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March: Gardening To-Do List




  • Apply ferti-lome Fire Blight Spray to help control and prevent blight on crabapple, pears, and fruit-bearing trees when they begin to bloom.  This is the only opportunity to apply this prevention.
  • Apply 3/4” of Gold Diamond Western Red Cedar mulch or Classic Grade A Cedar Mulch™ to control weeds in beds. 
  • Apply Bonide® Wilt Stop® to protect small plants when temperatures are below 50°F.  Wilt Stop® can be used year-round to protect plants from drying out, drought, wind burn, sunscald, winter kill, transplant shock, and salt damage. 
  • Hi-Yield® Dormant Spray may still be applied to all deciduous shrubs and trees while they are dormant to control a variety of scale, mites, fruit tree leaf rollers, pear psylla, fall armyworms, and whiteflies on shrubs, ornamentals, fruit trees, and shade trees. We recommend using Dormant Spray on all fruit trees during the dormant season. Dormant Spray should be applied in the late afternoon or early morning (when bees and other pollinators aren’t yet active) and may be mixed with other insecticides or fungicides (excluding products containing Sulphur). 
  • Prune roses just before growth starts and use ferti-lome® Rose and Flower Food with Systemic Insecticide as the foliage appears.  Use every six weeks for the best flowers and insect control.
  • Get garden and flower beds ready to plant by adding Marcum’s Nursery Redbud Compost to your beds.
SOIL TEMPERATURES AND WEEDS

Soil temperatures determine when weeds emerge in winter and spring. Most weeds germinate after three consecutive days of 50°F soil temperature at a depth of 2 inches.  The Mesonet website is useful for monitoring soil temperatures in Oklahoma (mesonet.org). They also have a free app for Apple and android phones.  It’s better to apply pre-emergent too early rather than too late; once seeds have germinated, pre-emergent is no longer effective.  If you miss some weed seeds in the pre-emergent herbicide process (or if you don’t do it at all), don’t fret; we have effective post-emergent herbicides as well….

WARM SEASON LAWNS
  • Now is the time to apply pre-emergent herbicides to prevent weeds from popping up later.  We recommend and stock the following pre-emergent products:
    • Granular Pre-Emergent Herbicides
      • Hi-Yield® Turf & Ornamental Weed & Grass Stopper Containing Dimension®
      • Hi-Yield® Crabgrass Control
      • ferti-lome® Broadleaf Weed Control with Gallery®
    • Liquid Pre-Emergent Herbicides
      • Ike’s Sandbur & Crabgrass Preventer
  • DO NOT apply pre-emergent herbicides to areas where you will seed lawns or plant any other type of seed in the next three to four months; pre-emergent herbicides, when used properly, prevent ALL seeds (not just weed seeds) from germinating.  If you’re wondering how long you can expect your pre-emergent herbicide to remain effective, plan on 60-110 days (depending on the herbicide and weather conditions).  
  • Apply ferti-lome® Weed Free Zone, a post-emergent broadleaf herbicide, to control broadleaf weeds.  Weed Free Zone is effective at lower temperatures than other post-emergent herbicides making it especially useful in the early spring months.  You can also use Hi-Yield® Killzall™ to kill weeds that have popped up in dormant bermudagrass lawns.
  • In late March, dethatch warm season lawns (Bermuda and Zoysia).
COOL SEASON LAWNS
  • March is the first month you should fertilize cool-season lawns.  We recommend and stock the following fertilizers:
    • Marcum’s Nursery’s Slow-Release Fertilizer (18-6-12)
    • Milorganite® (6-4-0)
    • ferti-lome® New Lawn Starter Fertilizer (9-13-7)
  • Now is the time to overseed cool-season lawns.
    • New lawns require 8-10 lbs of seed per 1,000 ft2
    • Overseeding rate for existing lawns is 6-8 lbs per 1,000 ft2
  • If you plan on overseeding, you DO NOT want to apply any pre-emergent herbicides to those areas, and the window to apply pre-emergent herbicides to cool-season lawns in quickly coming to a close!
  • If you plan to apply pre-emergent herbicides to your cool-season lawn we recommend and stock the following pre-emergent products (remember, don’t do this if you’re going to overseed your lawn):
    • Granular Pre-Emergent Herbicides WITH fertilizer
      • ferti-lome® Crabgrass Preventer Plus Lawn Food Containing Dimension®
      • ferti-lome® For All Seasons II Lawn Food Plus Crabgrass and Weed Preventer
      • ferti-lome® Broadleaf Weed Control with Gallery®
    • Granular Pre-Emergent Herbicides WITHOUT fertilizer
      • Hi-Yield® Turf & Ornamental Weed & Grass Stopper Containing Dimension®
    • Liquid Pre-Emergent Herbicides
      • Ike’s Sandbur & Crabgrass Preventer
        • NOTE: If you have Kentucky bluegrass or perennial ryegrass in your lawn, do not use this product.  Some fescue blends, like Heartland Supreme, for example, contain bluegrass and ryegrass, so make sure you know your grass blend before choosing this product in fescue blend lawns as well.
  • To treat weeds in your cool-season lawns, we recommend and stock the following post-emergent herbicides:
    • Granular Post-Emergent Herbicides
      • ferti-lome® Weed-Out® Broadleaf Weed Control Containing Trimec®
    • Liquid Post-Emergent Herbicides
      • ferti-lome® Weed Free Zone
      • ferti-lome® Weed-Out® With Crabgrass Killer 
      • Hi-Yield® 2, 4-D Selective Weed Killer
      • Image® All-In-One Lawn Weed Killer
  • Mow cool-season grasses 1½ to 3¾ inches high.
PICK UP A SOIL KIT!

