We got 4” of snow on Friday, and by Sunday, the weather was warm, sunny, and 58 degrees F. Dare I say that it feels like spring?! More accurately, we are in the midst of a Fool’s Spring—we do live in Wyoming, after all. Aside from these nearly 60 degree days we have been enjoying, there have been other signs of spring. The skunks have started to stink things up again, song sparrows are rehearsing their songs, the red-winged blackbirds have returned loud & proud as ever, and the American Goldfinches are sloughing off their bronze feather-tips, revealing bright shades of yellow.
There will, however, be more snow and many more frosty nights. So I can’t run out to my garden and plant ALL THE THINGS just yet! Well actually, I am planting ALL THE THINGS, just indoors.
March Madness for the Gardener
This time of year, you can find me in my grow room, participating in my own sort of March Madness. I am usually found sowing seeds and betting my money on which plants will perform the best and produce first. Most of the things are still months from being transplanted outside, but the garden dreaming, seed sowing, potting up, and so forth, all satisfy my itchy green fingers and spring fever this time of year. Especially on those rare, stormy days that remind me that it’s still winter out—and will be, in my neck of the woods, until around the last week of May.
So for me, my March Madness Bracket is more like a chart full of Planting Dates and Varieties. And today, I thought I’d share with you, my Final Four. Please comment below and let me know what your Final Four are—do any of yours match mine?
My Final Four for 2020
Tomatoes
For obvious reasons, tomatoes have made my March Madness Final Four, year after year. I love growing several varieties in a wide array of sizes & colors and, while I start the seeds extra early in February, usually by March we have a frenzy of tomato seedlings to separate and pot up. Some of this year’s varieties include: Pink & Yellow Brandywine, Mrs. Maxwell’s, Soldacki, Dr. Wyche’s, Cuostralee, Kellogg’s Breakfast, Great White, Marianna’s Peace, Lucid Gem, Green Zebra, Juliet, Blush, Sun Peach, and of course, my all time favorite, Sun Gold. I also have a dozen dwarf tomatoes, absolutely thriving, under their fluorescent sunshine. The Dwarf Tomato Project has become the subject of particular interest for me over the past couple of years, and I’m excited to see how this year’s plants fare.
Salvias
I discovered the wonderful world of salvias, or sages, back when I lived in California and met my spark bird—the bird that turned me into a big bird nerd—the Anna’s Hummingbird. I fell so deeply in love with hummingbirds that I started growing any flower that would supposedly be loved by them, especially salvias. As the years have passed, I have found so many more ornamental sage varieties available in garden centers, and I have also discovered many varieties which can easily be grown from seed. For low-maintenance, summer-long color, these are some of the sages I try to sow each March:
Blue Monday & Pink Sunday Sages
Summer Jewel Salvias
Victoria White & Victoria Blue Salvias
This March, I am also trying two new sages from seed:
Blue Angel Sage (Salvia patens)—green, bushy plants push spires of true, royal blue, hooded, tubular flowers
Silver Sage (Salvia argentea)—I am actually growing this biennial for it’s gorgeous, silvery, fuzzy foliage. It sends up spires of white flowers in it’s second year, but depending on how much I love the foliage, I might cut the flower stalks so it can perennialize in my garden.
Milkweed
Planting Milkweed for Monarchs is more than just a passing trend—it is here to stay, and rightfully so! I actually find the milkweed plants to have ornamental value, in that they are very pretty, and I love that they are low-maintenance, native, pollinator magnets. In addition to winter sowing some Asclepias (Milkweed) varieties, this year I am trying something a little different for March Madness. I was walking along the river a couple weeks ago, and noticed a stand of several fallen milkweed stalks with seed pods. It occurred to me that this native milkweed—I’m thinking it’s Showy Milkweed—would probably grow better in my Gusty Garden than most, as it’s already acclimated to our hellacious winds and alkaline soils. So I really scrounged around and managed to collect maybe a dozen seeds remaining in the already burst seed pods. I got them home and decided to see if any would grow without putting them through a separate cold stratification period—after all, they have been outside all winter. And would you believe that I had sprouts in less than 10 days!? So of course, I am most excited to see how my Native Milkweeds grow this year.
Broccoli
Last but not least, I can’t forget my beloved broccoli. I actually love eating broccoli and I also love that I can plant it out in the garden practically a month before I can plant out anything else. Broccoli is very cold-hardy and can easily weather a few frosts. I’ve tried a few different varieties of Broccoli throughout the years, and have had the most substantial heads and success with ‘Arcadia’. So this year, I will be planting two small successions of ‘Arcadia’ broccoli, starting at the end of March.
So there you have it—my Final Four bracket for this year’s garden. The madness has already begun! Of course, aside from sowing seeds, there are some other garden chores that take place in my Zone 5 garden each March. This is the month that I plant spring & summer bulbs, bare roots, and tubers, if the ground is thawed and workable, like Lilies, Peonies, or Bleeding Hearts. This is the month that I begin cutting back old perennials and berry canes, if necessary, and doing general garden cleanup. March is still too soon for planting peas out here, but if all goes well in March, I can sow them in April. March brings forth the first crocus blooms, the tip-tops of Tulips & Daffodils, and the first swelling tree buds of spring. And on those gorgeous, calm, 60 degree days in March, I can march my trays of seedlings out for some real sunshine—but not for too long, or they’ll burn!
Wherever you are, Happy March Madness! And may the luck of the Irish be with you [and me] this gardening year!