The Garden in March: what to plant in your zone 9 garden

---

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliated links such as Amazon, I make a small commission from purchases made through those links at no extra cost to you. I only promote products that I know and love! See my disclosure policy for more information

---

While I live in Central Florida, Zone 9b, and much of this post pertains to Florida gardening, you may find many of the tips and information in this post helpful if you live in other regions that are zone 9. While each region in a particular growing zone may have its own “climate” most of the gardening tasks and growing guides in this post are the same no matter which zone 9 you live in.

Here in my central Florida, zone 9b garden the weather is quickly warming up and the most of the cool-season crops are spent. I am slowly replacing cool-season flower and vegetable crops with warm-season crops as well as finishing up mulching pathways, pruning and fertilizing.

March is the perfect time to plant out heat loving crops tomatoes, peppers, zinnias and celosia. You want to make sure that you have your long-season crops like tomatoes transplanted out in the beginning of this month so that they have time to produce before the extreme heat of summer arrives.

Aside from starting seeds and planting new crops, March is also a great month to spruce up your garden such as mulching, planting trees and shrubs and finishing garden projects.

In this post I will go over the garden tasks you should be doing in the month of March as well as provide a list of vegetable, herb and flower crops that you can plant now.

March Garden Tasks

Here is a list of garden tasks to do this month to get ready for the spring gardening season as well as tasks to help keep your landscape maintained.

• Prepare garden beds for warm-season crops

  • Remove any spent winter plants and replace them with warm-season crops

  • Amend garden beds with necessary fertilizers if you haven’t done so already

• Continue sowing warm-season seeds and plant out transplants

• Continue harvesting winter fruit and vegetable crops

• Manage any pests and diseases

• Fertilize flower or vegetable crops as needed

• Continue planting trees and shrubs

• Mulch garden beds and pathways

• Prune fruit trees and any cold damaged perennials and shrubs

1. Prepping Your Garden Beds for Spring

If you do not currently have a garden or took a break from gardening in the winter then it’s not too late to prepare your garden beds for the spring gardening season. There is still enough time to to plant out warm-season crops like tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and more before the extreme heat of summer arrives. To prep your beds you will want to remove any spent plants, top with compost, worm castings and amend with the appropriate amendments.

If this is your first garden, be sure to read my previous post, A Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Garden in 7 Simple Steps. This will help you get your new garden off to the best possible start no matter where you are located!

Before amending your beds, I highly recommend getting your soil tested if you haven’t done so already. Often times your soil can have an excess or depletion of certain nutrients therefore it is recommend that you test your soil once a year, usually in spring or fall, before amending your garden beds. An excess of nutrients can cause many of the same issues as under fertilizing but it can be a harder problem remediate. By testing your soil you will help prevent any nutrient issues in the future as well as save money on unnecessary fertilizers. If you didn’t test your soil in the fall, then now would be a great time to do that.

Topping your beds with 1-2 inches of compost and mixing in some worm castings is all you usually will need to do to prep your soil for new plantings but you may need to add additional amendments based off of your soil test results such as bone meal for additional phosphorus and blood meal for nitrogen. If you opted to not get your soil tested then you may want to amend your beds with an organic slow-release, all purpose fertilizer. I also like to add Azomite for trace minerals and other essential elements not found in other fertilizers.

2. Continue Sowing Warm-Season Seeds and transplants

March is too late to start any cool-season seeds with the exception of carrots, beets and radishes. You may also still have some luck with cool-season transplants like kale and mustard.

This month you will want to continue planting out long-season, heat loving transplants such as peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant. Ideally, you will want to have those crops planted out by March 1st so that they have enough time to produce before the extreme summer heat arrives. You can also start seeds of corn, squash, cucumber, okra, beans and other fast growing, warm-season crops.

Some seeds do better started indoors while others can be directly sown into the garden beds, if you are new to seed starting you can check out my Seed Starting 101 (Part 1): Direct Sow Vs Transplant post to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

I will also give a list of which vegetable, flower and herb crops to plant in March and the best methods of planting them later in this post.

