Hello Green Thumbs of Shrewsbury,
As the sun graces us with its brighter rays and the warmth of spring fills the air, it’s time for your garden to shine in the seasonal spotlight. With no ice or snow to hold you back, you can embrace your March gardening jobs. This month is when your garden can truly take centre stage, inviting you to embrace the joy of nurturing nature.
TREES AND SHRUBS
At Love Plants, we encourage you to keep planting trees and shrubs, ensuring a vibrant canvas for your garden. Don’t forget to pamper your existing plant companions, including hedges and roses. Lightly fork slow-release fertiliser into the soil for optimal results.
For those plants that have embraced a bit too much growth, consider trimming back your shrubs to their bases, revealing their colourful winter stems—especially noteworthy for Cornus and Salix cultivars. Stay on top of pruning by taking your overwintered fuchsias back to around one or two buds on each shoot and pruning roses for robust regrowth.
Mopheads deserve some attention too; remove one-third of last season’s growth for their best display. H. paniculata requires a trim back to their lowest pair of healthy buds. And don’t forget your hydrangeas—complete deadheading is essential before the emergence of new growth.
FRUIT
Step into the realm of Spring gardening at Love Plants, where we can provide you with everything you may need to prepare your fruits for the upcoming Summer and Autumn delights. Raspberries, in particular, will benefit from this preparation. Cutting autumn-fruiting raspberry canes to the ground stimulates new growth ready to fruit in late-summer/autumn. For summer-fruiting raspberry canes, a simple tip cut above a bud is sufficient.
Just like your trees and shrubs, your fruit plants need proper feeding and care. Blueberry plants thrive with ericaceous plant fertilizer. Protect blossoms from potential spring frost with a screen or horticultural fleece. Mulch your fruit trees, bushes, and rhubarb with well-rotted manure or garden compost, ensuring their health and reducing moisture loss.
VEGETABLES
Feeding your plants is a priority, and vegetables are no exception. Our suggestion is to dig compost, well-rotted manure, or green waste into your vegetable beds, providing all the resources needed for a thriving season. Keep an eye out for weeds and eliminate them promptly to prevent seed setting.
Incorporating the sowing of a variety of vegetable seeds into your gardening tasks for March will be of huge benefit. You should store compost in your greenhouse a week before sowing, covering it with cardboard or sheets of black plastic for optimal warmth. Make sure you wash your watering can thoroughly to prevent disease transmission.
Towards the end of the month, turn your attention to planting seeds for potatoes, onion sets, and shallots once the soil has warmed up.
FLOWERS
As you transition between seasons, focus on your winter flowers this March. Prune early flowering Clematis lightly once they’ve finished blooming. Preparations for next year’s Jasminum nudiflorum begin this month, with pruning and cutting back growth to 5cm from the old wood.
Trim dead foliage from perennials and ornamental grasses, making way for new growth. Deadhead plants like winter pansies and daffodils to prevent seeding. Keep an eye out for lurking slugs that pose a threat to your plants, especially around plant beds and large containers, the latter of which may need top-dressing and watering when necessary.
To prepare for the warmer seasons, move your plants from the greenhouse to a cold frame, helping them adjust gradually.
At Love Plants, our expert team are ready to help answer your questions so you can have a dream garden this summer. Explore our diverse selection of plants and trees that may be perfect for your garden.
Happy gardening,
Love Plants Shrewsbury
