Be sure to stop by Betty's if you have any questions or need advice.

The hardest part about this time in the gardening and landscaping year is to be patient. There are plenty of things we can and will do. There are, however, a few things that should wait just a bit … seeding and fertilizing the lawn, turning soil that is too wet, planting frost tender annuals like impatiens and marigolds, etc..

WORKING YOUR SOIL

We can do a lot of damage to the soil in our gardens and planting beds by turning it when it is too wet. The way soil and compost particles fit together is described as its tilth. Black loam soil is described as having ideal tilth with lots of large pores (open spaces) for oxygen and small pores for water. Clay soil, well amended with compost, still doesn't drain as well as black loam but we can make it even worse. If you work clay soil when it is too wet, the result is small to large lumps of clay that dry out eventually to rock like consistency. Nothing short of a hammer and anvil is ever going to break down those lumps. Planting holes for trees and shrubs that are dug when the soil is too wet become clay pots that drown our plants.

How do you tell when the soil is dry enough to work? Dig down in a planting or garden bed a few inches below the soil surface with a small hand trowel. Dig out a fistful of soil and form a firm ball with your hands. When you brush against the side of this ball, small particles of soil should fall off if the soil is dry enough to work. If your ball of soil is dripping water, it is obviously too wet. If the ball isn't dripping but smears instead of crumbling, it is still too wet. This is important. Once you have disturbed the natural tilth of your soil, it is very difficult to repair mistakes.

LAWNS

Our Northern Virginia clay soil is naturally acid. This is great for growing trees and shrubs but not what lawn grasses require. You have probably applied lime as recommended in past years. March is a great time to test your soil pH. A reading on a pH meter of 7 means that your soil is neutral … neither acid nor alkaline. A reading below 7 indicates acid soil; above 7 means alkaline or sweet soil. If your soil test shows a reading of below 7, it is time to apply lime again at a rate of 40 lbs. per 1,000 square feet of turf. Lime takes a while to break down in the soil so the sooner you apply it the better.

My parents tell me that one of my first words was WHY.

Lime is heavy stuff … not much fun to be spreading over a large lawn. Do you really need to do it? The answer is complicated if you go down to the ions and electrons level but is basically YES. If the soil pH is wrong for a particular plant, in this case lawn grasses, no amount of expensive fertilizer is going to help. In acid soil lawn grasses are unable to utilize natural or added nutrients.

MOSS. Poets seem to like moss, especially on tree trunks. We know that where moss grows, grass doesn't. Mossy lawn areas are slippery on top and muddy underneath. That green and orange-brown stuff tends to get tracked into the house. March is the time to tackle your moss problems. The first step is to kill the existing moss with a liquid or granular product designed for killing moss. The second step is to relieve some of the conditions that allowed it to grow in the first place. Wet, compacted acid soil in shade is a moss paradise. You may not wish to change the shade variable but you can improve drainage by aerating the soil (using tools that make holes in the top 3-6" of soil) and adding compost in the form of Betty's Sweet Earth spread over the soil to a depth of 1/2". You can change the soil from sour to sweet by adding lime.

LAWN AERATION. Mossy spots require this most often but we walk on all of our lawn. It compacts. This makes it unable to absorb water during dry periods. The grass dies even when we water it. All lawns in clay soil need to be aerated as described above every two to three years. Steep slopes may need it more frequently.


WEEDS. Whether our concern is weeds in our lawn or those in planting beds, March is the month to apply pre-emergent herbicides. Weeds fall into two basic categories: grass type (crabgrass, goose grass, nut sedge, etc.) and broadleaf (dandelions, chickweed, henbit, undesirable clovers, ad infinitum). Dry formulations containing either 'Tupersan', 'Balan' or 'Barricade' are used to prevent grass type weeds from germinating. Dry or liquid formulations containing 'Treflan', 'Portrait', 'Surflan' or 'Gallery' are used to prevent emergence of broadleaf weeds. This is not an exhaustive list of all available products but it will get you started. Take your reading glasses (if needed) and carefully read the labels before purchasing a product or products to tackle your own pre-emergent herbicide needs.

YOUR LAWN IS 'TILLERING' IN MARCH. Basically this means that the individual grass clumps are spreading out at the soil-root level right now. An application of 'Dry Roots Granular 2-4-2' will provide just the right nutrients to assist this natural process.

TREES AND SHRUBS

A rule of thumb in Northern Virginia is that the earlier in spring you can plant new trees and shrubs the better chance these plants have of surviving their first summer of growth. When the soil is dry enough to dig, do your planting. Balled and burlap plants in particular with their severely pruned roots need as much cool weather head start on root growth as you can give them. Deciduous trees are best installed before their leaves appear and begin making great demands on their root systems. Evergreen plants, broadleaf or needle leaf, haven't started to grow new foliage yet. Now is the time to get them settled in their new locations. Pick up planting guides at Betty's to learn how best to plant and care for your new landscape purchases.

DISEASE PATROL AND CONTROL

Cool, humid March weather is unfortunately ideal for the regeneration and spread of many fungal diseases. Leaf spot on photinia, powdery mildew on shady lawns, roses, dogwoods and lilac, petal blight on azaleas, anthracnose on dogwoods, shot fungus (those big brown rimmed holes) on hosta and apple-cedar rust on apple trees are just a sample of what you may face. Check your landscape periodically for signs of disease. A variety of products such as 'Bayleton' or copper based fungicides are available to control disease. They will work longer and more effectively if applied with a 'spreader sticker' like 'Wilt Pruf' mixed in the solution. 'Spreader' means that the fungicide will coat the leaf rather than beading up in small areas. 'Sticker' means that the product will remain on the leaf through at least some rain.

PERENNIALS AND BULBS

At the first signs of new growth it is the right time to fertilize your bulbs and perennials. Crocus, daffodil, tulips, etc. will bloom better and regenerate themselves after blooming with an application of 'Bulb Booster' worked into the soil around the new growth as soon as it pokes through the mulch. Remember also to reduce the amount of mulch around these bulbs to about 2" as soon as new growth appears.

If you have perennials which need to be divided … they are either crowding other plants or didn't bloom well last year … , March is the time to dig and divide. Check the pH in your perennial beds. Like grass, most perennials prefer sweet soil. Add gardener's lime as needed to move the pH level above 7. Fertilize with a slow release fertilizer to reduce your chores later in the year.

Bare-root stock of perennials are now available at Betty's. March is the best time to install new hosta, lily of the valley, oriental lilies, canna, gladiolus and many other perennials as bare root cuttings.

GROUNDCOVERS AND GRASSES

Trim ornamental grasses back to 2-3 inches above the plant crown now before any new growth starts. Small clumps may be trimmed with hedge clippers. Larger areas may be mown down with your mower at its tallest setting. Evergreen groundcovers like periwinkle, pachysandra and ivy may also be trimmed back with your mower. They will look a little ratty for about a month but will soon be covered with new, soft and dense growth.