3. Planting

Aside from planting vegetable, herb and flower crops, now is a great time to plant trees, shrubs and perennials so that they can have time to establish before the extreme heat of summer arrives. Take advantage of our mild weather and plant those fruit trees or shrubs that you’ve been wanting to plant.

It is too late in the season for cool-season flowers but you can begin planting out warm-season annuals to fill your containers and garden beds. Flowers like zinnias, marigolds, celosia, amaranth, gomphrena and other heat loving flowers do great this time of year and will add a pop of color to your landscape.

Winter and early spring is typically our dry season here in Florida so just make sure to keep an eye on the amount of rainfall that you are getting so that your new plants get enough water until they have established.

If you don’t get adequate rainfall, make sure to water your new plants daily for the first couple of weeks then 2-3x a week for another month or so until they establish. Once they establish you will only need to water them about once or twice a week unless you are getting adequate rainfall. You will want to water container plants a few times a week depending on their moisture levels.

It is important to keep an eye on your plants and water accordingly, you may need to water landscape plants more often if you are experiencing a heat wave or drought conditions.

4. Fertilizing

Late February and early March is when I usually try and fertilize any necessary trees and shrubs. Certain shrubs and trees such as fruit trees, fruiting shrubs and roses typically need a good fertilizing once or twice in the spring and once in the fall. I notice that most landscape ornamentals do not need additional fertilizer unless they are heavy feeders like roses.

If you mulch your plants appropriately and avoid landscape fabrics, as that mulch breaks down it typically provides the nutrients needed for most trees and shrubs. To save money and avoid adding excess nutrients to the soil, I recommend paying attention to your landscape plants and fertilize when you notice nutrient deficiencies or slow growth. Get to know your plants and their needs, some are heavy feeders and thrive on a consistent fertilizing schedule while others need very little.

To fertilize trees and shrubs you can top dress around each plant with an inch or two of compost and or worm-castings and top with mulch. For heavy feeders like roses, I also like to add Azomite and an all purpose, slow release organic fertilizer to the soil before topping with mulch.

Continue fertilizing your annual vegetable and flower crops as needed by topping with quality compost, worm-castings or an all purpose, slow release fertilizer. If beds and containers were properly amended before planting, then I find that you shouldn’t have to fertilize with a slow release fertilizer again until you turn the bed or replace spent crops. To give plants an extra boost throughout the growing season, I give a foliar spray of a fast-release liquid fertilizer such as kelp or fish emulsion once a month.

5. Pruning

March is typically a safe month to start pruning back cold damaged shrubs and perennials if you haven’t done so already.

Avoid pruning plants that bloom once in the spring like azaleas, camellias and gardenias until after they bloom. If you prune them now you may cut off the buds preventing the plant from blooming.

Plants that benefit from a hard prune this time of year include deciduous trees and shrubs especially fruit trees like peaches and plums. While it is ideal to prune fruit trees, roses and deciduous trees and shrubs in January and February before they flush out with new growth, it is not too late to prune this month if you have not done so already.

If you didn’t do so in February, give your shrub roses and hybrid teas a hard prune this month to promote a flush of new blooms. Hold off on pruning climbing roses as to not disturb their annual bloom cycle.

6. Watering

Winter and early spring is typically the driest season in Florida and it may be the driest season for you as well depending on where you live. As the temperatures are begin to rise this month and plants may need more water.

Not only do plants need adequate water, it is also easy to over water and too much water can be detrimental to your plants by causing root rot and fungal diseases. It is important to regularly check your plant’s moisture levels and water accordingly.

7. Pest Management

As temperatures begin to warm up this month you may start noticing more pests in the garden. Inspect your plants often to ensure that no potential pests or diseases get out of control. You may find pests such as pickle worms, caterpillars, aphids and mealy bugs this time of year.

The best practice to keeping pests and diseases in check is to inspect your plants often to remove any pests or eggs and treat any diseases that you find before they get out of control.