Available at any Marcum’s Nursery location, SoilKit provides all the supplies needed for a quick and easy soil collection. Your soil will be tested by one of the nation’s leading agricultural labs. SoilKit will provide you with easy-to-understand results and soil treatment recommendations to keep your lawn and garden healthy.

  • Plant your container and Ball & Burlap (B & B) trees.
  • It’s getting close to time to plant onions, potatoes, and other cool-season vegetables!  When nighttime temperatures stay above 30°F, it’s time to get these crops in the ground!
COOL SEASON VEGETABLE TIPS

We put together a group of helpful videos if you want to learn more about planting onions and potatoes: Marcum’s Nursery YouTube Playlist – Growing Onions & Potatoes. 

HOW TO PLANT POTATOES
POTATOES IN CONTAINERS
SEED POTATOES 101
PLANT POTATOES WITH US
3 WAYS TO PLANT ONIONS
HOW TO PLANT ONION SETS

There are also a few products featured in the videos that we sell or have a recommended alternative to aid in your successful harvest:

    • Starter fertilizer:
      • Espoma® Organic Bio-tone® Starter is available at our store in Norman (17550 S Sooner Rd).
      • FoxFarm Soil & Fertilizer Company® Happy Frog® Tomato & Vegetable Fertilizer is available at our other locations.
    • Containers:
      • Smart Pot® is mentioned and shown in one of the videos.  This is an Oklahoma company that produces “The Original Fabric Container.”  We carry Smart Pot® in a variety of sizes as well as some other fabric pots that are great for gardening.
    • Drill:
      • A drill and auger come in super handy when planting a lot of vegetables, bulbs, annuals, and even larger plants (depending on the size of your auger).  We carry a line of augers that are super handy and very sturdy!
    • Soil:
      • Marcum’s Nursery has you (and your crops) covered when it comes to soil choices!  We, of course, carry all kinds of amendments for those looking to create their own soil, but we really recommend the following based on the type of garden you are planting:
Premium Raised Bed Mix

This soil is our recommendation for raised bed gardens.  It is ready-to-use and provides all the nutrients your plants will need for a growing season.  It’s available at all locations. 

Ingredients and ratios as follows:

1/3 screened topsoil
1/3 Redbud Living Soil (details below)
1/9 Redbud Compost (details below)
1/9 Pine Bark Mulch
1/9 Pumice

Redbud Compost

Marcum’s Nursery’s own brand of fully finished compost.  We recommend this product with every plant we sell!  It is great for amending existing soil as it adds loads of beneficial microbes and loosens our often compact, clay-like soil.  Add it to gardens each year to promote soil and plant health.  It is available in 40lb bags at all our locations.  

Ingredients include:

Clippings
Horse Manure and Shavings
Food Byproducts

Redbud Living Soil

Marcum’s Nursery’s own blend of nutrient-packed, organic potting soil.  This is great for small container gardening as it is ready-to-use and provides all the nutrients plants need for a growing season.  It is available in bulk at all locations.

Ingredients include:

Redbud Compost
Peat Moss
Rice Hulls
Pumice
Oyster Shells
Kelp Meal
Yucca
Biochar
Alfalfa Meal
Azomite
Basalt
Crustacean Meal
Fish Bone Meal
Gypsum
Diatomaceous Earth

MicroMix

This is a great option for leveling, sod installation, in-ground planting, and amending existing soil.  It is available in bulk at all locations.
Ingredients and ratios as follows:

70% turned topsoil
30% Redbud Compost

Note:  Thanks to Oklahoma Coop Extension Service for providing some of the suggested maintenance guidelines. 

For questions regarding March maintenance guidelines, please call Goldsby at (405) 288-2368, Oklahoma City at (405) 691-9100,  Norman at (405) 447-3100, or Ardmore at (580) 223-1846.





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