March means new beginnings! There is plenty to do this month as the growing season is just around the corner.

Town & Country’s plant doctors are available during store hours to answer your gardening questions. For accurate diagnosis, please bring in a sample (preferred) or a picture of the problem.

Tropicals and Houseplants

• Now is a good time to re-pot houseplants into slightly larger pots using Town & Country Professional Potting Mix .
• Houseplants sense spring with the longer days. Begin feeding with Bonide Houseplant Food to encourage healthy new growth.
• Add Orchids, African violets, Bromeliads and other flowering plants to bring color indoors.

Indoor Seed & Bulb Starting

• Start flower and vegetable seeds indoors. Ask for a copy of our Seed Starting Guide for recommended indoor sowing dates and tips for success. (Also available on our website.)
• Use grow lights to encourage healthy growth of seedlings and other indoor plants.
• Begin fertilizing seedlings with Fertilome Water Soluble Plant Food 20-20-20.
• Purchase Town and Country Gardens Select Garden seed now. Mark your seedlings with wood or plastic labels to identify varieties and planting dates.
• Plant dahlia, canna, and begonia bulbs indoors for planting out later.

Fruit

• Prune and thin raspberry plants to clean up last year’s dead canes.
• Apply Soil Sulfur to prevent yellowing of raspberry leaves.
• Dormant bare root raspberries and strawberries can be planted beginning in mid to late March as soon as they are available.
• Apply Casoron herbicide granules to prevent weeds in raspberries all season long.
• Spray fruit trees with Bonide All Seasons Dormant Spray to kill overwintering insects and eggs.
• Remove straw mulch from strawberries if it was applied last fall.

Flowers

• Prune back dead stalks on perennial flowers and ornamental grasses to the ground.
• Fertilize established bulbs with a side dressing of Dutch Bulb Food.
• Fertilize perennial flowers with T&C Fruit & Flower Food.
• Prepare seed bed and plant Wildflower seed from mid March to late April.

Vegetables

• Remove any spent vines and corn stalks from garden spot if not completed last fall.
• Add Soil Enhancer or compost as well as sulfur, and rototil into soil to prepare seed bed.
• If you have a high tunnel hoop house you can plant cool weather crops like lettuce now.

Roses

• Avoid removing winter protection from roses until weather warms enough that new shoots are beginning to emerge. Then prune canes to 8-12” on hybrid teas. Remove dead canes.

Lawns

• Rake matted grass as snow recedes to prevent snow mold from damaging your lawn.
• Apply T&C Humates (Step-1) to your lawn to help decompose lawn thatch and green up your lawn. This can be done anytime in March or early April.
• Ask about our 4-Step Lawn Care System for the greenest, healthiest lawn in the neighborhood.

Trees & Shrubs

• Prune most trees now. Skip maples and birches until summer to avoid excessive bleeding.
• Fertilize trees and shrubs with Save-A-Tree or T&C Tree & Shrub Food.
• Apply Fertilome Tree & Shrub Systemic Insect Drench to prevent most insect damage to your trees and shrubs for the entire growing season.
• Spray shade trees with Bonide ALL Seasons Dormant Spray to kill overwintering insects and eggs.
• Check staked trees and loosen or remove ties around trunks if necessary to prevent injury.

Always read and follow label directions when using any garden chemical or fertilizer.