• Clean down your paths and driveway to rid them of mosses and lichens. Brinton’s Patio Magic will do the trick. It may need to be repeated, but will not damage surrounding soil, and is safe where pets are concerned - and best of all it needs no scrubbing!
  
• Firm the ground around plants lifted by frost.
• Clear remaining dead tops of plants.  Always use good sharp tools for clean cuts (Bahco make a very handy sharper that fits in your pocket).
• Dress beds for annuals with J Arthur Bowers Blood, Fish & Bone a natural slow release feed, or Vitax Q4. 
• Sow half-hardy annuals indoors – Priory Farm Plant Centre stocks an extensive selection from Thompson and Morgan and Suttons Seeds.
• Cut back overgrown hedges towards the end of the month. When giving your garden hedges that spring prune, get nice neat level edges and flat tops by fastening a length of rope to two points across it. Or push broom handles into the hedge at each end and tie your line to them. An old washing line or strong garden twine is ideal, but remember not to cut through it. Although not 100% accurate it will certainly help achieve a better-looking hedge. Make sure you’re using hedge shears (both blades sharpened) and not lawn shears which have one sharp blade, and one flat edged ‘blade’. Bahco make a range of shears of different sizes and weights.
• Sow peas and beans. Give them a good start on a window sill in propagator trays in seed and potting compost, or outside but make sure you protect them from slugs and snails with snug pellets (it’s still too cold to use nematodes from Just Green Natural Born Killers but consider these for later in the season).  Choose potatoes from the selection at Priory Farm Plant Centre and start sprouting them.
• If you didn't plant your trees and shrubs late last autumn, to get well established before the onset of winter, then now is the time to start thinking about it as the ground is free from hard frosts. They can be planted out now or as soon as they become available. Always choose the ones with the freshest or plumpest buds, as these are raring to get growing. A good handful of J Arthur Bowers Bone Meal plant food dug well in the bottom of the hole will help feed your new addition to your garden. Large trees will benefit from the addition of a length of garden hose being buried alongside their roots to help watering in long dry spells.   
• Use Rootgrow as you plant. This powder is made from British native fungi that infect the plant root and spread out quickly into the surrounding soil. The fungi bring nutrients and water to the plant in return for sugars, and they also work hard to prevent soil borne diseases from attacking your plants.
• Plant out your containers with trees or shrubs.  There are plenty of colourful foliage plants around at this time, such as Nandina domestica ‘Firepower’, or make the most of the highly scented winter honeysuckle Lonicera x purpusii in a container by your door. Other plants with good scented flowers are Christmas box (Sarcococca confusa), wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox), as well as the many beautiful species of Daphne which are sure to leave your garden smelling better than the best Parisian perfumery! Priory Farm Plant Centre stocks at excellent range.
  

• Prune your repeat-flowering roses and remove dead or frost damaged wood.
• If weather is mild, plant out hardy seedlings and new plants. This is a good time to start moving and dividing existing garden plants.
• Dead-head any bulbs as they fade and feed with a good slow acting feed such as Vitax Q4 to build up the bulbs for next year.
• Give the garden a complete weeding and general digging-over where needed. Apply a mulch to help conserve ground moisture. J Arthur Bowers blended stable manure is a very clean mulch, with not too much of a whiff! It helps keep down weeds, feeds your plants and is great for lightening heavy soils, and storing water and food on light sandy/chalky soils.
• Prune apple and pear trees before the blossoms open.
• Prepare a seed bed for herbs and sow as soon as possible.

Lawn Care for March

New Lawns

• Treat the area with a glyphosate based weed killer such as Roundup and leave for a week or two. Dig over, rake and firm seedbed, and apply a pre-seeding fertiliser. Sow the lawn, and mow when it reaches about 6cm (3 inches).

Established Lawns

• Re-seed patchy areas & repair edges. Use a half moon lawn edger to give a professional edge to your lawn, and edging shears to keep it looking good. Aerate (spike) the lawn & apply fertiliser. Cut when it reaches 4-6cm (2-3 inches)