Carmels Gardening Calendar For March
Gardening Calendar and Task List for Carmel (March 2026)
This calendar covers essential late-March tasks tailored to your garden, focusing on preparation, feeding, and early sowing.
- Sowing and Planting
- Start dahlia tubers indoors now in pots of multi-purpose compost, keeping them in a bright, frost-free location. Water sparingly until shoots appear.
- Sow Aquilegia and Echinacea seeds directly into borders.
- Sow Calendula (pot marigold) seeds. This plant acts as a companion plant to repel pests.
- Guidance: For more details on starting dahlias, see Starting Dahlias from Tubers.
- Lawn Care and Soil Improvement
- Apply Bio-Lime fertilizer to the lawn to increase the soil pH toward the recommended range of 6.0 to 6.5. This will help improve grass growth and reduce moss and weeds.
- Treat broadleaf weeds in the lawn using Verdone (now Weedol for Lawns) applied with a watering can and a fine rose attachment.
- Guidance: For more on lawn pH issues, see Lawn pH and Bare Patches.
- Feeding Existing Plants
- Apply a general feed of Growmore fertiliser across the garden, including borders and shrubs, at approximately one handful per square metre. It should be applied once a year in spring or autumn.
- Feed the Ceanothus now with Growmore to stimulate stem growth.
- Begin liquid feeding all plants (after the initial Growmore feed) every 2 to 6 weeks from March to October, using a liquid tomato feed which is high in potash.
- Feed acid-loving plants, such as your Azaleas, with an ericaceous fertiliser.
- Borders and Mulching
- Ensure the borders are fertilized (with Growmore) before applying any mulch.
- Gather suitable mulch materials such as garden compost, well-rotted manure, bark chips, or spent mushroom compost.
- Guidance: For more on application, refer to Mulching Flower Borders.
- Pruning and Pest Control
- Repot Azalea houseplants to manage small flies. Use John Innes soil-based compost for container plants.
- Spot-treat persistent perennial weeds like Bindweed or Brambles with Roundup weed killer using a hand sprayer or weed wipe.
Outstanding Tasks List
- Actionable Garden Tasks (To Do)
- Repotting: Repot Azalea houseplants to address the small fly issue.
- Sowing/Starting: Start the dahlia tubers purchased by Tim in pots indoors.
- Mulch Preparation: Ensure you have enough organic mulch material gathered and that the borders have received their initial Growmore feed.
- Client Management and Follow-Up (Pending from Tim)
- Visit Scheduling: Coordinate the next day visit with Tim (likely the week of March 23) to use the chipper.
- Documentation: Awaiting the full plant list Tim will write up.
- Documentation: Awaiting the separate jobs list Tim plans to send to Rebecca.