my March 2012 Calgary garden to-do list

Sorry, I'm a bit late for this post.  I've been busy.  To tell the truth, for me, March and April are all about getting something else done before gardening season starts in earnest.  I should really clean out those kitchen cupboards.  And the storage room.  And probably the laundry room.... And hang those curtains in my daughters' room that I've been working on for a year... you get the idea!

But I do have plenty of seeds already growing in the basement and will be starting tomatoes in mid-March.  And I do not kid myself.  Whenever the weather is nice and the snow is gone, I will drop all my indoor chores for the chance to putter outside.  The kitchen cupboards may never get cleaned, but here are some things I might get done in the garden this month:

 PUTTERING OUTSIDE

• Some tidy-up pruning of trees and shrubs could still be done this month, and I like to get this job out of the way before things get busy.  Don't prune lilacs and other spring-blooming shrubs though, or you will remove this year's flowers!
• Prune and thin raspberries
• Stay on patios and stepping stones as much as possible (don't muck about on wet soil, walking on it will compact the soil)

from the archives:

• February (and March) are good times to prune.

• I don't get the prune-shrubs-into-a-ball-shape thing.
• On thinning and rejuvenating shrubs.

SEEDS and VEGETABLES

• It's still too early to start most vegetables inside this month, but I have already started some ornamentals in February and others in early March, and will be starting tomatoes in about a week.
• For the seeds I've already started, I'll be pinching them back to just above the first pair of true leaves this month to keep them short and strong.

from the archives:

• My seed-starting setup - This post describes what I do to start seeds, and the how and why of it all.  There are also lots more links on the bottom of the post.
• Vegetable gardening in Calgary 101, and
• When to plant vegetable seeds in Calgary
• How to winter sow - an alternative, zero-energy, low-maintenance way to start seeds.

HOUSE PLANTS

• They still don't need too much watering, but an occasional half-strength fertilizing wouldn't hurt, if you do nothing else.  I put my worm castings in my house plant containers so I rarely use synthetic fertilizers any more.

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