Early March has been so warm, it seems like we went straight from winter to summer, doesn’t it? And another cool spell is on the way. March is often a weather roller coaster, and it’s a transition time in the garden. Cool season crops give way to warm season, but it’s critical this time of year to watch the weather. Just because our average date of last frost or freeze has passed, it doesn’t mean that this particular year will follow suit. So with one eye on the weather app, and one on the garden, here’s what we’re doing in our Urban Demonstration Garden this month.
Pruning Back Freeze-Damaged Perennials
Once a freeze passes and plants die back and turn brown, it’s so hard to sit on our hands and not cut all that dead stuff down. Wise gardeners wait though, until we can be reasonably sure no more freezes are on the way. Why? Because pruning back a plant that has been damaged but not killed will encourage it to put out tender new growth. If we do this too early and then get another frost or freeze, the plant may not be able to recover. That said, we are pruning back dead stems on tender perennials like galangal, passion vine, and pineapple sage. Removing them will provide light and air flow for the new growth beginning to appear.
Pulling Up Cool Season Crops
Some of our cool season crops like cabbage and carrots have been finishing up. Some, like our leaf lettuce, are beginning to bolt in the hot weather and are no longer putting their energy into tender leaves. Others, like collards, kale or mustard could keep going, but in a small garden we need to make way for warm season crops. Often, that means it’s time for them to go.
When we do pull up crops, we harvest all we can, and enjoy those last cool season veggies. We check roots for evidence of nematodes, we test and amend soil, and we take up our drip irrigation lines. We review what has been planted in those spots over the last several seasons, and rotate to a new crop family for the spring. Sometimes we follow our cool season crops with a spring cover crop like buckwheat. This will be incorporated into the soil later to nourish subsequent crops.
Harvesting and Monitoring Ongoing Crops
We planted English peas in late December, and they are just now producing! Harvesting as they ripen helps keep production going. Our onions, planted in November, came through the freezes just fine. Now we watch to see when they start forming bulbs. Once they do, we will stop fertilizing and slowly back off watering shortly before harvest. This will tell the plants to put less energy in leaves and more in developing mature bulbs. And finally, we are hoping our strawberries will finally begin producing. Although we covered them during the freezes, they have been slow to flower. Consistently warm temperatures should help.
Transplanting Tomatoes, Pepper and Eggplants
March begins the race to get our tomato plants in the ground and growing so we get as many fruits as possible before the summer heat slows production. Generally, in Duval County we can set out transplants in the first week of the month, but we are ready to cover them if a late cold snap surprises us. We plant tomatoes deep so they develop larger and stronger root systems. Once they’re planted we stake and cage them immediately so we don’t have to try to add them later; it’s much harder when the plants are bigger! Finally, we reset drip irrigation lines and emitters to efficiently water our newly planted beds.
Regular drip irrigation is not just efficient and Florida-friendly. It can help prevent blossom end rot on the tomatoes as they form. Blossom end rot happens when insufficient calcium gets to the developing fruit. Often our soil has enough calcium in it, but to get into the plant, the calcium has to travel with water. If our watering is inconsistent, calcium may not be at the fruits when it’s needed. Drip irrigation on a regular schedule helps prevent this problem.
We are planting peppers and eggplants too, but since they are both in the same plant family (Solanaceae) as tomatoes, we try to space them out around the garden and plant other crops families in between. This can help reduce the impact of insect pests that love crops from the same family. We stake peppers and eggplants and use the round wire cages for them. The size is great for the the peppers and eggplants, but too small for the larger indeterminate tomatoes.
Direct Seeding Beans, Squash and Cucumbers
Unlike our Solanaceae crops, beans, squash and cucumbers do not like to be started in flats and transplanted. They prefer to be planted where they will grow from start to finish. So we prepare our beds and plant their seeds directly as soon as the soil is warm. We plant bush beans around taller plants, and we plant pole beans and cucumbers near a trellis. Often we plant zucchini in the same bed as our pole beans. Be sure to place trellises where the plants that eventually cover them will not shade nearby crops. Ideally, place them on the north side of a bed. And just as with transplants, we reset our drip irrigation lines to best water the newly planted seeds.
Planting Sweet Potato Slips
And finally, what southern garden would be complete without sweet potatoes over the summer? We plant sweet potato slips in March or April and let them grow all summer. Once they’re established, they typically don’t need much attention. They normally don’t even need to be watered unless we have a dry spell. Sweet potatoes cover ground well, so we like to plant them in beds we don’t want to have to weed. Our biggest challenge is usually finding a spot where we haven’t planted sweet potatoes for a couple of years. Rotating location is really important to avoiding disease and pest problems.
In Summary
March is a beautiful and busy time in our northeast Florida vegetable garden. From taking care of freeze damage, to harvesting the last of the cool season crops, to planting our warm season crops, March garden tasks include a little bit of everything. And whatever next week’s weather brings–whether summer heat, winter cold or spring storms–we’ll be prepared.
For More Information
See these links for more details on what to do in the vegetable garden in March.
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