Gardening Tips for March: Help Your Garden Spring Back To Life With Biochar
March marks the arrival of spring, bringing longer days, warmer temperatures, and the first signs of new life in the garden. As the season shifts, it’s the perfect time to step outside without your heavy winter coat and start preparing your garden for the months ahead. Whether you’re dividing perennials, refreshing your soil with biochar, or tackling essential maintenance tasks, March is a month of renewal and preparation.
What Can Be Done in the Garden with Biochar in March
Divide Perennials and Replant with Biochar
March is an excellent time to divide established perennials to encourage healthy growth and prevent overcrowding. When replanting, mix biochar into the soil to improve moisture retention and nutrient availability. This will help your perennials to establish quickly and thrive throughout the growing season.
Enrich Garden Beds, Shrubs, and Fruit Trees with Biochar
To give your garden an early-season boost, apply compost or organic fertiliser to garden beds, shrubs, and fruit trees. This replenishes nutrients lost over winter and supports strong spring growth. Mulching around plants will also help suppress weeds and retain moisture as temperatures rise.
Incorporating biochar into compost or fertiliser enhances soil structure, encourages beneficial microbes, and ensures nutrients are slowly released to plants. By improving soil aeration and moisture retention, biochar helps create optimal conditions for healthy root development and sustained plant growth.
Improve Lawn Health with Biochar
If your lawn has started growing again and the ground is dry enough, it may be time for the first cut of the year. Keep the mower blades high for the initial mow to avoid stressing the grass.
To enhance lawn health, aerate the soil and lightly rake in biochar. This will improve soil structure, boost water retention, and support healthy root development as the growing season begins.
Sow Seeds for the Growing Season
March is a great time to start sowing seeds indoors for long-season vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. Use seed trays with proper lighting or a sunny windowsill to encourage strong seedlings that will be ready for transplanting later in the season
Depending on your climate, you can also begin planting cool-season vegetables like peas, lettuce, radishes, and carrots directly in the garden once the soil reaches around 4°C. When planting cool-season crops, mix biochar into the planting holes or beds. Biochar improves root establishment and nutrient uptake, helping early vegetables get off to a strong start.
Refer back to February Advice
If you read our February blog, you’ll know that biochar can also be used to for tasks, such as pruning trees, planting bare-root plants, and dividing bulbs. These tasks remain relevant in March, so if you didn’t get round to them last month, now’s your chance. Don't forget to address other important jobs like pruning hedges, organising seeds, and caring for wildlife to ensure your garden thrives.
Other Jobs to Do in the Garden in March
Put in Plant Supports
March is a great time to install plant supports before new growth gets too large. If you have climbers, tall perennials, or floppy plants, adding supports now will help prevent damage and keep your garden looking tidy.
Cut Autumn-Fruiting Raspberry Canes to the Ground
If you grow autumn-fruiting raspberries, now is the time to cut last year’s canes back to ground level. This will encourage strong new growth that will bear fruit later in the year.
March is a key month for garden preparation, and taking the time to divide perennials, enrich soil with biochar, and complete essential maintenance tasks will set your garden up for a successful growing season.
If you only do one thing this month, consider adding biochar-enriched compost to your garden beds—it’s an easy step with long-lasting benefits. With the right care and attention now, your garden will flourish in the months ahead.
