What's happening in the mid-March garden

Daffodils and hyacinth blooming, daylilies sprouting

Sunday, March 15, 2026

Spring in our garden came 2-3 weeks later this year with unseasonably frigid temperatures in February.  Daffodils, hyacinths, forsythias and Bradford pear trees are in full bloom.  Redbuds are beginning to bloom,  lilacs and roses just leaved out.  Peonies are just breaking ground.  Apple trees buds are just swelling.

When forsythias bloom, it is time to apply corn gluten for weed suppression in the garden and yard.  Corn gluten keeps seeds from sprouting and provides nitrogen.  It will also keep grass seed or garden seed from sprouting so use only where you don't want seeds to come up.

In the edible garden, onions, tarragon, garlic chives, garlic, carrots and spearmint are all coming up in the garden bed and pots.  Overwintering arugula, celery, winter cress, strawberry plants, raspberry plants, blackberry bushes, thyme and oregano are growing again.  Chickweed is flowering and growing vigorously.  The garden is giving greens for fresh picked salads.

I have been sowing cold season crop seeds outdoors for a while now.  I started in February with snow peas, lettuce and spinach in pots in the portable greenhouse.  I haven't seen any come up.  The soil could have been too wet and the seed rotted.  I've started lettuce and spinach indoors and those are up. I'll transplant from peat pellets to small pots in the next week.  When this next cold spell gets through and the weather looks safe from the 20's, I'll start hardening them off outdoors and transplant them. 

I'm hoping lettuce and spinach transplants will be available at the big box stores this weekend.  I like getting a couple 6 packs to get a jump on spring salads.

Peas and potatoes can be planted as soon as the soil can be worked in the spring.  I planted potatoes a couple of weeks ago.  The ones with long shoots are turning green so far, so good on them.

I have started other lettuce indoors that are heat resistant like Lunix, Solar Flare, Bronze Beauty, Royal Oak Leaf, Red Sails, Yedikule and Butter King.  Also started other summer salad greens in my Aerogarden system: Chinese pink celery, Hilton cabbage, Barese Swiss Chard, Japanese Mountain Spinach (a Swiss Chard), Chijimisai Greens, a fewamaranths, and mixed colors orach.  They are sprouting and the lettuce is ready to transplant into bigger pots.

I only started rosemary, papalo, and bushy sweet basil in the Aerogarden.  Parsley and celery overwintered and I'm hoping for volunteers of dill, cardinal basil, blue spice basil, and purple ball basil.  So far, my garden sage survived the winter along with the gold and green variety.  None of the tricolor sage survived.  I hope they survive this next dip into the 20's!  That's the killer for plants that are susceptible once there has been a warm up and then another cold snap.  It gets my rosemary almost every time.

Early March is an ideal time to mulch.  It's before the self-seeders are sprouting and it adds warmth to soil. I'm still working on gathering the seed heads from the marigolds, zinnias, cardinal basil, cockscomb and Jerusalem artichokes before mulching.  With the frigid temps moving back in tonight, it may be the first of April before adding compost, fertilizer and mulch to the beds.

For growing edibles, you can count on needing at least nitrogen addition unless you are doing nitrogen fixing cover crops.  I have tried a few different all natural nitrogen fertilizers.  Kelp adds a variety of minerals plus it has growth hormones in it so is a great choice for plants you want a lot of height for.  Many of the organic fertilizers use chicken manure as a main component.  We have chickens so I compost their bedding to use in the garden.  I use alfalfa meal and blood meal which are good sources of nitrogen for planting and adding to my greens during the growing season.  For all purpose organic fertilizer I use Espoma Garden-Tone or Re-Vita.

If you are creating new beds, put down cardboard first before fertilizing and mulching.  This added layer will keep the grass and weeds smothered while attracting earthworms.  Earthworms love cardboard!  They not only loosen the soil, but also fertilize it.  A real win-win. 

If you don't have a lot of time this year, transplants are always a great option.  Cool season crop transplants are at the local nurseries and big box stores in the next week or two.  They'll have broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onion sets, lettuce, strawberries, potato sets, boxed dormant fruit bushes and trees in the first arrivals.  They sit outside so they are already hardened off and ready to plant.

Overwintering cabbage and broccoli

The big box stores will also have herb transplants.  The ones that can be planted now are thyme, sage, garlic, parsley, and celery.  I'd hold off on the rosemary and especially the basil.  If it gets even close to freezing, basil can be killed in the garden.  You can buy and keep them in a sunny window in the garage and they should be fine.

Tomatoes and basil will be in the stores, too.  I'd wait on those.  Tomatoes, basil, peppers and eggplant all need warm days and warm soil to thrive.  A freeze can kill them.  I usually wait until May to plant these summer lovers.