Gardening This Weekend: March 19, 2026
You’ve heard of “turning on a dime.” Gardeners are going to have to do that this weekend. We go from the cold weather of winter to the onset of summer all in the same calendar week. Those gardeners who falter will fall by the wayside. Here are your critical tasks as we slide toward the end of March.
PLANT
• Warm-season vegetables in all but the Panhandle. (Wait another week or two there.) That would include tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, squash, corn, melons, and peppers.
• Warm-season annual color in all but the Panhandle, including zinnias, marigolds, coleus, begonias, fanflowers, angelonias, pentas, and others, but wait to plant those types that need really hot weather to thrive. That shorter list includes lantanas, caladiums, hybrid purslane, moss rose, and vinca.
• Nursery stock. Garden centers are well stocked and ready. Buy from local independent retail garden centers where you can get help from Texas Certified Nursery Professionals who know local conditions and the plants that will grow best for you.
• Sod, including St. Augustine, bermuda, and zoysia. Wait to seed bermuda for another month to allow soil to warm.
PRUNE
• Mow lawn regularly to keep rank weeds in check. They will usually disappear after one or two mowings.
• Spring-flowering shrubs and vines as needed to reshape them. Do so immediately after they finish blooming so you can take advantage of all this year’s new growth. Maintain their natural growth forms – avoid pruning into globes or cubes.
• Do not prune oaks during spring to minimize spread of oak wilt fungus. In emergency situations, seal all cut surfaces immediately with paint or pruning sealant. That’s actually good practice with any oak pruning done at any time. Some cities in oak wilt zones require it.
FERTILIZE
• Patio pots and hanging baskets with water-soluble, high-nitrogen fertilizer each time that you water them. Incorporate an encapsulated, timed-release fertilizer with the potting soil for sustained feeding.
• Almost all your plantings with high-nitrogen or all-nitrogen fertilizer unless directed otherwise by a recent soil test. Choose a plant food that has 30 to 40 percent of that nitrogen in slow-release form.
• Vegetables with same high-nitrogen fertilizer once plants are growing vigorously. Sideband along rows, then water thoroughly. Repeat every 3-4 weeks.
ON THE LOOKOUT
• Aphids on tender new growth of annuals, perennials, shrubs and vegetables. Wash them off with a hard stream of water or apply a labeled insecticide.
• Snails and slugs devouring tender new growth of annual flowers, vegetables. Apply Sevin dust or baits to soil and onto plants. Remove hiding places such as fallen leaves.
• Broadleafed weed growth (clover, dandelions, chickweed, dichondra, dollarweed, and others) will resume now that temperatures have warmed once again. Apply a weedkiller containing 2,4-D. Read and follow label directions carefully for best results.