March garden tips

• Continue to install trees and shrubs into the landscape to get them off to a good start before hot weather arrives.

• Keep cool-season annuals flourishing by deadheading and fertilizing with Fertilome Bedding Plant Food.

• Remove the old flowers and developing seed pods from perennial spring-flowering bulbs, such as daffodils and snowflakes. Leave the foliage until it turns yellow and falls over so it can feed the bulb and create a new flower for next year.

• Continue to plant roses, and fertilize established roses. We recommend Rose-tone organic plant food.

• Begin a spray program to prevent blackspot on roses as soon as leaves sprout. We recommend Fertilome Systemic Fungicide.

• Plant new summer-flowering bulbs and divide the established clumps in your yard.

• Plant seeds of corn, cucumber, beans, peas, summer squash, cantaloupe and watermelon after danger of frost is over – usually mid-March in North Louisiana. Transplant tomatoes and peppers. Improve your garden soil by incorporating Vital Earth compost.

• Apply a weed-and-feed product to fertilize your grass and prevent weeds.

• Watch the lawn for signs of brown patch, which often shows up during cool, wet weather. If it shows up, treat with Fertilome F-Stop.

• Plant new perennials and fertilize established clumps with Fertilome Bedding Plant Food.

• Dig and divide crowded perennials such as Shasta daisies, black-eyed susans, phlox, day lilies and purple coneflowers.

• Apply Natural Guard Slug and Snail Bait if damage from snails and slugs occurs.

• Fertilize established shrubs. We recommend Holly-tone organic plant food for all woody plants.

• Watch azaleas for lacebugs. You’ll know they are present if the leaves are white and green speckled and the underside of the foliage has dark specks. Control them with Fertilome Triple Action or Bonide All Seasons Horticultural Oil.

• Finish pruning evergreen and summer flowering trees and shrubs. Prune spring-flowering shrubs like azaleas, forsythia and quince only after they finish blooming, if needed.

• Add mulch underneath camellias, azaleas and other shrubs if coverage has thinned over winter.