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Week of 3/21 – 27
March 21 – Try “layering” a lower branch on one of your rhododendrons. You may end up with an additional plant – free and easy! While the branch remains attached to the mother plant, nick the stem and then bury that part under the soil. With luck, new roots will form at the site of the wound.
March 22 - Rake the lawn. Get out any debris, trash, straggling leaves and weeds from last year. Raking also helps the grass stand up after months of being matted down and lets in air and light. Get your lawn started on a good growing season.
March 23 - Examine dead patches in your lawn now that it’s free of snow or ice. If the patches are round and pale yellow edged in pink, suspect snow mold. This is a grayish, stringy fungus that lives under the snow. You may have to treat the lawn with a fungicide. Ask a lawn service or knowledgeable staff member at your garden center to recommend a product.
March 24 – Groom your perennials as they emerge from melting snow. If you didn’t cut back the tops last fall, do it now. Pull out dead stems that are tangled or collapsed on the ground. Plants will be happier if they encounter fewer obstacles as they start the season’s growth!
March 25 – If you’re walking arounds in your flowerbeds or veggie garden, tidying up and making plans, be careful! Partially frozen and wet soil is easily compacted or damaged by your footsteps. Consider putting down some planks to walk on; these will redistribute your weight more evenly.
March 26 – As your spring bulb display emerges, evalutate it. Did you plant enough? Do you wish you had more or different colors? Take notes now, while you’re thinking of it. Then, tuck those notes into the late summer or early fall pages of your calendar or gardening journal. When you see your notes later in the year, when you’re most likely to purchase spring-flowering bulbs, you’ll want and need the information.
March 27 – For some extra color at this time of year, buy some pansies. They’re wonderfully cold tolerant and sturdy. Every year seems to bring more bright new colors and color combinations. Have some fun with single-color as well as mix-and-match displays – in the ground or in pots!
SOURCE: Today in My Garden: 365 Tips for Your Midwest Garden. Copyright 2006. Available in the Arboretum Store.
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