Gardeners Checklist: Here Is What to Do on the Week of March 17

By Ron Kujawski

* Celebrate the arrival of spring: dance around a crocus!

* Ignore the itch to get started on working garden soils in preparation for planting. Soil moisture is still very high right now and working wet soils tightly packs the fine particles and can ruin soil structure for several years. So, if you’ve got the itch, scratch it.

* Pot up summer flowering bulbs that will be grown in containers on the patio. Tuberous begonias, caladiums, calla lilies, canna lilies, and colocasia are tender bulbs that grow well in containers. Since these plants are not frost tolerant, they’ll have to be kept indoors in bright light until ready to move outdoors.

* Get a small, clear spray bottle, marked with ounce measurements. Mix one ounce of household bleach and nine ounces of water in the bottle. Disinfect propagation mats, seedling flats, and surfaces where you’ll be starting seeds by spraying with the bleach solution.  This is essential to prevent damping-off disease, the bane of vegetable and flower seedlings.

* Start seeds of peppers, eggplant, summer savory, marjoram, and basil indoors. 

* Apply a repellent containing DEET to work shoes and clothing when working outdoors. Adult deer ticks are abundant and are the primary carriers of the bacterium causing Lyme Disease.

* Check out the many programs and classes ahead this spring at the Botanical Garden. No matter how much experience and knowledge of gardening you have accumulated, there is always more to learn…or re-learn. Another opportunity to learn more is by attending the Western Massachusetts Master Gardener Association’s annual Berkshire Symposium, Spring into Gardening, at the Lenox Memorial Middle and High School on April 5th, from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.  Go to WMMGA.org to check out the offerings and to register. Class size is limited, so register early!

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As mentioned in last week’s column, the key to successful gardening is soil organic matter. Unfortunately, the amount of organic matter in soil is not fixed; it breaks down over time. As such, the organic matter in soil needs to be replenished, preferably annually. The question facing many home gardeners is: “Where do I get organic matter?” The easiest and least expensive way to get organic matter is to make your own. Before you let your mind get carried away with that thought, I should say that I am referring to composting. This is a great time to start a compost pile using the debris from lawns and gardens as well as vegetable wastes from the kitchen. However, that won’t do you any good right now as you begin preparing gardens since it takes at least six weeks to get usable compost. You can buy compost from a commercial producer, but before you do, look around to see if there are any manure factories near you. Manure factories, better known as cows, horses, sheep, chickens, elephants, etc., are a terrific source of nutrient-rich organic matter. The key here is not to use fresh manure. Find a farmer who has some aged manure that is partially composted. If you have no luck with that, bags of dehydrated and aged manure can be purchased at garden centers. The above options work well for those with small gardens, but those with large gardens need a less expensive method for sustaining critical levels of soil organic matter. That’s next week’s topic. (Do you get the feeling that this column is getting like a TV soap opera, i.e. leaving you hanging so you’ll come back next week?)    

Ron Kujawski began gardening at an early age on his family's onion farm in upstate New York. Although now retired, he spent most of his career teaching at the UMass Extension Service. He serves on Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Horticulture Advisory Committee. His book, Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook, is available here.