By: Gill Garden Center + Landscape Co.
This is not our typical March! Our gardens and landscapes were shocked by the Big Freeze – a major bump in the road, but now we can finish cleaning up and really get going. Check out our top must-do’s for March, including more about pruning, what to feed, and how to help local wildlife.
1. Make Way for New Growth
Be sure to get your post-freeze pruning and cleanup done ASAP. The key is to remove the dead/damaged material before new growth starts. Some plants (like this variegated ginger) have already started re-emerging! Check out our videos on the basics of pruning, how to save philodendrons, and how to assess palms. Also – the City of Corpus Christi is doing a special brush pick-up starting March 8 – very helpful!
2. Renew Your Food Garden
Now that we’re past freezing weather, we can get serious about food gardening again. Gotta plant tomatoes now! Tomatoes like warm days & need cool nights. Most varieties need at least 65-75 days to have mature fruit. That puts it into May and temps are on the rise. There’s plenty of other food to plant now. Peppers, Squash, Basil, Okra, Beans, Melons, Eggplant just to name a few.
3. Feed New Plantings
Lots of us are replacing plants or starting fresh after the freeze. You don’t want to feed your lawn or established plants yet, but any new plants need a good start with a good organic plant food. We love BioTone, PlantTone, and Hastagro. Add BioTone to your soil when you plant, then use PlantTone or Hastagro to continue feeding throughout the season.
4. Be Patient with Lawns & Recovery
Lawns look like they’re dead, but we are already seeing signs of new growth. They still need time to recover from last months freeze. This means hold off on watering – water once a week at most. And wait to fertilize lawns until you see enough growth to mow your lawn, typically late March/early April. Same goes for plants that had to be heavily cut back due to cold damage. Hand water only as needed and wait to feed them until you begin to see new growth.
5. Bring Back the Birds, Bees, and Butterflies
Cold damaged plants around town not only look bad to us, but cannot provide food for area wildlife. Now is a great time to plant pollinizers and other plants that attract & feed the birds.
Bees are drawn to most anything with a bloom but some fav’s are Mist Flower, Esperanza, & Lantana. Butterflies love Butterfly Weed, Lantana, & Mexican Flame Vine. Native plants like Turks Cap produce berries for birds & Hummers love Duranta, Mexican Honeysuckle, & lots more!
