Here’s your March checklist for North Texas landscapes and gardens

Hello, March! What took you so long? It seems like eons ago that the leaves were dropping and footballs started flying. Gardeners are ready for something much better. Let’s make a short list of the top things you’ll want to accomplish in the next 15 days.

Continue fruit spray program. This applies notably to peaches and plums to protect against plum curculio worms that invade the fruit. The first spray must be made with a labeled insecticide while trees are in full bud. Second spray is made when 75% of petals have fallen (this spray made at dusk, after bee activity has wound down for the day). Successive sprays should be made on 10-day intervals until harvest. It’s a bit of work, but it’s better than finding worms as you bite down on the fruit.

Scalping the lawn. Remember we chatted about this recently. It’s partly aesthetic. You’re removing last year’s browned blades that were killed by the cold, so the lawn looks better immediately. You’ve dropped the mower blade down by 1 inch so you’re also removing many of the succulent weeds. And it allows the sun’s warming rays to hit the soil, so it warms up more quickly. The grass greens up more rapidly. It’s a win/win all around. But wear your dust goggles and respirator.

Apply pre-emergent. If you’ve had a history of summer weeds like crabgrass and grassburs, apply pre-emergent granules to prevent their germination. The most common types at consumer level are Dimension, Balan, and Halts, and your timing around the Metroplex would be March 5-15 with a follow-up application made 90 days later. Tip: Buy enough in March to make the second application. It can be harder to find in late spring.

Apply broadleafed weedkiller with 2,4-D. These are the non-grassy weeds you see growing in your lawn now. Dandelions, clover, chickweed, plantain, thistles, and others. Use the broadleafed weedkiller when temperatures are between 60 and 85 without rain or irrigation for two to three days. Do not mow for several days before or after you spray. Use a tank sprayer so you can apply as little of the herbicide as possible, and spot-treat the weeds rather than broadcasting the weedkiller over wide areas.

Plant leafy and root vegetables and get ready for the main crops. Root crops, also leafy vegetables, including carrots, beets, turnips, radishes, lettuce, spinach, and others can be sown now. In protected locations beans, cucumbers, squash, and tomatoes can be planted around mid-March (but check 10-day forecast prior to planting). Peppers, eggplant, corn, okra, and sweet potatoes require warmer conditions, so wait until danger of frost has passed late in March.

Trim Asian jasmine, nandinas, boxwoods,and any other cold-damaged plants. Asian jasmine can be trimmed at 4 inches. That will let you remove winter-killed stubble. Try setting your mower to its highest notch and mowing a small area that’s out of sight to see if you like the results. You can also use a sharp gasoline-powered hedge trimmer to do the job.

Nandinas may have a great deal of browned foliage. If so, consider cutting the affected stems back to within 1-2 inches of the soil line. They will send up vigorous new shoots that will quickly fill in with attractive new growth.

Boxwoods may have been scorched by the cold. You can trim off 10% of their tip growth and get back to normal green leaves. Take the opportunity to shape them into round forms, then let them grow naturally the rest of the season. They’ll look surprisingly wonderful.

Reshape spring-flowering shrubs and vines as they finish their blooms. These must always be pruned after their spring bloom, and that becomes your time to train them. Do this pruning branch by branch and do it before new growth develops.

Plant cool-season annual color and make ready for the mid-spring color to follow. We have several very nice plants that can handle light frosts but not hard freezes. Those fall into this category. We plant them toward the end of winter so we can enjoy them through the spring and replace them as it turns hot in the early summer. Early March is the time to plant petunias, sweet alyssum, wallflowers, larkspurs, stocks, delphiniums, foxgloves, English daisies, primulas, ornamental Swiss chard, and others. All of these are best planted out of 4-inch or 6-inch pots, and they’ll be special enough that you may want to feature them in entryway pots or large patio containers. Hot-weather annuals can be planted in mid-April and beyond.

Buy and plant new nursery stock as shipments arrive. Many types are sold year-round in North Texas nurseries, but some are sold in limited quantities and only when they’re in their prime seasons. If you’re hunting for any of the latter types, keep your eyes open weekly. Let the manager of your favorite local independent retail garden center know that there are special plants that you want. They may even be able to order them in for you. When you see them, buy them and plant them immediately. Unusual perennial plants like Solomon’s seal and Lenten roses (Hellebores) come to mind — their supplies exhaust quickly. So do the unusual types of redbuds. Grab ‘em when you see them.

Wait to plant new sod. Soils are still too cold for best and quickest establishment. Unless you simply must have it now, it’s best to wait four to five weeks to plant. Seeding bermuda will require still warmer soil, so plan on waiting until May.

Wait to fertilize turfgrass. Same statement goes here, but the wait isn’t as long. It’s best to delay until April 1. Unless a reliable soil test suggests otherwise, it’s best to use an all-nitrogen fertilizer with 30% to 40% of that N coming in a slow-release coated or encapsulated form. It’s far better to use fertilizers and weedkillers separately. It allows you to make much more precise applications.