Posted on 02/29/2008 4:19:25 PM PST by Gabz
March is blustery days and bright sunshine and rain and the smell of warming soil. It seems a magical thing—soil is always there, so how come the right combination of sun and rain and warmth lets us know that it’s time once again to garden? The technical name for the way the soil smells is geosmin—literally earth smell, but magic is close enough. Geosmin is a magic all gardeners are well aware of and accept without question, no matter what you call it. In reality, the smell is caused by a type of bacteria that grows in the soil, called actinomycetes. When it rains, these bacteria release spores into the air, like a great big aerosol air freshener. We recognize it on some deep, elemental level—like marsh mud, it’s the very essence of life, distilled.
The sunshine and the smell call to us, reminding us that once again it’s time to plant. And not only does it call to us—have you ever seen anyone plow around here and not attract a flock of seagulls? I wonder if they can smell it as well, and know that there are plenty of juicy bugs being disturbed and put on the buffet just for them?
March is a little early for tomatoes and warm season crops, but if you haven’t gotten your cole crops out yet, now is the perfect time. Think how wonderful a mess of May peas and new potatoes is going to taste a couple of months from now! Don’t delay much longer, or the heat will get the cool season stuff! Hard to remember unrelenting heat and high humidity with the weather February brought us, isn’t it?
Things will begin greening up soon, although January’s warm weather had a lot of things fooled. Some of the oaks were leafing out in January, daffodils and hyacinths were sprouting, and even a few gladiolas were sprouting up several inches above the ground.
Plants don’t understand the concept of time as we do. If it gets cold, then hot again, they think they’re supposed to do their thing and grow. They don’t know whether it’s been cold for a couple of nights or a couple of months. Cold—dormant. Warm—grow.
One of the first things to green up is an annual winter weed—Solvia pterosperma. (Winter weed means it grows during the winter months and dies back when it gets hot.) Solvia pterosperma is also known by the names lawn burweed, spurweed, and burr clover, to name a few. You may not know what it’s called but you probably know what it looks like. It’s prostrate, which means it grows flat along the ground rather than growing upright. Burweed looks like a flat dog fennel.
Right now it just looks like a nice green patch in an otherwise brown yard. Take note of those green patches, because in another month or two the whole yard will be green and you’ll lose sight of the burweed. You’ll know it when you step on it barefoot. Think flat sandspurs. These nasty little weeds are a big nuisance. The prickers, shield shaped with sharp stickers on the top edge, are the seeds and they are excellent hitchhikers. If you’ve been to any ball field or boat ramp in the county, or any place else that has grass parking lots, that’s probably where you picked up the bothersome pests. They stick to your tires or your shoes, and anywhere they drop off, they make a new plant. Burweed is an invasive plant and is spreading farther and farther each year.
There are several ways to attempt to get rid of this invasive weed. The best method is to do something before they go to seed—right now! Too low for the lawnmower to affect them, they spread more and more each year as the prickers get carried throughout your yard.
If you just have a few, digging them up helps tremendously, and they‘re easy to spot right now. Of course, if there are any seeds from last year, they’ll come up again. Same thing with the seeds being tracked in from somewhere else.
The other option is to spray. Chemicals that will help are Atrazine, or anything containing Trimec or 2-4-D. Use caution when spraying close to the root zone of ornamentals, as always. These sprays shouldn’t hurt your grass because the grass should still be dormant. Pinecones are down and covering the ground. They’re a pain to pick up, but your mower will thank you. Not only do mower-thrown pinecones pose a serious hazard, they’re death on mower blades. Pinecones make great gifts. What?! If you have somewhere to store them so the squirrels can’t get to them, pick them up and save them. Fix a pretty basket of pinecones to give to friends next fall or for Christmas. Those with fireplaces or woodstoves will appreciate them, or you can save them for yourself. Pinecones are decorative by themselves just in a basket, but they make excellent fire starters. For additional fire starting power, dip them in melted wax. You can even sprinkle them with glitter before the wax hardens to make them showier.
Reminders for this month:
Start spraying your roses as soon as they start leafing out to prevent black spot and other rose diseases.
Bluebirds usually show up about mid-month, so make sure your birdhouses are cleaned out and ready. The old nests should be pulled out and destroyed. Birdhouses can be cleaned with a light mixture of bleach and water.
Remember to spray your fruit trees with fruit tree spray as soon as the buds swell, and keep spraying them according to label directions. If you wait until the fruit is ripening, it’s too late.
