🌷 march tasks in the garden 🌷
🌷 march tasks in the garden 🌷
plus our GRAND OPENING, garden club, & etc
Our house has waited months for March. And in the grander sense, we have waited years for March. Next Friday evening on March 15th, the new Fancy Groceries opens on Trade Street downtown in Winston Salem.
Opening a stand-alone brick and mortar has been what I imagine giving birth to a child to be. It is my husband’s baby, and it has nearly obliterated him for the last many months, as well as myself, and our relationship, and the two of us have never been so utterly and completely depleted. Neither of us know who is helping or letting the other down more. But it is arguably his life’s work come to fruition and it is most certainly a gift to our city, and I am endlessly proud of him and everyone who has contributed to help him realize this giant addition to our family.
He would never tell you but he is lowkey famous, both internationally and everywhere else here in the states, for creating one of the most stunning and successful men’s brands and retail experiences in existence. It rivals anything in NYC, Tokyo, LA, Montreal, and on and on. I do not take it for granted that both of us have such big dreams and high standards for our creative works, and I also do not take for granted the friends and family members in our lives that have patiently kept in touch with us during this hard work.
Obviously, all I think about lately is how much there is to do and how to get out of it — or hype myself up because I actually love it.
Being incredibly overwhelmed can reveal to you what the deep parts of you really want to do, and how simple most of them are.
I remember Kara Swisher saying years ago, “most of the time I find myself unhappy, I just do less, and it usually fixes it.”
I hate writing about busyness, but I have come to realize that the topic of busyness for me is the topic of finding one’s limits - which is very interesting to me. It is also the study of learning what how we prioritize the things that we love, and why sometimes we put our biggest loves at the bottom of our lists.
[I am of course choosing to ignore late stage capitalism’s affect on all of us which is equivalent to being shoved to the bottom of the ocean and being told to just ‘develop stronger lungs and practice more breathing exercises’ which is very excruciating; we are all built for a world where we oscillate only between floating and treading water.]
The accuracy with which I see my limits is remarkably blurry, and the ranking of my priorities has the consistency of a toddler keeping track of her favorite toys. Today I am realizing that all I’ve wanted to do for weeks and weeks is go thrifting, which is very funny to me because I am keenly aware that I live in a little box and I work very hard to be able to earn coins to trade for little trinkets that look pretty to me so I can stand around on the weekends and stare at them. I am also very aware that about every 5 years I get bored and realize I didn’t have any good sense about me earlier in life and I have better sense now.
Anyway, I have come to great peace that most of my life centers around looking at pretty things, growing pretty things, collecting pretty things, going to other peoples homes and admiring pretty things, and working on my patience towards un-pretty things that I want to get rid of but can’t because there is nothing prettier to replace it with yet.
Sending out this list of March garden tasks is the only thing standing between me and going to look at some pretty things in the rain, so let’s be on our way.
We strive to be good, to be helpful, to be nice, to be unselfish. We want to be generous, of service, of the world. But what we really want is to be left alone. When we can’t get others to leave us alone, we eventually abandon ourselves. To others, we may look like we’re present. We may act like we are present. But our true self has gone to ground. - Julia Cameron
ABOUT MARCH
The false spring! In Zones 6-8 ish, where I am, all things are coming out of dormancy. The ground has thawed, buds have been or are being set, sap is beginning to draw up the trees, and the rains have begun.
During “the waking up” is when feeding can be very important. It is time to clear foliage out of the way for new growth. Heavy pruning for fruit trees, evergreens, hedges, bleeder trees should have been done earlier while in dormancy, so you can make the decision to (a) just clean up deadwood and branches-gone-rogue now and wait until next year or (b) do it now and sacrifice fruit/flower blossoms and keep an eye on any stress symptoms.
This is also the most ideal time to plant any trees, shrubs, berries, or roses you’ve been dreaming of. The exception is if you predict any hard frosts coming up (under 24°) — then try to wait until you’re in the clear after that.
Be warned that we have two full months before our last frost. Resist planting warm season vegetables or any sensitive annuals because they will surely get zapped.
Before I go deep on March’s key topics, here is what I’ve done in the last 2-3 weeks at my home:
Hard pruned & fertilized my shrub roses (Rose-Tone, with Felco 2s)
Lightly pruned & fertilized my climbing roses (Rose-Tone)
Fertilized my blueberries (Holly-Tone)
Planted a few new shrubs about while the weather is mild
Cleared out deadwood, deadheaded, & fertilized my hydrangeas (Holly-Tone, with Felco 2s)
Dug up and potted part of my ever-growing strawberry patch to give to others
Dug out some yarrow from my yarrow patch that has been spreading too quickly
Thrown some leftover bulbs into pots to see if they’ll bloom this year
Topped off all my raised beds with a few bags (Daddy Pete’s Raised Bed Mix) and added slow release fertilizer (Garden-Tone)
Planted out kale, broccoli, lettuce, & onion sets
Relocated some rogue hellebores into a new shade garden area
Weeded the paths before things get settled in
Mulched all my perennial beds (Daddy Pete’s Soil Enhancer)
Cut back all my ornamental grasses & perennial flower foliage
Sterilized all my tools (Bioesque)
✂️ PRUNING ✂️
Nothing in gardening scares more people than pruning. And you should cut yourself some slack for your fear because the people who prune trees professionally are often called Tree Surgeons.
