Newsletter – March 2026
Hello, Customer
Gardening in the cooler weather is a pleasure! If you do your tidying, planting, and sowing now, your seedlings will establish themselves before the cold arrives, ensuring a beautiful winter show.
🌹 Autumn Rose Care
As daytime temperatures drop, expect the best quality roses of the season with brilliant colors. If winter stays at bay, you can have roses well into April and May.
- Planting: Now is the perfect time to plant new rose bushes so they are well-established by spring.
- Feeding: Shorter days signal roses to store energy. Feed regularly now, but in very cold areas, stop by mid-March to harden them off.
- Watering: Lower temperatures mean less evaporation. You can reduce watering, but ensure the soil remains moist.
🌱 Preparing Garden Beds
Dig beds about 30cm deep. Work in plenty of compost and a general-purpose fertilizer like 2:3:2 (one handful per m²), plus a generous dressing of bone meal.
“Prick out” seedlings sowed in February into trays and feed with Multifeed N (6:1:5). Don’t forget to thin out seedlings sown directly into beds!
🌷 Winter & Spring Bulbs
Daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths are arriving in stores! Buy them early and store them in a dry, dark, cool place until the soil cools down next month.
Consider gorgeous indigenous bulbs such as: Babiana, Freesias, Sparaxis, Tritonia, Ixias, Gladioli, Ornithogalum, and Lachenalias.
🌼 Winter Seedlings
It is time to plant: Iceland poppies, pansies, violas, calendulas, snapdragons, foxgloves, cornflowers, lupins, and more.
Pro Tip: Avoid planting the same seedlings in the same beds year after year (especially pansies and petunias) to prevent soil-borne diseases and nutrient depletion.
🍠Sweet Pea Secrets
If your sweet peas are growing vigorously, cut off some tendrils to encourage larger blooms. If you haven’t sown yet, soak seeds in warm water overnight first. Plant 15cm to 20cm apart and protect young shoots from birds with netting.
Kind Regards / Groete
Pick-Me Nursery Online Team
Mobile / Whatsapp: 076-562-4650
Email: info@pickmenursery.co.za