost - there is no wiggle room for these!
This is also the time where I have to hold myself back from sowing ALL the seeds. A few reasons why I can’t - 1) I’ll run out of room and trays 2) I have a strict garden plan to prevent overcrowding and 3) succession planting for longer bloom times is a priority this year. I began my garden plan for this year last May (insanity) and while it’s gone through a few different iterations, having a plan kept me on track through seed buying and starting a seed sowing schedule. There’s a method to the madness (except for the dahlias, that’s just a free for all at this point)!
Whatever Even though there’s a good 2-3 FOOT snow pack out there, I’ll also begin prepping the garden itself. The first step is to prep the landscape fabric with planting holes based on spacing for each bed. The majority of plant spacing is 9”, followed by 6” (lisianthus, single stem sunflowers, etc) and then 18” (eucalyptus, hibiscus, branching sunflowers, etc). Instead of furiously weeding non stop like last year, we’re putting in energy at the beginning of the season to burn holes in the fabric to be used over and over again. Taking this step will allow me to focus more on the plants I’m intentionally growing, instead of weeds! All of the beds will have weed fabric this year, and we’ll also be putting in permanent pathways between each bed. it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
(Dahlias and eucalyptus waiting patiently for warmer temps on the lower three racks, third and fourth successions of cool flowers germinating on the top two racks)
Needless to say, most of my free minutes will be spent checking on plants and watering plants and hoping that this snow melts ASAP. What are your garden plans for this month?
