Gardening To-Do-List for March

March:

• Make second plantings of such quickly-maturing crops as turnips, mustard, radishes and "spring onions."
• Thin plants when they are 2 to 3 inches tall to give the plants room to grow. Use scissors to cut the plants out to disturb the roots as little as possible(Although.. many people are of the mind that you don't over-plant so you don't need to thin.)
• Carry out any February jobs not completed.
• Treat seed before planting or buy treated seed for protection against seed-borne diseases, seed decay, seedling "damping off" and soil insects such as seed-corn maggots.
• Early-planted crops may need a nitrogen side-dressing, particularly if the soil is cool. Place the fertilizer several inches to the side of the plants and water it in. A little fertilizer throughout the growing period is better than too much at one time.
• Before settling them in the garden, harden-off transplants. That means placing them in their containers outdoors in a sheltered place a few days ahead of planting them.
• Get rows ready for "warm-season" vegetables to be planted during the last week of March or first week or two of April as weather permits. That's if you'll be doing row crops. If you're doing square foot gardening, just check your soil, add more compost, and warm it up.
• You might want to risk planting out a few of the more tender crops and keeping them covered during bad weather.
• Watch out for insects, especially cutworms, plant lice (aphids) and red spider mites.
• Put down mulch between rows to control weeds. Trust me, if you don't get the weeds early, you will have a VERY hard time later. Will become overwhelming.