Happy New Year?

March 2026

PICKAWAY TO GARDEN

 

Happy New Year?

 

By Paul Hang

 

This column was originally published in March of 2012. I thought a re-run might be fun. Notice how some references don’t apply to today.

 

For some reason I find it hard to believe that March is already here. Perhaps it is because we have had so little winter. Usually, by now, we have experienced so many days of cold and dreary weather that we are grateful for the promise of spring. But as I write this this winter has been pretty puny, so far. Yea right!

 

Robert Frost accurately described the weather in March in one of his poems. When we have a sunny day with a chill wind it feels like April. When the day is sunny and the wind still we feel we are in May. "But if you so much as dare to speak/ A cloud comes over the sunlit arch/ A wind comes off a frozen peak/ And you're two months back in the middle of March." March weather is unsettled and unpredictable. It makes me impatient for it to settle down. Just when I think I can get out and begin the new gardening year, along comes a nasty day that makes me postpone the anticipated season. But let's enjoy the forced leisure.

 

Regardless of our experience, the orb we reside on (whether we asked for the ride or not) continues inexorably to hurtle through space rotating about its axis and revolving around our sun. As that axis ceases to point away from the sun and reaches the point where it is half-way between pointing away and pointing towards the sun that point marks the equinox. This happens twice a year. The last time it marked the end of summer. This time it marks the end of winter, and as winter ends, spring begins with the spring equinox which arrives on March 20. The Romans began their new year in March and gardeners should too. After all it is pretty arbitrary when the New Year begins. Why not begin the year when the days are getting longer and warmer and the plants are beginning to spring to life? And gardeners are springing to life too. It is truly the beginning of the New Year. Let's have a spring's eve party on the 19th.

 

While we are getting our astronomical bearings look to the sky at night. We have our last chance to see the winter constellation that I like to think of as the Irish constellation, Orion! Soon it will no longer be visible until next winter. This also marks the end of winter.

 

March also begins daylight savings time. Everything that's old is new again. Plants begin to bloom, animals are generating a new generation. Birds are returning. Some have already nested. Buds are swelling. The sap has been running, ( some for office), people are walking and some bugs are crawling. It is the beginning. Happy New Year!

 

Things to do in the garden:

 

Begin fertilizing houseplants with a weak solution. Now is a good time to propagate houseplants. Have your soil tested. Materials and directions are normally available at the OSU Extension Office.The last average frost date here in zone 6B is April 23^rd. That means there is a 50/50 chance of frost on that date. A number of seeds should be started this month. Check your seed packet for the number of days to harvest and count back to the date you want to plant your seeds or set out your plants. A word to the wise, don’t set out your plants too early unless you are prepared to protect them should the odds work against you.

 

Rake the lawn to remove the twigs, leaves, and other winter detritus. Mow high, 3-4 inches. Dig out those biennial weeds before they get established. Now is a good time to plant evergreen and other trees and shrubs and bare root roses. The earlier you transplant perennials the better they will do. When is the soil ready to be worked? Soil that sticks to your spade is too wet to work and will be compacted. Make a ball of soil and drop it. If it crumbles it is ready to work. 

 

Before those buds break, spray fruit trees with dormant oil. Read the directions. Prune damaged, diseased, and dead limbs. Also, prune those limbs that grow inward, suckers and water sprouts. Do not remove more than a third of the tree. Prune deciduous trees and shrubs that bloom in the summer. Prune spring flowering trees and shrubs after they bloom. Prune raspberry canes and grapevines and fall flowering clematis. Divide snowdrops after they have bloomed. You can plant spinach, radishes and peas from seed unless the soil is wet.

 

If you cut back perennials and ornamental grasses (tying up the grasses before cutting them back to about six inches saves a lot of clean up). Don’t throw them in the trash or onto the compost pile. Store them until we have a few warm days (temps above 50 F) to give overwintering insects a chance to emerge. Pull back mulch from around perennials on warm days but be prepared to cover them back up if a hard freeze threatens.

 

Late March and April is the time to apply a pre-emergent to the lawn if you want to prevent crabgrass. The best indicator for this is the first bloom of Callery Pear. But be forewarned, pre-emergents prevent seeds from sprouting. Apply pre-emergent on a calm day. There are now selective pre-emergents that do not affect grass seed. If you plan to seed any parts of your lawn, don’t apply a non-selective to those areas. This warning also applies to areas where you plan to plant vegetables and flowers by directly seeding in the soil. A light fertilization of the lawn is all you’ll need.

 

Go to weather.cfaes.osu.edu/gdd for phenology information on when plants flower and insects emerge. Gardening questions can be answered at the Pickaway County OSU Extension Office 740-474-7534.