TIPS FOR GARDENING IN MARCH

• Plant bare rooted hedging now, spring growth is on the way.
• On dry days cultivate areas for planting.
• Finish pruning fruit trees and bushes.
• Cut the lawn at a high level.
• Begin treatment for moss, use Osmo, your lawn won’t go black and you won’t have to rake it out.
• Repot and feed houseplants that have been resting all winter.

High up in the Himalayas in one of the remotest places on earth there is a valley that stretches for hundreds of miles, this valley is inhabited by a nomadic people, nothing strange about that you might say, what is remarkable is the fact that these people have never seen a tree as no trees grow at high altitude. There are no trains, planes or roads so these people don’t travel the great distances that we take for granted.  Apart from anything else just imagine a world without trees.  For starters, the world as we know it wouldn’t exist as trees are the lungs of mother earth.  From a practical point of view, we have used the timber produced by trees in every conceivable way and of course, the fruit produced by trees is part of our natural diet and many of our medicines are derived from trees.  After all that, most people nowadays who plant trees plant them for less commercial reasons, the beauty of their flowers, leaf colour and shape, the texture and colour of their bark. 

Trees give us protection in winter and shade in summer, trees add a beauty to any landscape be it urban or rural and there are so many to choose from with new or unusual varieties becoming available every year.  There are trees to suit all locations , all soil types, they come in all shapes and sizes, most are very easy to grow and you can buy a seedling tree for as little as a euro.  Not that long ago our forefathers undertook perilous journeys to far-flung corners of the earth, returning with many of the species we know today.  These great adventures nowadays are for the very few but you can create your own mini-adventure this Plant a Tree Week by getting out to your local garden centre, choosing a tree that will add beauty to your home and maybe find out where the tree originated, perhaps its origins are in Tibet, china or south America or it could have good Irish sap running through its veins.