The crocus is not quite blooming yet, but it won't be long now!

Wow, it seems like spring all of the sudden in Cincinnati! Of course, it is still March and we have plenty of cold and frosty weather ahead. But the warmth and sunshine are really invigorating – I can’t wait to get out and do stuff!

I always think of March as the start of the gardening season – no matter how nice or nasty the weather. The first week of March, I start seeds indoors for the flower and vegetable gardens. That kicks things off, and from there its full sails ahead until Thanksgiving, when the garden gets one last fall cleanup and the last of the spring flowering bulbs are planted.

One thing that keeps me from starting to garden in earnest right now is the wet soil. If your soil is wet enough to be squishy when you walk on it, then you should avoid walking on it. Putting weight on the very wet soil destroys the soil structure – it compacts the soil, squeezing out the air pockets. When the soil finally dries out, it will be hard as a rock. I know where the drier areas are in my landscape, and I circle around, keeping off of the wettest soil. I never walk in my planting beds if it can be avoided.

It follows that it is really too wet to be digging in the soil now, unless you have raised beds. If you do have raised beds, you can start thinking about planting peas and onion sets later this month, after St. Patrick’s Day.

Here’s what I did over the weekend:

• Started seeds, indoors, under lights – I planted seeds of peppers and tomatoes, onions and leeks, broccoli, cabbage, kale, spinach and lettuces, and a few flowers. I’ll blog more about this tomorrow.
• Cut back grasses – ornamental grasses should be cut back over the next few weeks, to get rid of the old, dead stalks before the new stalks emerge. I cut back a few that were adjacent to the driveway and patio, but have lots more to do.
• Pruning. March is a great time to prune most everything except for spring flowering shrubs like lilacs, flowering quince and forsythia. Prune these spring bloomers after they have finished blooming. I pruned a screening hedge adjacent to the driveway.

Those are just a few of the things you can be starting to do in your garden this month.

Happy Gardening!