Garden list for March

Things I want to achieve in March 2025

As much as I hate to admit it, I am a tad relieved that this recent summer is all but behind us.  It’s the heat and accompanying constant need to water, and the pervasive pest invasions that leave me feeling frustrated.  The spring dreams are always through rose coloured glasses with the eternal hope for the perfect growing season, only to be standing of on the edged of autumn feeling like I’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards.  The last month of summer is always brutal, but always comes as a surprise as expectation has the power to overwrite the memory of reality.  This new month that also doubles as the new start to a new season should hopefully see a slowing down, a cooling down and a less chaotic approach to the garden.

This month the ‘to do’ list items will still have some familiar tasks as the transition to the new season is as slow as the weather that controls it beyond the calendar.  There will, of course, be new opportunities as the expectations will have to align with the changing focus.  As always there are the regular things that need to be done, no matter what, alongside the ones that get done and return again quickly like some kind of To-Do list whack-a-mole. Not forgetting tasks that aren’t really time dependant and are there as a reminder of things that need to be done.

These are things I hope to achieve in the month of March although I may have bitten off my than I can chew, and would be gobsmacked if I actually achieved it all…

GARDEN GARDENING

• Weekly weeding of all sectors.
• Harvest when necessary.
• Water and feed regularly.
• Increase pest watch.
• Continue with bricks in paths.
• Clear sand along fence line.
• Trap possums.
• Remove crops as they come to an end
• Sow cool season crops.
• Deadhead flowers.
• Sow cover crops.

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN

Sector 1

• Pull out tomatoes as they die.
• Divide oregano.

Sector 2

• Harvest and process peppers & okra

Sector 3

• Succession plant salad crops & carrots.
• Sow swedes
• Dig up potatoes.

Sector 4

• Greenhouse maintenance.
• Set up irrigation through this area.
• Repair rhubarb windbreak.

Sector 5

• Finish irrigation system.
• Protect from possums.
• Build a blueberry cage.
• Spray stonefruit.
• There is a garden bed on my garden plan that is listed as “weeds.” This needs to change

THE PALACE:

Room 1

• Trim rosemary hedge.
• Renovate bench.
• Add brackets to stairs.
• Clean up behind garden.
• Slow release fertiliser on all plants.

Room 2

• Install edging.
• Get plaque for time capsule.
• Train hedge.
• Refresh the bark mulch.
• Slow release fertiliser on all plants.

Room 3

• Keep moving forward with project