March! March, the month all of us lawn and landscape enthusiasts celebrate spring.
March, the month being outdoors on your lawn, in your landscape and on your patio returns!
March, the month full of rollercoaster temperatures! Ouch, really? Did we have to go there?
But it’s true. All the sunny 65 and over days make the occasional below freezing, winterish night hard to bear.
Oh, I’m not talking about you and me, I’m talking about your lawn and landscape.
Tulips are putting on an early show this spring.
One of the hardest things for your lawn and plants is to arrive at the point of buds popping, flowers bursting, and lawns breaking dormancy… and WHAM! another wintry night arrives!
Spring is arriving early this year, much earlier than the last two years. A few years back we had a warm February, an early spring, followed by a very cool late March with a freeze. When the freeze arrived many plants and even warm season lawns, with tender young growth, were knocked back. That year it wasn’t until mid-May before lawns and many plants snapped out of it.
The best spring for your lawn and landscape, and yes for you too, is once we reach the point of buds swelling, green shoots appearing in the lawn, and early spring plants gracing our world with bright colors; the roller coaster temperature swings are more like a kiddy coaster and less like Six Flag’s Texas Giant.
So, get outside. Enjoy all the wonderful days. Do something in your lawn and landscape. Just don’t jump the gun on planting tender annuals just yet.
Here are a few lawn and landscape tasks you should tackle this month:
Spring flowering bulbs, like these daffodils, are already cheering on the arrival of spring.
Daffodils are loving the early spring.
The bright yellow of Forsythia is a show stopper!
Spring Lawn Maintenance – Get the mower out and get started. It is much easier to remove the winter damaged leaf blades before the turf begins to green-up. Remember, scalping on the lowest setting isn’t required and isn’t recommended. Simply mow the lawn at the height you plan to start the mowing season.
For most Bermuda lawns, the second setting is recommended. For fescue, start on the second or third notch on your mower.
We are often asked about dethatching at this time of year.
What is dethatching? Dethatching is the removal of excessive thatch that builds up on the soil surface by using a vertical power rake.
But, unless you have a thick layer of ½-1” or more of thatch, dethatching causes more damage to the crown of the plants than it does good. So, with only a few exceptions, the best method for reducing thatch is an initial spring lawn maintenance followed by aeration after spring green-up. Unnecessary dethatching and scalping the lawn too low removes the canopy opening the lawn up to disease and weeds.
Need more info on the first mowing of the season? Check out last week’s post.
If you haven't already, cut your fescue lawn to remove the freeze damaged leaf tips and soon the lawn will return to full color and start growing.
Lawn Maintenance – With so many warm days, soil temperatures reaching into the low 50’s, and the occasional rains, fescue lawns are regaining color every day. Start your cool season lawn off right by maintaining it at 2 ½ - 3”. When it starts growing mow frequently enough that you are never removing more than 1/3 of the leaf blade per cutting. So, if you plan to maintain a 3” level, don’t allow the lawn to grow past 4.5” without giving it a trim.
If you have warm season turf, Bermuda or zoysia, after you cut the lawn for the first time to remove the brown winter damaged leaf blades, most likely you can put off regularly scheduled lawn mowing until April.
Saucer Magnolia is a small deciduous tree with saucer-shaped white, pink or purple blooms in early spring. It makes a great specimen tree from the spectacular spring blooms to its spreading, multi-trucked shape.
Tulips have started blooming...2-3 weeks ahead of normal.
Saucer Magnolia is a spring favorite.
Headed to Dallas in the next few weeks? Add the Dallas Arboretum to your places to visit during their spring Dallas Blooms event, now through April 8th.
One of the first shrubs to announce spring is forsythia. Interesting tidbit: when forsythia starts blooming it is an indicator that crabgrass has started germinating.
Lawn Weed Control – Summer annual weeds begin germinating when soil temperatures consistently reach 55 degrees. All the above normal temperatures have soil temperatures hanging out around 50 degrees. Unless we see an extended cold spell, we are on course to see soil temperatues consistently reach 55 degrees by mid-March.
If you have not applied the first spring pre-emergent yet, please do so by mid-March. Whether you apply a pre-emergent yourself, or we do it for you, always follow instructions. Watering is a required step to move the herbicide into the top ½” of soil.
Want to know what crabgrass will do to your lawn this summer if you don’t apply a pre-emergent?
This is the month landscapes are filled with the bright pinkish-red colors of Redbuds, the Oklahoma State tree
Bed Weed Control – March is an excellent month to apply a plant safe pre-emergent to your landscape plantings. Use caution in selecting the product to make sure it is safe for your plants. When possible, select a granular pre-emergent mixed with a fertilizer containing approximately 20% nitrogen. Doing so will give your plants a good spring feeding while preventing weeds at the same time.
Lawn Fertilization – This month is a good time to start fertilizing your cool season lawns. Use a fertilizer with 25-30% nitrogen. Cool season lawns need to be feed more in the spring and fall when they are actively growing, and less in the summer.
If you have a warm season lawn, wait until lawns have greened up to apply the first fertilizer application.
Hyacinth is one of the first spring blooming bulbs to add splashes of color to the landscape.
Mulch – Spring is a great time to mulch your landscape plantings. Maintaining a 2” layer of organic mulch will reduce weed population, retain soil moisture, and provide a more consistent soil temperature for plant roots. I find adding mulch an easier task in the spring when I am cleaning my landscape plantings for the first time.
Irrigation – It is always important to monitor rainfall and water based on need. Continue the best practice of watering anytime we go a week without a ½” of rain. If possible, wait as long as possible to start watering every other day. You will save both water and money if you water on an as needed basis for the next couple of months.
One sign of how early the spring is this year…Hydrangeas are already budding. As long as we don’t get another hard freeze, this should be spring full of color.
Flowering Quince with bright orange to red flowers is one of the first shrubs to declare spring.
Spring Seasonal Color – Pansies are the toughest winter annual color, but it is common for them to look a little freeze burned after the winter. With the early spring, as long as the crown was not damaged, they are returning to life and blooming. The great thing about pansies is they add color to the spring landscape until it is warm enough to plant summer annuals.
Wait till April to plant impatient, begonia, geranium, etc. And remember most summer annuals need the warmer soil temperatures of late April or May before they are planted. If you get in a hurry, you will end up planting your summer annual color twice. When planting remember most plants prefer well drained, organic soil and would prefer you add compost when planting.
Seeding Fescue – March is the second-best time to overseed fescue. But it comes in a very distant second to seeding in the fall. Spring seeded fescue will come up very well and look very good till the summer heat arrives - then it fades quickly. Fescue, being a cool season grass, will not establish a sustainable root system when planted in the spring. Give your fescue lawn a chance to green up first to get a better feel on the overall condition of the lawn. If still feel you have bare areas that need to be addressed now, seed this month but still plan on seeding again in the fall. In most cases waiting till fall to seed is best. Fall seeding allows you to focus on weed prevention and turf development in the spring and turf establishment in the fall when it is best.
Creeping phlox is one of the first perennials to burst with color in the spring.
Pruning – March is the time to do heavy pruning on your roses. March is also the best time to make a major reduction in the size of hollies, boxwoods and most broadleaf evergreens. Before spring growth arrives, you can successfully remove all the foliage back to the central leader if needed.
If you need help with any of your lawn and landscape tasks, or just have a few questions, please don’t hesitate to give us a call.
Lorne Hall
Hall | Stewart Lawn + Landscape
(405)367-3873