Gardening column: March 2025

March is a month of digging and sowing and a time to get busy preparing seed beds, cutting back winter shrubs and generally tidying up.

In addition to getting vegetable and flower seeds started in the greenhouse or undercover, you can also sow hardy seeds outside into their final positions depending on where you live in the UK.

Your garden’s climatic conditions will affect when you sow and plant out. In the south that’s going to be March, but the further north you live it will be early or even late April, dependent on frost.

Leaving behind the slightly subdued colours of winter, March brings a pop of colour to the garden, and a smile to the face, as spring bulbs burst into bloom.

There are carpets of crocuses, masses of golden daffodils and, as the month progresses, the first jewel-like tulips start to appear.

Some daffodils might be coming to the end of their flowering period, in which case a bit of deadheading will keep bulbs healthy and if you let the leaves yellow and wither naturally, they will return nutrients to the bulb.

If the weather turns dry, daffodils will benefit from watering, and if they are growing in pots, feed weekly with a potassium-rich fertiliser such as tomato feed.

Favourite varieties include Narcissus ‘February Gold’ that has early bright-yellow flowers in February; Narcissus ‘Fragrant Rose’ with a scented, soft pink daffodil flower that appears in April; and Narcissus ‘Tete-a-Tete’ the much loved miniature with bright yellow trumpet flowers that show in March and April.

Another colourful addition, albeit more subtle, is bronze fennel. Unlike standard Florence fennel, bronze fennel – Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’– will not form a bulb, but with its aromatic fern-like bronzed foliage, pretty small yellow flowers and slightly aniseed scent it is a magnet for pollinators such as bees and butterflies.

This plant ticks all the boxes for a garden all-rounder. It’s edible and a fast grower and pops up in spring after dying back in winter reaching a height and spread of around 2m x 1m. It can sit happily among the thyme and rosemary in a sunny herb garden, or be planted in an ornamental border.

The seeds, which can be used in cooking and infusions, should be removed as they turn brown and then dried.

Fennel tea is traditionally used to support digestion helping with many common complaints such as bloating and discomfort. It can also help to calm tension elsewhere in the body.