Professional gardener shares ‘one thing’ you must plant in March

March, the season of renewal, heralds the arrival of spring and provides a welcome break from the gloomy, cold days of winter, especially for garden enthusiasts. Gardeners have a multitude of tasks to tackle this time of year as their gardens begin to thrive once again.

In fact, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) recommends pruning roses, planting onion sets and shallots, and mowing the lawn when necessary on dry days. BBC Gardeners’ World legend Monty Don agrees that this is the month to do it, but has a word of caution. He notes that the grass “will need to be mowed in March” but warns that you shouldn’t “cut it too short.”

On his blog, Monty advised readers to “do a light trim” for the rest of the month. Michael Griffiths, who recommends feeding roses for “better flowering,” posted an additional guide on TikTok.

Meanwhile, Rob Brett, curator of RHS Hyde Hall, stressed there was “so much to do” in the spring last year and described it as a “fantastic” opportunity to start planting.

Rob said: “Choosing something to plant is a challenge as there is so much to do in the garden in spring. Spring is a great time to plant, so perhaps use early spring to plan your planting sequence. Depending on weather conditions, early March is the last time to plant bare-root trees and shrubs.”

“March is also a great time to divide clumps of herbaceous plants and move them to areas around the garden (or give them to friends and neighbors if you don’t need them).”

“March and April are also the time to plant many of our traditional vegetables, such as early potatoes, onion sets and shallots. If I had to choose one thing to plant in the spring, it would be summer-blooming bulbs. We often neglect to think about this because we focus on planting spring-blooming bulbs in the fall.”

Looking ahead, he observed that summer was a “wonderful time” for “wonderful” plants like Gladiolus, and that his personal favorites included Nerine and Eucomis, celebrated for their “pineapple flowering heads.”

Beyond planting, the RHS has outlined a range of additional tasks gardeners will need to tackle this March, from planting potatoes to managing overgrown perennials.