Lawn & Garden

Checklist for March

Planting Preparation

It's time to plant cool season vegetables, including broccoli, lettuce, spinach, greens, cabbage, chard and root crops. You can also plant peas, onions, shallots and potatoes. Try a new potatoes variety for a change.

Seed Starting

It's that time of year to start tomatoes, peppers along with your flowers and herbs in your greenhouse or outside floated. Watch your night-time temperatures, if they are in the 30's you will have to add supplemental heat.

Woody Plants

Before woody plants break dormancy and as they begin to bud out, take care of pruning chores and applications of preventatives such as dormant oil.

Preparing Beds

Prepare your garden beds deeply, especially for vegetables. Wait until the soil is dry enough to crumble in your hand. If you have a heavy clay soil be especially careful not to work too wet. The same conditions apply if you have a winter cover crop to turn for your garden.

Floating Row Covers

You may want to pull them back on real warm days, but don't remove them from the garden. You know how things change in Kentucky, it might snow the next day after a warm day.

Keep Pruning

Continue pruning fruit trees, landscape trees and shrubs. Remove dead or broken branches, crossing branches that rub and all dead or diseased wood. Also trim Forsythia after it blooms, don't forget an application of dormant oil on your fruit trees. Follow the labeled directions.

Lawns

Check all of the outdoor power equipment and get ready for the first mowing