GARDENING CHECKLIST FOR MARCH

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The winter spent planning this season's garden and looking wistfully through seed catalogs is (mostly) behind us, and suddenly there are dozens of chores waiting to be tackled. You may live in an area where you still have a month or so from the date of the average last frost, so you still have to wait a bit before you start your planting. But there are beds to prepare, berry crops to plant, grapes and gooseberries to prune…you get the idea!

The following are some of the things on our list for March in western Oregon, courtesy of the Oregon State University Extension Service:

• Start the seasonal war on slugs! Try some alternatives to slug bait. Lay boards at the edges of your beds and garden (be sure they are making close contact with the soil), then check frequently early morning or late evening. Dispose of slugs in a can of dry sawdust. Set out beer traps. If you must use slug bait, place in under rocks or in locations where it's safe from birds or pets.

• If the soil is dry enough, begin vegetable garden soil preparation and plant cool-season crops (peas, lettuce, cabbage, onions, kale, chard).

• Watch for newly emerging plants that have outgrown their space, or just shouldn't belong there. Now's a great time to transplant them into a more suitable location.

• Plant berry crops (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, currants, gooseberries).

• Fertilize cane berries (broadcast or band a complete fertilizer or manure).

• Plan your vegetable garden carefully for spring, summer and fall vegetables that can be eaten fresh or preserved.

• Prune gooseberries and currants; fertilize with manure or a complete fertilizer.

• Spray trees and shrubs for webworms and leaf rollers, if present.

• Fertilize rhododendrons, camellias, azaleas with acid-type fertilizer.

• Use stored scion wood to graft fruit and ornamental trees.

• Treat lawns for European crane fly if damage has been diagnosed.

• Spread compost over garden and landscape areas.

• Best time of year to thatch and renovate lawns.

• Prune spring-flowering shrubs after blossoms fade.

• Trim or shear heather when bloom period is finished.

• Start tuberous begonias indoors.

• Do not compost grass clippings from lawns where weed-and-feed products or herbicides have been used.