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March Gardening Tips
March can be a
busy month for gardening, or it can be a better month for skiing, or leaving
Seattle to go someplace where the sun shines.
If you decide to stay, what you do
really depends on what the weather is doing. If things are dry and not too
cold it is a good time to turn over the soil in your vegetable beds and add
mulch.
Cold weather crops such as peas,
broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, and carrots can be put out. Start the
seeds indoors or in a greenhouse, or get starts at the nursery.
March is a good time to clean up dead
vegetation, pull winter weeds, and fertilize, lime, and mow lawns.
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There is a new weed
killer available with a favorable environmental profile, and works during colder
weather (although slowly). It is called Finale, and contains an
amino acid (biodegradable) that causes the weed to be unable to rid itself of
metabolic by-products (wastes). The plant slowly poisons itself, as if
it's liver quit working. The Finale breaks down in the soil quickly.
It is similar to Roundup.
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March is the ideal
month to plant a new lawn, or reseed bare spots. Growing grass seed
is easy if you know the trick - constant moisture. Where most people go
wrong is letting the seed dry out for a day. Once the seed is watered, it
swells and breaks out of the seed coat making a "sprout". If the sprout
dries out it dies very quickly - so once you plant the seed, never let it dry
out! It really requires that it be moist 24 hours a day until you see that
it is rooted well enough to get some water from the soil.
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You had better get
the moss off of your roof before it ruins it. If you let it go, it
really breaks down the roofing material, shortening the life of your roof by as
much as 75%. At $5,000 or more for a roof it is worth it to hire someone
to clean it, or you can get on the ladder and do it yourself. First kill
the moss with one of the many moss killers containing zinc, either liquid or dry
formulations. Wait a few weeks for the moss to die, and pick a day after a
dry spell to brush it off. It comes off fairly easily if it is dead and
dry. The same cannot be said for lush green moist living moss! Be as
gentle as possible with your roof - you do not want to dislodge much of the
"sand" coating of a composition roof. NEVER use a pressure washer on
roofing materials - it will ruin them.
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