If your garden needs lime, go ahead and put it out now. Lime takes a little while to begin working, and it has to be incorporated into the soil, unlike fertilizers which will work their way down. Not sure if you need lime? It’s not too late to send a soil sample to NC. State.
Garden Girl sent it to me on Wednesday, but Thursday went haywire on me and I got up this morning fighting the latest plague that was brought home from 4th grade :)
Better late than Never — weekly Garden Thread!
Hi gardeners!
I’m not real good at the gardening thing yet. Just got started last year.
Funny that I saw this thread. I just got home from the depot with 3 bags of soil, some fertilizer, 2 tomato plants and new seeds because most of the ones from last year are kaput in their little paper egg carton homes. Drat! No chicken manure yet!
I was going to try doing the tomatos upside down in buckets this year.
I have a grapevine from last year that I was wondering about, if there are any grape experts lurking. I know they get kind of dead looking during their winter dormancy. When do they start to show signs of life again? I’m trying to determine if it’s just dormant or just flat out dead.
Hope you feel better soon Gabz.
I’m gonna have flats up the yang here in a week or so. Cops see my grow lights and will probably think I’m growing weed.
I don’t get to start my tomatoes, peppers and basil for at least another month. But I like dreamin’...
I don’t know what I’d do without my plants during Feb and early March before it warms up. Sure kicks the winter depression to see green things growing.
I work in a Garden Center and manage the Atrium all winter. I get my “green fix” that way.
I also have a TON of houseplants and grow lettuces and sprouts all winter. :)
I’m gonna go make myself a nice big salad for dinner, LOL!
Sorry to hear you’re not feeling well. We’ve had a couple sick in our household lately, but I think we’re over it ... knock on wood.
I’m definitely ready for some spring weather. It supposed to be in the 60’s tomorrow! I’m so excited. We’re going to take advantage of that tomorrow, since it’s supposed to snow on Monday.
Feel better soon.
It was -12 out this morning. :((
It’s supposed to be in the 40’s next week. It’s a start....
It isn’t March yet. You’re early.
The Flu is taking it’s toll on Eureka. The hospital is short of staff and lots of sick people coming into ER. This week I called a roofer, floor guy and a engineer and they were home in bed with this crude.
My wife was in bed all day Sunday with a temp and head cold. Son in law was home today with it and a friend across town has had it for a week.
And then there is the matter of my Hernia operation yesterday morning that went well but I am having severe Muscle problems with my legs and arms. It is very painful and difficult for me to get out of a chair and walk without help.
I did get the green house cleaned up early in the week so my wife can start her flower seeds soon...
I long for the evergreen lawn of So. Cal...but will do what needs to be done.
Can someone enlighten me?
We’re about to have a heat wave here. It was noticeably warmer (but not warm) on the 29th, and is supposed to hit freezing at last, this weekend. :’) March, it’s time to start a couple of tomato plants. I stumbled across what must be my last few precious saved “Golden Pearl” tomato seeds.
| Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday |
 68° F | 42° F
|
75° F | 54° F
|
 72° F | 42° F
|
 48° F | 30° F
|
63° F | 40° F
|
| Partly Cloudy | Partly Cloudy | T-storms 80% chance of precipitation
|
Chance of Rain 30% chance of precipitation
|
Partly Cloudy |
Sorry, Gabz. Already had my turn this year—twice! Hope you fel better!
The upside down tomato thing worked well according to some of my customers. Biggest prob was keeping them watered in eastern NC’s heat and humidity.
As for the grapes, check on-line sites or your local ag extension. Grapes need to be pruned now, and there is a method to the madness, so check it out.
The Flu is taking it’s toll
Here, too. The last place I’d wanna be right now is our hospital—not that I ever want to be there! :)
Hope you get to feeling better soon. Hernia op—tough to garden after that—tough to do anything!
seasonal lawn
Where in Texas—on the coast? What kind of grass do you have and what did you winterize with? Inquiring minds need to know!
Our grass is mostly centipede/St. Augustine. Way to early to fertilize, the reason being—fert will cause the grass to green up and if you do it too early and the temps drop again, it will really hurt it. End of Apr/first of May is good here on the coast of NC.
Time here to put out pre-emergent, depending on what weeds you have. You can go on-line or check with your local ag extension agent/garden center for more detailed info.
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Inspiring words!
Hope you're feeling better!
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Holy mackeral. That's cold.
I think it snowed most of the night. We're in the midst of a beautiful light snowfall, with giant flakes. Current temp is 31 degrees.
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