Guides / What to plant
What to plant in March
The growing season starts properly this month. Sow peas and chives outdoors once the soil has warmed, plant wild daffodils in the green rather than as dry bulbs, and repot houseplants now so they root into fresh compost before the summer push.
These are Northern Hemisphere months. If you garden in the Southern Hemisphere, the equivalent month is September.
In the garden
Blackthorn
Prunus spinosa
How to grow blackthorn, Prunus spinosa. Blossom on bare stems before hawthorn, picking sloes for gin, planting a stockproof hedge and controlling the suckers.
Butterfly Bush
Buddleja davidii
How to grow buddleja, Buddleja davidii. The hard March prune that keeps it flowering at eye level, deadheading to stop it seeding across the neighbourhood, and why it feeds butterflies but not caterpillars.
Camellia
Camellia japonica
How to grow camellias, Camellia japonica. Why an east-facing wall ruins the flowers, what causes bud drop, keeping the soil acid, and treating petal blight.
Cleavers
Galium aparine
How to identify and control cleavers, Galium aparine. The sticky annual that climbs everything, why hoeing in March is the whole job, and eating the young shoots.
English Ivy
Hedera helix
How to grow Hedera helix. Whether it damages walls, the two completely different forms one plant takes, why it feeds bees in November, and where it is a banned weed.
Forsythia
Forsythia intermedia
How to grow forsythia, Forsythia x intermedia. Pruning straight after flowering, renewing a leggy bush, stopping bullfinches stripping the buds, and taking free cuttings.
Japanese box
Buxus microphylla
How to grow Buxus microphylla. The blight-resistant box, clipping without spreading disease, spotting box tree caterpillar, and the alternatives worth considering.
Japanese pieris
Pieris japonica
How to grow pieris, Pieris japonica. Scarlet new growth in spring, why frost and chalk both ruin it, and the grayanotoxins that make it dangerous to livestock.
Wild Daffodil
Narcissus pseudonarcissus
How to grow and naturalise wild daffodils, Narcissus pseudonarcissus. Planting depth, why the leaves must be left alone, the sap that kills other cut flowers, and why the bulbs are dangerous.
Herbs and edibles
Apricot
Prunus armeniaca
How to grow apricot, Prunus armeniaca. The earliest blossom of any fruit tree, protecting it from frost, and choosing a cultivar bred for a British climate.
Chives
Allium schoenoprasum
How to grow chives, Allium schoenoprasum. Cutting for tender regrowth, dividing congested clumps, the edible flowers, and why a herb you can eat is dangerous to cats and dogs.
Curly Parsley
Petroselinum crispum
How to grow Petroselinum crispum. Why the seed takes a month to appear, why year two is a write-off, the difference between curly and flat-leaf, and the rash it can give you.
Garden Pea
Pisum sativum
How to grow garden peas, Pisum sativum. Sowing dates, supports, why mice take the seed, and how a crop that feeds itself with nitrogen should be treated at the end of the season.
Ginger
Zingiber officinale
How to grow ginger, Zingiber officinale. Starting a supermarket rhizome, the warmth and humidity it needs indoors, and harvesting after eight months.
Onion
Allium cepa
How to grow onions, Allium cepa. Sets against seed, why bolting happens, ripening and curing for storage, and why onions are toxic to cats and dogs.
Potato
Solanum tuberosum
How to grow potatoes, Solanum tuberosum. Chitting, earthing up, first and second earlies against maincrop, blight, and why a green potato should go in the bin.
Spinach
Spinacia oleracea
How to grow spinach, Spinacia oleracea. Stopping it bolting in summer, sowing for autumn and spring crops, and the perpetual spinach that does not bolt.
Stinging nettle
Urtica dioica
How to grow nettles on purpose, Urtica dioica. Picking the tops for the kitchen, siting a patch butterflies will use, making liquid feed, and why the sting works.
Indoors
Chinese Money Plant
Pilea peperomioides
How to grow Pilea peperomioides. Light, watering, why the leaves curl, and how to take the offsets that carried this plant across Europe before any nursery sold it.
Peace Lily
Spathiphyllum wallisii
How to care for Spathiphyllum wallisii. Why it wilts on purpose, what brown tips are telling you, why a shop-bought plant often refuses to flower again, and how it behaves around cats.