Central Plains Gardening
Gardening Guides
Central Plains Gardener's March Checklist
Let enthusiasm bubble up along with fountains this month, as you tidy the garden to prep for wonders to come
March means cleanup in the garden. It's also a great month to be in the yard, as you won't be tripping over dead plant stems. So get in there and add the ornamental elements you've been missing, such as grasses for year-round interest and water features for wildlife and low-maintenance style.
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More regional garden guides
Clean up. My main back garden is 95 percent herbaceous perennials, which grow back from the ground each year. I like to linger, so I use scissors and pruners to clean up the plants one by one, but you could just as easily take a weed whacker to the garden and be done in 30 minutes. This is the miracle and splendor of herbaceous perennials.
Add water features for wildlife. While you're thinking about plugging holes in the garden vista with ornamental native grasses, think about adding some architectural features that are also beneficial to wildlife.
A disappearing fountain is low maintenance — often requiring just the removal of the pump before winter — and you'll attract thirsty birds and butterflies while listening to the soothing sound of water. The fountain shown here is a premade concrete form that came with a tube already inserted inside.
See more ways to attract birds and butterflies to your garden
A disappearing fountain is low maintenance — often requiring just the removal of the pump before winter — and you'll attract thirsty birds and butterflies while listening to the soothing sound of water. The fountain shown here is a premade concrete form that came with a tube already inserted inside.
See more ways to attract birds and butterflies to your garden
You can ask a landscaper or another rock specialist to drill a hole in a stone, and then run a PVC pipe or hose inside to create a more naturalistic disappearing fountain.
Usually the fountain sits up on a grate with a water basin below, but you can also fill up the basin with rock. The downside is that the pump will be harder to get to, and you'll have to refill the water basin more often.
Usually the fountain sits up on a grate with a water basin below, but you can also fill up the basin with rock. The downside is that the pump will be harder to get to, and you'll have to refill the water basin more often.
Remember native bees. When you cut down hollow plant stems, think about making 6-inch bundles that can become native bee houses. Native bees pollinate the vast majority of our food crops, and they come out earlier than the nonnative honeybee. Give them a home, why don't you? The image shown is Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium spp), but you could use sedum or ironweed (Vernonia spp) or any number of plants with varied stem diameters.
Get your tools ready. Good steel wool removes rust from tools stored over the winter. To prevent rust on smaller tools in the future, insert them into a container of dry sand so air can't get to the metal.
Compost. My city offers free compost, and the stuff is black gold; it's lush and rich and easy to work with. Top-dress your garden beds with 1/4 inch of compost to increase fertility and aerate them, which eventually mitigates the need for bad chemical fertilizers. Properly sited native plants also don't need for fertilizers of any kind.
Compost is great in raised beds for veggies or whatever needs good drainage. My veggie garden is 100 percent city compost.
March can be a great month to work outside — it's not too hot, and ambition tends to fill the body. Get out there and show us what you've got, you wonderful prairie gardeners.
More: See how to use a cold frame in the garden
Compost is great in raised beds for veggies or whatever needs good drainage. My veggie garden is 100 percent city compost.
March can be a great month to work outside — it's not too hot, and ambition tends to fill the body. Get out there and show us what you've got, you wonderful prairie gardeners.
More: See how to use a cold frame in the garden
Need quick height in a sculptural location? Think big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) or Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans). Want to mask the unsightly lower bare stems of flowering perennials? Think sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula) or prairie dropseed (Sporobulos heterolepsis). These grasses provide cover and nesting materials for birds, often have nice fall color and make for a stunning winter garden.