I personally do not like to spray anything, organic or not, unless absolutely necessary but if you need to resort to spraying make sure to use an organic option. Keeping a healthy, balanced ecosystem in your garden and avoiding herbicides and insecticides as much as possible is the ideal way to keep pests in check.

8. Harvesting

This month, continue harvesting your winter crops and begin removing any spent winter crops that you may have. Once you have removed a spent crop, amend the soil and replace with a warm-season crop.

9. Garden Maintenance

If you haven’t done so already, replenish the mulch in your garden beds and pathways to discourage weeds and retain moisture. You want to make sure that your mulch is always between 2-4 inches deep to be effective.

Finally, take advantage of the mild weather and get those garden projects that you’ve been putting off done before it gets too hot. Now is a great time to build those raised beds, create a new garden bed or build a compost bin!

Crops to plant in March

Below are a list of vegetable, herb and flower crops that you can plant this month.

Below are the recommend planting methods that you will see next to each crop. Most crops can be grown from seed whether you start them indoors or direct sow them into the garden.

You can also choose to buy your transplants from your local nursery or start you seeds indoors and transplant them into your garden once they’ve reached transplant size.

S= Seed T = Transplants

Vegetables

Cool-Season Crops

• Carrots (S)

• Radishes (S)

• Collards (S/T)

• Kale (T)

• Mustard (T)

• Swiss Chard (T)

Warm-Season Crops

• Peppers (S/T)

• Tomatoes (T)

• Tomatillos (T)

• Cucumber (S/T)

• Melons (S/T)

• Eggplant (S/T)

• Corn (S/T)

• Ginger (tubers)

• Turmeric (tubers)

• Roselle (S/T)

• Beans (S)

• Okra (S/T)

• Peanuts (S)

• Southern Peas (S)

• Squash (S)

• Sweet Potatoes (Slips)

Herbs

October-May is the best time to plant herbs in Florida when the weather isn’t as hot and humid. While you can start many of your herbs from seed it is usually easier to buy certain ones like thyme, rosemary, oregano and mint as transplants.

• Basil (S/T)

• Anise (S/T)

• Borage (S)

• Chamomile (T)

• Chives (T)

• Dill (S/T)

• Fennel (S/T)

• Lemon Balm (S/T)

• Parsley (S/T)

• Sage (S/T)

• Stevia (S/T)

• Bay Laurel (T)

• Mint (T)

• Oregano (S/T)

• Rosemary (S/T)

• Tarragon (S/T)

• Thyme (S/T)

• Dill (S/T)

• Cilantro (S)

• Nasturtium (S/T)

Flowers

Cool-Season Flowers

• Alyssum (T)

• Borage (S)

• Calendula (T)

• Dianthus (T)

• Gazania (T)

• Geranium (T)

• Lobelia (T)

• Nasturtium (S/T)

• Petunia (T)

• Rudbeckia (S/T)

• Verbena (T)

• Yarrow (T)

Warm-Season Flowers

• Ageratum (S/T)

• Amaranthus (S/T)

• Celosia (S/T)

• Cosmos (S/T)

• Dahlia (seeds/tubers/T)

• Gomphrena (S/T)

• Marigold (S/T)

• Nicotiana (S/T)

• Salvia (S/T)

• Sunflower (S/T)

• Zinnia (S/T)

March Garden Tips

• Regularly check plants to see if they need more or less water.

• Utilize shade clothes to help extend the season for cool-season crops.

• Know your hardiness zone and check your local planting guide to find out what and when the best time to plant for your zone and climate is. I often refer to UF’s Florida Growing Calendar for Florida growing guides.

• If you live in other zone 9 regions be sure to get familiar with your particular climate as growing conditions can vary slightly by location. I go a little more in depth on this is my previous post A Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Garden in 7 Simple Steps.

Happy Planting!

There you have it, a list of garden tasks that you should complete in the month of March as well as a list of vegetable, herb and flowers that you can plant now! I hope that this post inspired you and if you found this information valuable please share the love by sharing or pinning this post! Also, feel free to leave any questions or suggestions in the comments below! Happy planting!

Related Blog Posts