Things to do in the MARCH garden

• Complete the PRUNING OF FRUIT TREES.

• DIVIDE CROWDED PERENNIALS and overgrown rhubarb clumps. Replant only the outermost, young sections of perennial clumps in replenished soil. Discard the old, woody centres.

• TRIM BACK woody herbs such as lavender, rosemary, and sage for compact new growth. Cut rue plants down close to ground level for bushy plants this year.

• PLANT trees, shrubs, hedges, flowering vines, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and strawberries this month so that the plants can establish new roots in the garden before the arrival of very warm weather. In most areas hardy perennials can be planted in March.

• Start begonia tubers into growth.

• FERTILIZE established trees, shrubs, vines, and fruiting plants. MULCH rhubarb plants with an enriching layer of compost and/or composted manure.

• Finish pruning roses early in the month.

• Trim faded flowers from WINTER HEATHERS.

• DIG the last of the Jerusalem artichokes, AND REPLANT some of the tubers in replenished soil for another crop next winter.

• Surround lettuce and other vulnerable plants with crushed egg shells or diatomaceous earth as a BARRIER TO SLUGS.

• WEED, CLEAN AND FERTILIZE perennial and shrub beds. A top dressing of compost over the fertilizer boosts the health and beauty of ornamental plantings.

• CLEAR THE GROUND UNDER PRUNED ROSES, fertilize, and mulch with compost or composted manure for a healthy boost to new growth.

• Try UNDERPLANTING ROSES WITH GARLIC AND CHIVES to reduce the incidence of black spot and intensify the perfume of the rose blooms.

• As long as the soil is not sodden PREPARE VEGETABLE AND FLOWER PLOTS for planting. Add compost or composted manure and fertilizer to the soil, and a little lime except where potatoes, strawberries and other plants preferring acid soil conditions are to be located.

• Where soils are no longer wet and cold SEED HARDY VEGETABLES AND FLOWERS outdoors -- broad beans, lettuce, radish, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, carrots, bok choy, kohlrabi, parsley and Chinese cabbage, calendula, sweet peas and poppies.

• SEED INDOORS eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes. Many annual flowers can be sown indoors in March -- impatiens, nemesia, petunia, salpiglossis, portulaca, lobelia, coleus, salvia, dahlia, celosia, alyssum, asters, lavatera and cosmos among them. Transplant outdoors in the warmth of May.

• Begin FERTILIZING HOUSE PLANTS again with a mild liquid fertilizer solution.

• RAKE old matted grass and moss from LAWNS as soon as the ground is no longer wet. Apply lime if this was not done in the fall.

• Add the first fresh lawn mowings to the COMPOST PILE and turn the pile weekly to speed decomposition.

• PLANT ASPARAGUS this month. Set the crowns four to six inches (10 to 15 cm) beneath the soil surface in a deeply dug, humus-rich, fertile soil that drains efficiently. Mulch established plants with compost or aged manure.

• Consider alternatives to sphagnum moss for lining HANGING BASKETS. Harvesting the moss for garden use damages its natural habitats. Lightweight, flexible basket liners made from wood or textile by-products are available at garden centres and from some catalogues.