The last week in February in Columbus, the temperature was 65 degrees and it was sunny. The sunshine makes gardeners want to “get crackin’” on days like that. Trimming the perennials left standing last fall and getting those dead leaves out of the corners are tempting jobs.
In spite of that sunny warmth, though, March forecasts include several nights with temperatures in the 30s. There are other good reasons to wait a bit for that thorough spring cleanup. In the meantime, there are plenty of chores to keep gardeners busy. Here are some suggestions:
- Watch the strawberry and asparagus patches and pull back winter mulch when new growth is spotted. Leave it nearby to lightly cover again if freezing weather threatens.
- Keep an eye on those containers outdoors that have been winter sown. It’s exciting to see those small green shoots, and you can add a little water if they seem dry.
- Look over your seeds and pick up or order any forgotten ones. Make sure to get enough for any fall planting you have in mind because most stores stop displaying seeds by midsummer. Check your seed starting supplies and replace bulbs in your plant lights as necessary. Recommendations indicate indoor starting many annual flowers eight to 10 or even 12 weeks before the last frost, typically mid- to late April in our area.
- Tender vegetables like peppers, tomatoes and eggplant can be started indoors later this month. Monitoring these seedlings for water and light can be good garden work indoors.
- Take a look at any houseplants you have. Dead leaves and stems can be pruned and crowded ones repotted. Some may need to be relocated with the increasing sunlight of the season. Spring is a good time to fertilize them as well.
- Something you can do outside is add recommended amendments to your garden’s soil. If you haven’t had it tested last year, it’s not too late to get it done. The Extension Office has sample bags, information on taking a good sample and where to send the sample.
- Now, when trees and shrubs are still dormant, is a good time for pruning them, though you can trim dead or broken branches any time. Those that bloom quite early, like forsythia, can wait for a trim until after they’ve bloomed. Cutting a few branches of forsythia won’t harm the bush and forcing them into bloom indoors can chase away winter’s last gloom. Don’t forget to disinfect the pruners between cuts to prevent spreading any diseases. A spray bottle with alcohol of hydrogen peroxide can get the job done quickly.
- And speaking of tools, March is a great time to scour off any rust spots and to sharpen your pruners, hoes and shovels. Sand the rough places off wooden handles and give them a coat of paint. A brightly colored handle makes a tool easy to find if left behind.
This is why to wait: clearing the litter and plants we’ve left standing last fall too early is likely to destroy many of those pollinators we attracted last summer with our plantings.
Native bees and fireflies winter over in leaf litter and some caterpillars like those of the red spotted purple butterfly live through the winter rolled in a leaf. The viceroy butterfly larva hibernates too. Swallowtail butterflies and cecropia moths spend the winter suspended in chrysalides on leaves or small twigs, so raking these away before they are active could eliminate many of them. Some wasps and bumblebees live the colder months just an inch or two beneath the surface in the soil, and spading too soon will leave them homeless and exposed should it freeze.
A commonly given guideline for a spring cleanup is to wait until after the apple and plum trees have bloomed. The bees and other pollinators will be out of hiding and doing their work by then. Waiting a few weeks to clear away winter’s detritus gives all these pollinators a much greater chance to survive, mature and reproduce.
Vegetable gardeners will still want to clear a spot for those early plantings of cabbages, peas and other cool weather crops, but the perennials and herbs will be fine for a few more weeks. Gardening is a flexible endeavor and certainly not an all-or-nothing venture, so leaving even a portion of cleanup for later still helps the bees and butterflies.
Early March can be a time to “gear up” for gardening, with cleanup starting later.
Protecting the pollinators so needed for our plants of beauty and for our food is a year-round job. We can do our part by delaying some of that spring work. The pollinators will benefit from the brief delay and, in turn, we will too.
Emily Baker is a Purdue Extension master gardener and has been gardening nearly 50 years. She is member and past president of South Central Indiana Master Gardener Association. More information about the association is available at scimga.org. Sources for this article include Purdue University Extension, Penn State University Extension and the Xerces Society. Send comments to therepublic.com.
