As March arrives and we look forward to spring, we prepare ourselves for the one more blast of winter we know Mother Nature will throw our way. In this week’s episode of Down the Garden Path podcast, Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing talk about March in the Garden. 

Topics and questions discussed in this episode:

• Planting seeds and staging a crop for a continuous harvest.
• Growing seeds: the best selection is available now! Buy now, plant later.
• Lawn care: we’re eager but how long do we have to wait to get started?
• Dormant spray: a key IPM task we can start as the weather warms up.
• Pruning: what trees and shrubs can we prune in late winter and early spring?
• How to protect your evergreens from the weight of snow and ice.
• Buy our book! It’s your source for monthly low-maintenance tips and tricks to get your garden off to its best start this spring.

Steppingstones

A new segment where Joanne and Matthew answer more listener questions and give timely tips for your gardens and landscapes.

Listener questions:

• Can we use seeds from last year?
• Can we clean up our flower beds in March?
• Can I start strawberries now in my home? Or is it too early?

Tips to take the next step in your gardening journey:

• Force forsythia and willow branches for a pop of colour in winter.
• Look for leftover fall bulbs in the store to plant now to create a colourful container.
• Growing sweet potato vine from sweet potatoes at the grocery store

Resources mentioned during the show

Ontario Seed Company Peanut Seeds

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their new book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.