March Garden To Do List

By Deborah Birge
President, Sugar Land Garden Club
Fort Bend County Master Gardener

From our March member’s newsletter, Deborah Birge gives us a list of garden to-dos for March. For access to these and other informational articles, join the Sugar Land Garden Club so you can get the newsletter delivered to your inbox!

Mulch – Rake old mulch, add new mulch to 4” to preserve soil moisture.

Trees/Shrubs – Pecan trees should bloom soon, a sure sign that spring is here. Wait for new growth before pruning damaged branches. Prune spring flowering species after they are faded. Citrus should begin budding and blooming. If your tree is less than 1 year old, knock all buds off and do not let it bloom.

Lawn – Seeing new growth? Start mowing removing only 1/3 of the total grass height. Don’t fertilize until the third mowing. For best results, use only slow-release fertilizer. Avoid all weed/feed products, they can kill landscape plants and weaken trees. If you had your soil tested, fertilize only with the lacking nutrients. For additional information, please check out the following documents:

Maintaining St. Augustine Grass Lawns by Texas Agricultural Extension Services

Maintaining Bermuda Grass Lawns by Texas Agricultural Extension Services

Vegetables – Time to add corn, cucumber, melon and summer squash.

Fruit Trees – Time to buy and plant fruit trees except for tropicals. Tropicals must remain in containers. Now is a good time to finish pruning and start fertilizing. Only fertilize if you see new leaf and twig growth. Young trees should not be fertilized unless they are in containers.

Roses – Begin fertilizing. Did you have your soil tested?

Tropicals – When daytime temperatures are consistently above 65F, it’s time to fertilize. Use a slow-release fertilizer such as Osmocote, follow directions.

Wildflowers – Do not mow wildflowers. Let them bloom and go to seed so they come back next year.