Now that March is here the real work in your garden can begin. This month your garden comes alive with the end of snow and sleet, and the coming of warm weather. 

Early spring is the perfect time to get annual and vegetable seeds started indoors. Veggies—such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, melons, zucchini, basil, and other herbs—should be started early so they are well established by the time warm weather arrives. These vegetables tend to do best when you sow seeds indoors in pots rather than straight into the ground once it gets warmer. Once started they are easy to grow. Just give them lots of sun and water. Some plants don’t need to be started indoors. Asparagus roots, for example, are something that you should plant bare-root once the last frost date has passed, around mid-April.

Early potatoes can be planted from early March through April. These plants can tolerate a light frost but not a hard freeze, so mulch them to protect from the extreme cold if a late-season blast of cool weather should come up. Potatoes are cool-season vegetables and do best with temps below 80 degrees, so planting them in March gives you a nice head start. 

Broad beans and brussels sprouts take around 90 days to mature. Planting in March gives them a good head start. Brussels sprouts in particular benefit from maturing in cooler and even frosty weather. Leafy greens also prefer cooler weather, so as soon as the threat of a hard frost has passed, they should be planted in the ground. 

March is also a great time to plant fruit trees. Once the ground has thawed enough to dig a hole you’re safe to plant the tree. Don’t forget to water it well to help it settle into its new spot and you’ll have fruit in coming years.