March in the Orange County Garden While March is the month that Spring comes to town, it is often a damp, cool month for the Orange County garden and much of our time is devoted to maintenance and preparation for warmer days.
Cool Season Vegetables
If you have delayed planting cool season vegetables, this is your last chance. If you are along the coast, you will have a longer growing period than those who are further inland. Planting a salad bowl garden full of greens is a enjoyable project that can be done now with good results and doesn’t take up lots of space. If you have members of the Brassica family in your garden (broccoli, cabbage, kale or cauliflower) and you are having issues with caterpillars, you can either handpick (if you have a few plants or pests) or use BT (bacillus thuringiensis), a natural occurring bacterium, which only effects caterpillars and is safe to use on edible plants.
Warm Season Vegetables
If you have started your seeds for tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, now is the time to think about thinning your seedlings. Depending on when you planted, it might also be time to plant them into the next size larger container. This is the container that they should be able to stay in until you harden them off and transplant them outside. If you have purchased seedlings to transplant, the ground and nighttime temperatures might be too low to plant in the ground. But if you are planting in containers, you could plant in a container and place against a south facing wall that gets at least 6 hours of sunlight. That spot might be too warm for the plant later, but for now its warmth should give it a good start on its growing season.
Raised Beds
If your raised beds will be home to your warm season vegetables, now is the time to think about the soil. If you need to replace soil, many nurseries are having soil sales. Make sure that you purchase “potting soil” and not “garden soil’. Having a successful harvest begins with a good foundation of soil. Adding compost is important too.
Roses
You should see lots of growth on your roses. Feed your plants once the foliage turns from red to green. If there has been lots of rain, make sure you are using minimal amounts of fertilizer, to avoid run-off, which washes down and goes into the storm drain. You might also start to see some aphids on your roses. Aphids are true bugs that chew and suck on plants but are small enough that they will do minimal damage. You can rinse them off with a strong stream of water, wipe them off with your hand or you can leave them and let their predators, lady beetles, lacewings or parasitoid wasps appear to control the population.
California Natives
March is usually one of the latest months to plant California Natives. They usually want to be planted in the winter months, when they have the chance to enjoy the winter rains. Natives are dormant in the summer, so having them established prior to the hot months is imperative to their success. If you have spent flowers, remember that most of natives are considered self-cleaning and very little pruning needs to be done.