MARCH PLANT THESE IN

Written by - Grow with Honeybee (Melissa)

March is just around the corner! And the arrival of March really is the start of the growing season in my mind.

It is not too early to think about what you’ll be planting and getting your seeds and seedlings ordered. March is the perfect time to start planting because that’s just when the nice weather starts to hit!

When the weather warms up and the sunny days get longer, it’s natural to think about sowing and growing for the year ahead. And there’s a lot you can plant in March!

If you’re preparing for that vegetable garden you’ve been missing since last summer, you’ll find my best ideas for what to plant in March right here. These are what I start my gardening year off with and have been working for me!

Tomatoes

Hands down, tomatoes are the most popular vegetable to grow in gardens at home. Tomatoes are easy to grow from seed sown indoors in warm conditions. Sow from late February to mid-March if you’ll be growing your crop in a greenhouse or from late March to early April if they’ll be outside. With so many colors and varieties, the possibilities are truly endless.

These sun-lovers needs to be in a spot in your garden that receives at least 6-8 hours of direct sun light.

Cabbage

Easy to grow and hardy, garden-grown cabbage is a nutritious and rewarding gardening project. Growing cabbage is fairly easy because it’s a robust vegetable that isn’t too fussy. Knowing when to plant cabbage and the conditions it likes best will reward you with some amazing salads, stir-fry and countless other recipes.

Summer Cabbage is best sown in a greenhouse or similar environment in March and April for planting out about 4 weeks later.When placing cabbage plants in your garden, be sure to space seedlings 12 to 24 inches apart to give them plenty of room for growing large heads.

Broccoli

Plant these sun-loving crops in a spot in your garden that receives at least 6 hours of direct light. When it comes time to harvest, make sure the head is fully developed but hasn’t produced any small yellow flowers yet.

Broccoli takes a long time to mature, so be patient! Broccoli is cool-season crop, so it should be started in early- to mid- March for an early summer crop.

Basil

Sow in March and try three seeds per small pot. Place the seeds onto pre-watered, peatfree seed compost and sprinkle a thin layer of soil on top. In around four weeks the basil seedlings will be raring to go. Once you can handle them – usually when they have a ‘true leaf’ shaped like a basil leaf rather than the oval seed leaf – you can transfer them into bigger pots.

It’s tempting to leave basil plants to grow lots of leaves but regular pruning makes the plants more productive. Start snipping after the fourth set of leaves. Cut at the stem, pinching off the tips above the lower leaves.

One basil plant should provide you with around half a cup of leaves. It takes around two weeks for the leaves to fully re-grow.