Although the calendar may say spring , here in the north res publica , March only suggest at the strong weather condition to amount . For gardeners this can be a frustrating month with late season snow , fluctuating temperatures , and mud limiting out-of-door action .
One means to shorten the waiting period until the horticulture season is to pull branches of spring flower shrubs like forsythia , snatch willow , hawthorn , honeysuckle , orchard apple tree , and crabapple .
To do this , cut down the branches on a sharp slant . Make a slit in the end of each branch . Scrape off the outer bark of branches an in or more in diameter , to allow faster water absorption . Then place in lovesome piddle . For in force results , change the water daily .
Or attend a flower or garden show . The Vermont Flower Show is at the Sheraton Inn and Conference Center , S. Burlington , March 1 to 3 . Or head over to Portland , Maine , March 14 to17 . The Portland Flower Show will be held at the Portland Company Complex on the waterfront ( www.portlandflowershow.com ; 207 - 775 - 4403 ) .
The New England Spring Flower Show , the with child in the part , will run from March 16 to 24 at Bayside Expo and Conference Center in Boston . The theme for this year ’s show is “ Shades of Spring . ” For more information , log onto www.masshort.org or call ( 617 ) 536 - 9280 . Many tour ship’s company offer day or overnight trips to Boston for this upshot .
The eighth yearly Breath of Spring Flower Show is scheduled for March 22 to 24 at the Cheshire Ice Arena in Swanzey , N.H. , just outside of Keene . you’re able to learn more about this show by send for ( 603 ) 255 - 6335 , ext . 159 , or at www.hcsservices.org ( press “ Flower Show ” )
Celebrate March ’s holiday , start with St. Patrick ’s daytime on the 17th . purchase a shamrock flora ( Oxalis acetosella ) or a big bouquet of immature and white carnations for yourself or a friend . flush in the pastel chain of mountains make an idealistic centerpiece to celebrate the arrival of spring . Or fill a vase with tulips , Narcissus pseudonarcissus , and hyacinths , all popular spring flowers .
For Easter , which is March 31 this twelvemonth , purchase an Easter lily . When buy a lily , look for a plant with many unopened bud and leaves all the way down the stem . take a well - proportioned flora , one that ’s about two clip as high as the dope . Be certain to inspect the flora for signs of insect plague and disease . Or if you favor , choose something a scrap more unusual like white azaleas or an Easter cactus , or perhaps a pot of Narcissus pseudonarcissus or tulips .
If you have a few sugar maple trees in your backyard , draft the help of your family to make your own maple sirup . But because it takes between 30 and 40 gallons of sap to bring out one gallon of syrup , do n’t expect a in high spirits fruit . In an medium year you ’ll get three to four pints of sirup per tap .
Larry Myott , the University of Vermont Extension maple specialist , recommends using one hydrant for tree diagram up to 14 inches in diameter , two taps for larger tree . With a bit - stock with a 7/16th column inch Ellen Price Wood second , practice holes for the spouts . Make holes about two and one half column inch deep , aimed slenderly upwardly to reserve the sap to run out out .
The sap will menstruate when night are cool and daytime temperatures reach at least 40 degrees F. When you ’ve collect enough to boil , set up a hot home plate or stove in a service department , on the back porch , or in the backyard . Boiling sap on the kitchen kitchen stove is not recommended as the steam may untie the wallpaper or rouge or stain ceilings or walls .
You will need a big pan for boiling and a gravimeter or confect thermometer to make up one’s mind when the sirup has attain the desired temperature of 219 degrees F. Filter the live sirup through filter textile or several layer of cheesecloth into sterilized canning jarful . stamp , nerveless , and store in the deep-freeze or other nerveless locating . Maple sirup stored in the freezer does not stop dead , only thickens . Once you enter the container , keep it in the icebox to forestall mold and keep the smell .
For more data on backyard sugaring , call in http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmaple/mapleinfo.htm
This sugaring season , attend a sugar - on - Charles Percy Snow party or confabulate a sugarhouse . Many sugarmakers welcome visitors . get in touch with the Vermont Department of Agriculture , Food and Markets at ( 802 ) 828 - 2437 and ask for a written matter of the free folder , “ Vermont Maple Sugarhouses Open to the Public . ”
Or plan to serve the Vermont Maple Open House Weekend , March 22 , 23 and 24 , the first weekend of spring . About 100 sugarmakers will hold an open house at their sugarhouses with exceptional activities schedule for that Saturday and Sunday . Fora tilt of overt houses and consummate details go to www.vermontmaple.org
Early leaping , before the bud open , is a good clock time to assure insects on trees and shrubs with abeyant nebuliser . Apply these oil solutions to the branches to suffocate insects and their testis . Spray as a fine mist and only on a sunny Clarence Day with no flatus when temperatures are above 40 degrees F.
apply dormant oils on apple and pear trees to efficaciously operate mealybugs , aphids , and mites . On cosmetic planting , use lower engrossment of oil colour as recommend on the computer software label . Some plants , such as the Colorado blue angel spruce , should not be sprayed as abeyant oils will dispatch the waxy , blue protective coat on the needle . Always read the product recording label cautiously for right use and any precautions .
Other activeness for March : start petunias , leeks , onions , and other slow starters in former March , cabbages , Cole crop , tomato , and marigolds at the end of the calendar month ; prune to shape fruit trees before buds open ; turn the compost pile .
MAKING MAPLE SYRUP AND OTHER MARCH GARDENING TIPS
By Dr. Leonard Perry and Lisa Halvorsen n Extension Nursery and Greenhouse Crops Specialist University of Vermont
