March Gardening Guide: Preparing for a Bountiful Harvest

As March brings the change of seasons, the anticipation of nurturing our own edible havens builds. With the cooler months approaching, the groundwork done now promises a future brimming with fresh, healthy harvests. Here’s a handy checklist to ensure your garden thrives:

Prime Your Garden Beds:

• Ready your garden beds for the upcoming planting season in April. Healthy soil is the cornerstone of productive plants.
• Consider growing a green manure crop to enrich your soil. A simple pack of bird seed is all you need.Simply scatter over the soil, lightly cover it, and let it thrive for about 6 weeks before incorporating it back into the soil.
• Add a layer of mulch such as hay, supplemented with fertilizers like Organic Xtra to hold moisture, aid decomposition and boost overall soil health.

Prepare for Planting with Ryan’s Expert Tips:

• If your garden needs a comprehensive recharge, follow Ryan’s expert advice to rejuvenate it for the planting season in April.

Watch: How to prepare your garden this vegetable season.

Start Sowing Vegetable Seeds:

• Begin sowing vegetable seeds now to ensure they’re ready for planting next month. Optimal varieties include tomatoes, basil, Asian greens, and more. Use quality seed raising mix for best results.
• They’ll need to be sun hardened, but bring them under shelter during heavy downpours to avoid damage to their delicate foliage.

Watch: Sowing Tomato Seeds Guide

March Maintenance:

• Refresh mint plants and garlic chive clumps to ensure continuous growth.
• Provide nourishment to citrus trees with Organic Xtra or Fruit and Citrus food.
• Thin out banana suckers. Remove any stems that have already fruited, allowing one advanced and one new sucker to grow in its place.
• Prune mulberry trees once fruiting has finished to promote a new fruit flush before the cool season.
• Harvest crops like eggplants and chillis.
• Trim back crepe myrtles and vines for controlled growth.
• Utilize the softer ground to remove weeds more efficiently and prevent seed bank buildup.

Welcoming Wildlife:

• Encourage vibrant butterflies to your garden with food and host plants.
• Few butterfly species can resist the colourful flowers of Pentas, a hardy plant and low care plant providing plenty of nectar-rich flowers.
• Plant an Aristolochia tagala, the preferred host plant of the Cairns Birdwing Butterfly.

Enjoy vibrant wildlife in your garden and watch nature’s wonder unfold.

March heralds a time of excitement and preparation, laying the groundwork for a flourishing garden and a season of abundance.