I visit a LOT of people’s homes and I notice two approaches: (1) Never prune because it’s overwhelming and complicated, and (2) just get shears and hack it back so it’s s visible shape and flat on the top and sides.
There are only a few simple principles you need to learn that will land you happily in the middle of these two approaches.
➡️ HANDS DOWN the fastest, most entertaining way to get that crash course is Cass Turnbull’s Youtube Channel. She has a 6-video playlist for beginners that you should watch immediately. This is the equivalent of completing a (free) pruning course at a university and I genuinely think every home owner should watch it. It will teach you the basics of…
Pruning that harms plants
Pruning that hurts plants
How to get a natural effect
Why shearing is usually awful
How shrubs and trees grow
It is true that you can really destroy a plant quite easily with hard pruning the wrong way, but it’s important to know that you can remove dead plant material ANYTIME and you can also remove individual branches or twigs ANYTIME without harming a plant. It’s when you begin to shape a shrub or hard prune (removing more than 20% of its material) that you need to get on Youtube and watch a video of someone doing it to that specific plant first.
👩🏻🌾 FEEDING 👩🏻🌾
I keep it very simple with fertilization of my outdoor shrubs and flowers.
You do not need to go outside and fertilize every plant on your property for it to thrive.
I reserve fertilizing for (1) anything planted within the last 1-2 years that I want to establish quickly, (2) plants I feel have visibly struggled last year, and (3) my favorite flowers that I want as many blooms as possible from.
Espoma is my favorite slow-release brand and it has excellent distribution (typically) at Tractor Supply, Ace Hardware, AB Seed, Home Depot, and Lowes. I’ve seen fewer bags of it at Home Depot and Lowes lately, so try Ace or Tractor Supply first.
You do not need every single bag they carry. Many of them are similar. I typically keep large (8-16lb) bags of the top 3 on hand, and I have only recently grabbed a 4lb bag of Rose-Tone for my growing collection of roses.
A few notes:
The 3 numbers are their N-P-K ratio. (N)itrogen, (P)hosphorus, (K) Potassium.
Remember “Up, Down, All-Around?”
Nitrogen (Up) supports leaves/green growth, Phosphorus (Down) supports stem growth & “bulking up” in blooms and fruits, and Potassium (all around) is the key to strong roots, the plant’s immune system, & resilience to drought.
It’s a dramatic oversimplification of plant chemistry but you can start to see why fertilizers for flowers and vegetables have a higher Phosphorus number, for shrubs emphasize Potassium for rooting/general health, and all-purpose fertilizers tend to boost Nitrogen for “immediate visible affect.”
Holly-Tone is basically the all purpose fertilizer with sulfur and calcium added, which acidifies the soil for acid-loving shrubs like hydrangeas, camellias, blueberries, gardenias, etc etc. If you have alkaline soil and grow these shrubs, it is very important. If you live in the southeast with acidic soil, this is a nice to have but you could also just use Plant-tone because your soil is already acidic. I do get nervous about adding high-nitrogen fertilizers to shrubs too early, so personally I try to use Holly-tone most of the time.
Nitrogen is the most mobile nutrient which means quickest to be used/lost. Phosphorus stays in the soil for a VERY long time, so you can over-fertilize areas by frequently adding something like Flower-tone or Bulb-tone over and over. If you’ve been working on your soil and added fertilizer several times over the years, you may want to experiment with Urea which is 100% nitrogen and nothing else!
🥬 PLANTING OUT 🥬
I do recommend checking your garden calendar based on your frost dates, but for Zones 7 and 8s, it’s time to plant out…
Brassicas! Kale, Broccoli, Collards, Cauliflower,
Greens! Spinach, Lettuce, Arugula, Bok Choi, Mustard, Chinese Cabbage
The 3 Ps! Parsley, Peas, & Potatoes
Onion sets! (Ace Hardware on Robinhood has them, along with seed potatoes)
& IF YOU ARE STARTING SEEDS INDOORS…
👯♀️ March Garden Club 👯♀️
If you are a paid subscriber to Floricult and were not able to join March’s Garden Club on the 1st, below is a link to March’s recording!
Our next meeting is Monday, April 1st at 7pm EST.
Until next time, or until next Friday night at Fancy Groceries!
Lauren