“Beware the ides of March.” Mr. Shakespeare was speaking of treachery, not changeable weather, but it is still advice to be heeded.

“Fickle” and “cruel” are appellations for our third month, with good reason. I strongly urge eager gardeners to find indoor projects this week or at the very least resolve to pick up winter’s debris or cut undergrowth. It is much too early to remove leaves or mulch from flower beds.

This is an excellent week to check your tools and supplies. Clean and sharpen all existing equipment. Should you need replacements, garden centers are overflowing with rakes, hoes, spades, loppers, bow saws, pruners, sprayers and anything else you might need.

If you have never owned a pair of loppers, consider buying a pair. They are relatively expensive, but they can cut through most branches without undue shoulder stress. I use loppers and a bow saw for all my pruning needs. Chainsaws have their place — and it is not in my hands.

Though garden catalogs can give you lots of ideas, plan on buying big items such as trees and shrubs locally. It’s just plain common sense. Any tree that you get through the mail is going to be small for quite a long time.

While there are a lot of places that will sell you trees, go somewhere and look at all their stock and how everything looks. You want a product that has been taken care of from the get-go.

Perennials, on the other hand, can be successfully ordered by mail. No one garden center can stock everything (nor can any one catalog). If you know what you want, you can feel safe ordering it from a reputable place.

If you plan to spend a lot of money, check the reputation of your source before you order. If the place seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Before you order lots of interesting plants, be sure you know what you are doing. If gardening is a relatively new hobby, stick to tried-and-true best-sellers. There is a reason why they are best-sellers — they are easy to grow successfully. Also, be realistic. Nothing looks as good in real life as it does on the printed page. While most (but not all) catalogs try to be honest and careful as to claims, what you envision as growing in your garden and what you get are sometimes worlds apart.

Topic revisited: Plan your garden on paper before you buy anything! You’ve heard it from me before, but it can’t be emphasized enough. You need a master plan before you buy a single tree, dig up one spadeful of dirt or install any shrubbery. Your goal is to achieve “harmony of line” (E. Sheldon) and you do this by repeating the lines of your house and walk.

A plan need not be fancy, but it should be well thought out. For example, do you want your backyard to be edged with flowers to delineate neighboring properties? Look at where your family lives. Are there small children who play in each other’s yards? If so, plan to leave a large path between the houses. Before you plant a tree, stick a pole or broomstick in the hole to see where you will get shade and when.

If you live in a new development, you can be positive that your developer did not give you enough good top soil. To check, dig down a foot. In this area you are likely to find clay. Budget for an adequate amount of soil to be delivered even if you have to postpone other acquisitions. Give yourself a fighting chance to succeed with future plantings.

Next week: Everything you wanted to know about dormant soil.

Brigid Galusha’s Garden Paths column appears weekly in the Twin Tiers Homes section. The Star-Gazette will forward comments and questions. Send them to: Star-Gazette, Attn: Garden Paths/Twin Tiers Homes, 201 Baldwin St., P.O. Box 285, Elmira, NY 14902.

source : www.stargazettenews.com