Prescott Garden Keeping - March edition

Winter will still be visiting here and there for the next couple of months.  Nights are still at or below freezing often, and our last frost date is usually around Mothers Day in May.  

But March is here and we've got some serious checklists to start tackling!  So, this is getting to be a long one, but some of what I've got listed is just a reminder from last month (to wrap it up).  And everything you do now will pay off as the season progresses.

We will have those warm t-shirt days and front porch happy hour evenings.  But don't jump the gun and start putting out tender plants until May - if you can stand it!
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​We don't do garden maintenance at The Whiskey Porch, but I wanted to put together a series of garden keeping checklists to help keep you on track.  Whether you are going to do it all yourself, or bring in a maintenance crew to do much of it for you, these monthly guides should be useful to you if you live in and around Prescott, AZ.

All of these checklists are very specific to the micro-climate that I am in here in downtown Prescott.  So, there will be slight variations for you depending on your specific location, as well as what you grow.  Generally speaking, these lists will relate to USDA Zone 7b.  

Each year can bring a slightly different cycle to the seasons.  Sometimes we have our first hard freeze in late October, but most often not until early December.  Keep this in mind when planning your monthly tasks.

These checklists apply generally to a landscape garden which includes primarily perennials, as well as veggies and herbs.  

​Let's get to it.
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​PLANTS & PLANTING  🌱

• Begin planting perennials, summer/fall bulbs, onions, garlic, rhubarb, potatoes, rhubarb, strawberries and asparagus
• Sow directly seeds for fava beans, poppies, violas, pansy, penstemon, larkspur, beets, carrots, leaf lettuce, swiss chard, mustard greens, parsnips, peas, spinach, turnips, onion sets
• Sow seeds indoors to start: for example, leaf celery, tomatoes, tomatillo, basils, lemongrass, chamomile, calendula, bergamot, rudbeckia, fennel, cilantro, and dill and other tender veggies
• Begin to harden off cool season starts like onions, broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, kale, etc
• Continue planting bare root roses, trees, and shrubs
• Container grown plants will begin appearing more at local nurseries now - plant away (before the heat hits is ideal)
• ​If you had planned to move or relocate any of your perennials or trees, best to wrap that up this month for best results so they are settled before the heat arrives

​WATER  💦 

• Water every 2 weeks if no rain/snow - best to continue to do this by hand, unless you want to fire up the drip system and then shut it down again.  Bursting pipes and emitters from frozen water aren't a lot of fun to deal with.​

​CRITTERS 🦌

• Re-apply Deer Repellent to succulents and around bird feeders and swelling tree buds🦌.  The skunks are beginning to show up in droves, don't them get too settled.  Apply those repellents now. Rinse, and repeat!
• Get coddling moth traps to monitor fruit trees
• Spread Nolo bait for grass hoppers 🦗🦗  (sadly, this product is still unavailable for now (as of March 2024)
• Clean out your birdhouses and birdfeeders and bird baths- it's getting busy out there
• Apply dormant oil spray before leaves emerge on shrubs or small trees that struggle with aphids or mites or thrip
• Keep an eye out for mites and aphids - don't let them get a head start
• Set out your clean hummingbird feeders if you put them away for winter 

​MAINTENANCE  ✂️

• Prune wisteria very gently (flowers on old wood) and feed with blood meal
• Prune Roses and Ornamental Grasses and Penstemon
• Prune grape vine hard
• Prune winter killed stems/tips on evergreen perennials like lavendar, rosemary, rockrose, etc. Don't cut to the ground. Wait till you can see green buds emerging from branches to know where to cut.  Lavendar do benefit from a lot of pruning so they don't get too woody.
• Prune summer blooming trees like Desert Willow
• Cut down (almost to ground) herbaceous/deciduous perennials like agastache
• Divide late summer/early fall perennials every 2 - 4 years (including clumping grasses)
• Begin feeding Roses - when the leaves emerge. High nitrogen fert for the first app to jump start along with epsom salts which will encourage new growth. Add slow-release fertilizers when your cane shoots are 4-5 inches long. Then throughout the season every 2-4 weeks continue to feed based on the schedule recommended for the fertilizer you are using. Recomm: Dr. Earth Total Advantage Rose & Flower Fert; Espoma Rose-Tone Organic Rose & Flower Food; Jobe's Organics Rose Fert Spikes
• Feed acid treatment to: rhododendrun, grapes, japanese maples
• Fertilize trees/shrubs (Easter) - Apply Waters All Purpose Plant Food  or Mortimers All Purpose Fertilizer to everything especially evergreens
• Apply “soil sulfur” to help correct soil PH through the year
• Finish adding compost/organic layers to your planting beds as early in the month as possible if you didn't finish last month
• Towards the middle part of the  month, pull back heavy mulching or winter protection for your perennials
• Finish applying pre-emergents to walkways, medians, patios

​OTHER  📝

• Complete garden layout design and planting notes in your journal if you still haven't finished 
• Wrap up any signage for plants wintering over from last year that never got a permanent sign

​GARDEN KEEPING JOURNAL ☑️

Find all the other monthly checklists (as they are published each month this first year) here:

Monthly Checklists

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​NEED MORE TIPS AND INSPIRATION?

You can find lots more good stuff and inspiration on our Garden Resources page if you'd like to start dreaming about next season!

Cottage Garden Resources

​There it is - thanks so much for reading.  I know this one is a long list - hang in there!  Enjoy :)

​I will plan to put up a new Garden Keeping check list for each month, and then update them over time.  Let me know if have any other items you typically do annually in March - I'd love to hear!

Peace  & Contentment,
~Miriam