A GROWING CONCERN: March into spring with gardening chores
Published 1:30 am Saturday, March 21, 2026
IN 10 DAYS, it will be April 1, and that’s no fooling! The warmer-than-usual temperatures of this season also mean your yard and garden are popping up and leafing out faster than normal. This, in turn, means we have to step up our pace before we are smothered in work and weeds.
1. Kill those weeds. There are a lot of products out there to help you. Read their labels carefully and decide which is right for you. Remember, poison is poison regardless of which brand you choose. If you do choose to use these products, follow the directions explicitly and keep away from children and pets.
Many entities like the National Parks and Forest Service prefer Roundup. It’s an expensive product but worth it. First, it does not translocate. That means it only works where you spray it. Second, because it is absorbed into biomass, it won’t move down into the soil, killing worms and other valuable critters. Finally, the chemical evaporates rapidly so that, in 24 hours, there will be no harmful residue hanging around to harm you or your four-footed friends.
Also, realize that one drop per square inch will kill plants, so be careful of wind and spray. If you use chemicals, always use at the recommended dose and spray responsibly. Hard labor and cultivating work, too, so always look for alternatives.
2. Deadhead your early bloomers. We all want plants to do well, especially in the future. Don’t let your bulbs, forsythias, rhododendrons, heathers, camellias or magnolias go to seed. Remove their flowers when spent. The amount of blooms, vigor of plants and general look of your yard will greatly improve by deadheading.
3. Get those tools ready. Sharpen your mower blades now. Dull blades shear the grass blades and cause the tips to brown out, greatly enhancing the chance of disease. A dull pruner, lopper and hedge shears also cause cuts to be ragged and rough. This can harm the plant — in many cases, a slow road to deterioration. But don’t stop with blades. Get your shovels oiled, cleaned and sharpened. Sand the rust off your hand trowels and tools. Fix all leaks. Tighten the nuts and bolts. Properly maintaining tools make a job safer, easier and of much higher quality.
4. Get the watering systems going. With this weather pattern, your plants are growing like gangbusters. Don’t wait until panic sets in. Turn on irrigation systems, and check and repair them this week.
5. Finish your spring-time pruning. Get those errant limbs out of your view, off your house and away from other plants. Growth is rapid now, so don’t waste plant energy in areas that are unwelcome. Watch your ornamental and edible fruit trees, because suckers and water sprouts are taking off. Remove these parasites all year as they occur.
6. Sow seeds. The veggie garden should be rolling now, soil prepared and compost down. Plants like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, peas, radishes, greens, lettuce, onion sets, garlic, beets, kohlrabi, cauliflower, spinach and Swiss chard should be started now. Successive planting all season long will get a plethora of vegetables throughout the year.
7. Work those berries. Cultivate the soil and mulch around the berries today. Clean all strawberry leaves, transplant new runners and add copious amounts of lush, old compost for a superb harvest beginning at the end of May.
8. Cut back your ferns. The way to keep your sword ferns gorgeous is to remove every old leaf before the new fronds unfold. By cutting last year’s leaves away, your fronds will be comprised of only new unblemished fern fronds and will be free of all those accumulating dead brown stalks. This garden trick makes all the difference.
9. Start your fuchsias, containers and sensitive plants. Getting an early jump on containers pays off immensely. Dig out your winterized fuchsias and geraniums. Let them sit outside in good weather (above 50 degrees) and return indoors at night. Plant your pots and baskets in the next few weeks and grow indoors in a very sunny location. And please indulge me on this one: Along with the mandatory basket, everyone to have at least one dahlia this year. You will not believe the beauty in August, September and October.
If you buy and tend all those plants, you will get to enjoy them this coming summer and fall. And please … stay well all!
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Andrew May is a freelance writer and ornamental horticulturist who dreams of having Clallam and Jefferson counties nationally recognized as “Flower Peninsula USA.” Send him questions c/o Peninsula Daily News, P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362, or email news@peninsuladailynews.com (subject line: Andrew May).
