Gardener’s To-Do List for March

March To-Do List For Zone 5

• Start warmth-loving crops—such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants—indoors under lights.
• Transplant early tomatoes into larger pots, planting the stem deeper into the soil for additional root growth.
• Start annual flowers, such as marigolds and zinnias, indoors under lights.
• Tie up ornamental grasses, and use a serrated bread knife to cut them back to a few inches above ground level.
• Trim dead or damaged branches from trees, shrubs, and roses.
• In the vegetable garden, begin to plant potatoes, peas, lettuce, radishes, and carrots.
• Late in the month, transplant pansies outdoors; also, sow seeds of nasturtiums and sweet peas.
• At month's end, transplant an early tomato outdoors, protected by a Wallo'Water. Before you plant, fill the planting hole with warm water.
• Start seeds of perennials—such as columbine (Aquilegia spp.), campanula, bellflower (Campanula spp.), blanket flower (Gaillardia spp.), globeflowers (Trollius spp.), and pyrethrum (Tanacetum coccineum)—indoors under lights.