March Gardening Tips

March Gardening Tips

Mar 18, 2017 | Monthly Gardening Tips

March is the start of Autumn in Perth… and we’re finally starting to feel it! Prepare to be fighting those pesky leaves for the next few months, but also take some time to enjoy those glorious colours of Autumn! We just love how it goes from stunningly royal displays of purple in the Summer to those golden and warm orange tones – always something beautiful to spy around our home here in Perth.

As always, at the beginning of a new season, there is plenty to do, so we have compiled some March gardening tips for you.

Gardening Tips for March

In our March gardening tips we’ll look at what to plant and what needs doing in March. Let’s get started with what needs planting in March.

What to Plant in March

Hand planting in March

This is a great season to be planting all sorts of things and even to begin planning your spring bulbs!

TIP: Before the end of the month you want to have planted your citrus, avocado and olive trees.

What to plant:

HERBS: plant basil, coriander, garlic, garlic chives, mustard, marjoram, oregano, parsley, thyme and winter tarragon.

TIP: Be careful to keep your herbs well-watered and semi-shaded while there are still some hot days this month – they wilt and burn easily!

FRUITS: Plant tomatoes, melons and strawberries.

VEG: Almost everything! Sow beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, capsicum, carrot, cauliflower, celery, Chinese cabbage, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, mustard, okra, onion, parsnip, potato, pumpkin, radish, rosella, silver beet, squash, sweet corn, sweet potato and zucchini.

FLOWERS: Plant alyssum, lobelia, pansy, stock, sweet pea, snapdragon and viola.

March is ideal for planting trees and shrubs. This month it is getting cooler but the soil is still warm enough to encourage growth in your new greenery – so they have some time to establish their roots before the cold weather sets in!

With that in mind, now is also great for planting new lawns. Summer is the time for outdoor play, and can cause a lot of wear and tear on your grass – often in the form of bare patches in the most used areas, not the best look! By planting now, the new grass seeds will also be able to get their root systems established before the cold, like your trees and shrubs, as well as having months of good growing time before it’s hot again! Make sure you get a qualified lawn expert to help you out if you haven’t done it before, they will be able to make sure it is done right, as well as teach you exactly how to look after it in the following months to ensure it grows lush and green.

Composting and Garden Cleanup in March

Garden Cleanup

You know those lovely leaves that will start to cover every inch of your garden? A great way to get rid of them is to add them to your compost where the worms will love them and you don’t have to see them! You can also add some used coffee grounds to the mix for an extra boost.

March is also a great time for a general garden clean-up to prepare it for the colder months ahead.

  • Trim any branches on your citrus trees that might be hanging lower than 1m – this helps prevent the spread of brown rot.
  • Remove all weeds and any plants in your garden you don’t want to spread – they will all be starting to seed.

We hope that this guide has been helpful and we are sure with the application of these tips and tricks your garden will flourish this month!

Enjoy being out gardening in March in these last warm days – we certainly will!

Have a read through some of our other blogs for some more info on gardening in Perth, or check out some of the gardening services we offer. As it becomes colder your garden still needs lots of TLC, but you might not feel so excited at the thought of getting out in the cold to give it! Contact us and let our friendly and professional landscape gardeners take care of it for you…

Australian Flora: 3 Beautiful Blooms for Your Garden

Australian Flora: 3 Beautiful Blooms for Your Garden

Apr 13, 2016 | Gardening Tips

Any homeowner will be proud to have a well-kept and colourful garden. What better way to have it than to plant beautiful blooms? As one of the driest places in the world, Australia may not seem like the place to cultivate them. But, the country is home to some of the loveliest flora. Here are three flower species you may want to have in your garden.

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Guide to Growing Petunias

Guide to Growing Petunias

Apr 6, 2016 | Gardening Tips

Petunias may be the most delicately named plants in existence. But, do not mistake these colourful flowers for a demanding garden choice. Let us here at Perth Gardening walk you through the eight steps of cultivating petunias the right way:

When to plant petunias in Australia?

  1. Consider where you want to display them. Grandiflora petunias are larger; grow them in hanging baskets away from rain. Multiflora petunias are smaller, but are more resistant to weather.
  2. Choose between seeds or cuttings. For seeds, you have to cultivate them indoors for three months or until they grow three leaves.
  3. Plant the grandiflora petunias in soilless mix. Multiflora petunias thrive in beds with light, well-drained soil. Plant them at least 30 centimetres apart.
  4. Shelter the petunias from wind. They will still bloom in partial shade, but avoid this if you can.
  5. Fertilise the flowers once a month, twice as much for double flowered-cultivars.
  6. Regularly deadhead faded or wilted petunias to prolong blooming.
  7. If the petunias have bite marks, but you see no visible pests, check for night visitors such as slugs and earwigs.
  8. Immediately remove mottled or discoloured petunias. This is a sign of a tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) infection, caused by contact with tobacco products.

In addition to the eight steps of growing them, here are eight facts you should know:

  • Petunias need as much sun as the sky can provide.
  • This is contrary to their being in the taxonomical family Solanaceae, or nightshade.
  • Petunias will bloom all year long with regular fertilisation and carefully maintained water levels.
  • There are 35 known petunia species, with more than 400 different cultivars.
  • Petunias are native to Argentina, one of the world’s leading producers of tobacco.
  • The Solanaceae family is closely related to Nicotiana, where tobacco is classified.
  • TMV was the first virus ever discovered. The first evidence of its existence emerged in 1892.
  • Petunia violacea, an uncommon species, is a famous hallucinogen smoked by people in Ecuador.

Petunias are one of the simplest and most beautiful flowers you can add to your garden. If you need assistance getting started, creating an ensemble of colours, learning more petunia facts, or just want to chat about plants in general, Perth Gardening is here to serve, plant, trim, fertilise, clean, prune…

Contact us today.

Bird Gardens – Prepare Your Garden for Birds

Bird Gardens – Prepare Your Garden for Birds

Mar 30, 2016 | Gardening Tips

Plants make a garden, as a garden makes a home — especially for birds.

People tend to their gardens in different ways. Some observe the rules, while others do not. There are a limited amount of people who take the rules to heart and beyond, growing clinical, pristine patches of flora even nature could not replicate. These artistically maintained gardens are a horticultural, even scientific, marvel. We are not going to talk about those today.

Instead, we at Perth Gardening will discuss how we can make our gardens more representative of nature. That is, flora and fauna. More of the flying variety.

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