What to Plant in March

The beginning of March is always welcomed in the northeast. Geese start making their way back into the area, the Chickadees and Blue Jays are more active. Spring is definitely on its way! In our area, March is a unique time. It is still cold, there is still snow on the ground, and the thought of gardening seems months away still. But there are some things you can do in March to prepare your garden for the upcoming growing season. Here is how we are preparing our garden, and what to plant in March in our Zone 5 garden.

But we live in Zone 5, so the beginning of March also means we’re about 8-10 weeks away from our last spring frost. While the temperatures start to warm up, we still get cold nights, and yes, as the picture shows, we even get snow. Sometimes our last major snowfall can be as late as the beginning of April, but we have been known to get snow squalls as late as mid-May.

But just because the snow isn’t done falling does not mean we have to wait on prepping for our summer garden. Here is what we are planting in March in Zone 5.

March Garden Chores:

There are not many outdoor garden chores that can be done since the ground is still frozen for most of the month. This doesn’t mean I’m entirely free and clear of garden chores. March is when I go out and set up a hoop house on one of our larger raised beds, creating a makeshift greenhouse. This way as we progress through March, the soil in the bed is warming up.

By the time the end of April comes I can get my peppers and tomatoes out there, but I will still have to have the bed covered with plastic. This way my peppers are doing most of their growing throughout April and May rather than waiting until the weather gets warm enough in June.

I also need to come up with a rough plan of what I’m planting this year, and in what raised bed. This is also the month I’ll think about any additional raised beds or expansions.

March is also when I’ll be stocking up on some Slug & Snail Bait*. The slugs and snails can be voracious with our early transplants, depending on how rainy our spring is. To make sure they don’t help themselves to the 24/7 buffet I’m offering, I sprinkle in some of this bait as I the plant.

What to plant Indoors In March:

The end of this month puts us at 4-6 weeks before our last spring frost, so I’ll be starting quite a bit of my seedlings indoors. To help save money, I reuse seedling trays from previous years or make my own newspaper pots. For seed trays, I love using ones like these seed trays* that have lids to keep in moisture. Since our grow lights* are in the same room as our wood stove, I need all the help I can get to make sure the moisture stays in with the seedlings. Plus I can reuse them year after year. Some of our seed trays are in their 6th year of use!

As for what I plant, I like to plant a variety of flowers and veggies. Over the last few years with my allergies getting worse, I stuck to the basics, but this year knowing that it’s not anything in the garden I’m allergic to, I’m going to be planting marigold*, zinnia, and cosmos as companion plants to our staple veggies — tomatoes*, peppers*, and some hot peppers*. Hubs absolutely loves his hot peppers.

What to plant Outdoors In March:

While I can’t directly plant things into my garden for another 4 to 6 weeks, I can try my hand at late winter sowing. Hubs and I would like to try it this year and see what does better, the plants that grow under grow lights or ones we winter sowed.

At the top of our winter sowing list are onions* {seeds, not sets… sets are planted a little later on in spring}, leeks*, peppers, and tomatoes. I think some broccoli, cabbage, and kale would do well too.