March Garden Notes

How the rain helps our healthy soil?

How wonderful has this rain been? It is the wettest it has been in years in Northern California. The soil and plants are drinking it all up! What happens when you have bare soil? When weeds are covering soil it is better than bare soil.  Think of when you are making pancakes and you add the flour to a bowl then add the egg or other liquids ingredients. The liquid ingredients start pooling off to the side because the bare flour doesn’t let it absorb the moisture. With less water retention there is less plant life and less organisms living in the soil. 

What to do for your garden in March? 

Now that overnight temperatures are a bit more moderate. It is a great time to start pruning back flowers that went dormant in the winter. If you have roses (they should have been pruned back in January) they will be budding out and sprouting new leaves. It is a great time to feed the roses and add some healthy soil amendments (organic compost or soil booster to soil at the base of the plant).  In addition, if you have any cover crops growing in your container gardens it is a great time to cut it back to 1-2 inches from the soil to prep for summer planting in late April or early May. The clippings can be cut up and sprinkled over the top of the container beds. You can also add some clippings around other plants to add more organic matter and help with soil absorption when it rains.

There is still time to plant potatoes and other cool season crops to enjoy in late spring.