What to plant in March - best plants for Spring/Summer
Spring!
March is an ideal time to be thinking about your garden for the spring and summer months as the days are beginning to lengthen and it is becoming warmer.
There is a vast variety of seeds, some which can be sown direct, i.e., where they will be growing in your garden or pots, and some can be sown indoors to plant after all risk of frost has passed, you just need a sunny windowsill.
Seeds to get your pots and planting pockets buzzing!
Annuals grow, flower, set seed and die, all in the space of one year, while biennials grow in their first year and flower and set seed in their second year.
These are fast-growing, quick-flowering plants are easy to grow from seed and perfect for filling gaps in borders, popping into pots or even hanging baskets if a trailing plant to give a splash of summer of colour.
Hardy annuals or biennials can be sown directly outside, most like a sunny position, this will warm quickly in the spring so they can get away early. A regular watering in the initial stages and during dry spells will get them off to a good start.
If planting half-hardy or tender seeds they will need extra heat to germinate, so keep indoors or heated greenhouse until risk of frost has passed and temperatures regulate, about late May.
Top plants for pollinators that can be sown in March…
Sweet William, Cosmos, Viola, Nicotiana, Sweet Peas, Sunflowers, Nasturtium, Forget-me-Not, Poppy, Calendula officinalis, Nigella, Scabious, Cerinthe, Aquilegia, Poached Egg Flower & Night Phlox which is great for moths and in turn bats!
Even better, the RSPB has just launched its first ever range of seeds, colourful selections of native wildflower seeds for bees, butterflies, bats, or birds. New RSPB Wildlife Attractor Seeds
With all pollinators friendly plants think simple flowers – ones that look like a daisy or tubes like a foxglove. Multi or ruffled petals do not allow pollinators access to nectar and the plants themselves are so hybridised that they often offer little or no nectar.
Plugs Plants.
Online suppliers will now be offering plug plants ready to despatch in March which it is a cost-effective way of adding wildlife friendly plants into your garden or pots with a little bit of effort.
I often order my salvia plug for my summer pots, when they arrive, I will pot them up and let them grow on in a frost-free area, a greenhouse, or windowsill.
As soon as the risk of frost has passed, around May, I will then move them out into my garden pots and boarders to fill gaps and give me a wonderful summer display.
Other great plants that can be found as plug plants to help pollinators are:
Achillea, Scabious, Alstroemeria, Sedum, Phlox, Perennial Geraniums, Verbena, Globe Thistles, Penstemon, Verbascum, Rudbeckia, Asters, Echinacea, Nepeta and of course Salvias. All about the plants.
However, make sure that the company you are buying from is growing the plug plants in peat-free compost. If they do not say, you can be quite sure they are still growing in peat.
Herbs – it’s a win win!
Often overlooked as plants perfect to encourage wildlife, loved by bees and butterflies with the added bonus of being great to cook with to. All can be easily grown in a sunny spot in your garden or a well-draining pot or window box. Again, some can be grown from seed and others can be ordered as plugs to grow on for the summer.
Chives, thyme, sage, rosemary and oregano, mint – let them flower, they can still be used for cooking, but they are fantastic for bees & butterflies.
I use herbs in my garden borders as they make fantastic front of bed fillers and then keep some in pots by my door for cooking.
Borage can be a bit of a garden invader however if you can find a spot for it your pollinators will have a feast, it refills with nectar every two minutes! And mint can also invade so I keep all of mine in pots or troughs.
Lavender and cat mint are well known for their bee/pollinator friendly flowers, but I have had finches eating seeds from my lavender seed heads over the winter.
Making a Meadow
A meadow is an area of predominantly perennial wildflowers including grasses, such as the hay meadows which were once found throughout the UK. They are left to grow during the summer and then cut at the end of the season. Managed well, they are brilliant for all sorts of wildlife from meadow butterflies to grasshoppers.
You can make a version of one in your garden. The simple way, if you have a lawn, is just to let it grow long before being cut. You will be amazed what flowers grab their chance to flower. Say yes to no Mow.
You could also ‘over sow’ with wildflower meadow seed. You will need to cut your lawn VERY short before you do, and ideally scratch it with a rake to open up lots of little gaps of soil where the seeds can germinate.
Or you can sow an area of bare ground with meadow seed in spring or autumn, but make sure you remove all the weeds first. Making a meadow.
Again, our new RSPB seed range has special mixes you can use, RSPB Mini Meadow Wildflowers Seed for Lawns.
If sowing a large area mix the wildflower seeds with sharp sand (at a ratio of four parts sand to one part seed). This makes it easier to achieve an even distribution and also provides a visual marker, making it easier to see any missed patches and avoid seeding areas twice. Regularly mix the seed when sowing, as seeds will naturally separate due to variations in size and weight. Once sown, ensure good ‘seed to soil’ contact by lightly raking or rolling the area.
It is also possible to make a mini meadow in a pot, but because wildflowers prefer poor soil use last year’s spent compost. If we all made one meadow pot in our gardens, we can create a pollinators highway. See our special mix for pots here RSPB Wildflower seeds for Pots
Last call for bare root hedges, shrubs, and trees….
March is the end of the bare root season, online tree and hedging suppliers will be discounting stock and the weather is still favourable to plant. Bag yourself a crab apple, rowan, hazel, or hawthorn to keep those pollinators and birds happy. Grow a tree!
Bulbs in green
Available from shops now, suppliers online or a friend with a large clump that can be divided you can add spring bulbs to your boarders and pots that are growing and ready to flower – it is not always the most cost-effective way, unless you plant swap, but it does give you the chance to add a spring bulb to help emerging queen bees find a well needed meal.
Think Peat Free – join our campaign #forpeatssake
Peatlands take centuries to form, and they are a crucial store of carbon which is vital in our fight against climate change as well as being havens for wildlife.
Around the world they are drained and dug up to be made into planting medium for plant growing and soil conditioners for our gardens.
The RSPB are asking everyone to pledge to give up peat use in your gardens, pots, and planters. There is a wide choice of really good alternatives – so when you next shop check the labels and go peat free.