TINA WOODHAMS GARDENING NOTES FOR MARCH
March is the arrival of spring and the longer days provide a great opportunity to tidy flower borders and prepare seed beds for sowing.
With the snowdrops now finished, lift and divide any larger clumps to replant around the garden and remove any seed heads from early flowering daffodils and other spring bulbs, leaving the foliage to die back naturally. Plant any faded indoor bulbs into the borders for flowering next year. Now is the last chance to prune bush and climbing roses before the end of this month.
Young bedding plants are starting to become available, so purchase some and grow on under cover until they are ready to be planted outside. Summer bulbs such as lilies, dahlias and gladioli can be planted into pots to establish, ensuring a good display later in the year.
In the vegetable garden, plant onion and shallot sets and sow spinach, remembering to cover with a cloche as the risk of frost is still a possibility! Early seed potatoes can be planted towards the end of the month, either in trenches or in pots if space is limited.
Box Tree Caterpillar
March is the start of the breeding season and runs through to October, so I would like to draw your attention to this relatively new pest that has caused much damage to our wonderful hedges and topiary.
Caterpillars are the larvae of the Box Tree Moth which is native to East Asia. Now increasingly common in British gardens, an infestation can reduce a healthy hedge to a bare mass of twiggy stems in a matter of days.
The flat, pale-yellow eggs are laid on the underside of box leaves. Within three days the caterpillars hatch and immediately start eating the leaves, which quickly escalates from damage to the surface of the leaf to consuming entire leaves by the time the caterpillars are fully grown.
After approximately two weeks the caterpillar wraps itself in a white webbing to begin the process of pupation and emerges as an adult box moth, subsequently laying eggs and starting the next life cycle. This can repeat up to four times during the breeding season.
Checking early plants from early spring is essential to manage these infestations. Where practically possible, the caterpillars can be removed by hand and Pheromone traps hung by box plants to catch the moths. There are also biological insecticides available containing a strain of microorganism to control caterpillar pest and is not harmful to beneficial insects such as bees, nor birds.
Vigilance is essential!
So with this thought I wish you all HAPPY GARDENING!