- Cut back standing ornamental grasses, perennials, and clean up excess leaves in beds
- Leave perennials standing until three 50 degree days in a row have passed to allow overwintering pollinators to disperse (NOTE: we’ve had these three days already)
- Experiment with leaving hollow-stemmed perennial stalks 12”-15” to encourage use by native bees for nesting; a daub of mud on the stem indicates an occupant
- Shear epimedium and small grasses (even if they still have color) to encourage fresh new growth
- Prune cutback shrubs such as butterfly bush, smoke tree, and caryopteris
- Prune subshrubs such as lavender, hyssop, and culinary sage
- Check all shrubs for winter damage, removing crossing or insignificant branches
- Prune out blackened stems of colored-twig dogwoods
- Prune all hollies to set a new template for May blooming and later berry set
- Finish pruning fruit trees, raspberries, and blueberries
- Check overgrown yews – now is the time to prune them hard to be in scale with nearby plantings, again setting a new template
- Trim off tattered leaves of hellebores to encourage clean new growth to emerge
- Clean up browned tips of candytuft, dianthus, and heuchera
- Tread carefully with browned leaves of rhododendrons – it may not be necessary to remove an entire branch, since damaged leaves will fall off naturally with a few hard rains, and the stems will re-leaf on their own in a few months
- Start seeds indoors of lettuce, broccoli, kale and other cool season crops
- Plant pea seeds and onion sets outdoors in prepared ground
We are holding staff training during the last week of March. Kim will be contacting all our clients to finalize our April schedule, which we expect to roll out on April 1 if the weather will cooperate! Contact her at <kimberly@pumpkinbrookorganicgardening.com> with your requests this season.
So this is an exceptionally busy time of year. Yet it’s a gratifying one, as new green shoots and buds appear, one by one. Looking forward to seeing you soon in the garden,
– Priscilla & The PBOG Crew
