Read the following article to find out what can be sown and planted for the balcony in March and what tasks need to be done.
Seeds can be sown in March:
- early lettuce May King
- Asian salads can be sown indoors in pre-cultivation, but can also be sown outdoors in balcony boxes from mid-February, Asian salad mix as a simple seed disc
- Batavia lettuce “American brown” (particularly suitable for baby leaf cultivation)
- Tomatoes (preculture). Recommended varieties for the balcony: pole tomato (Sunviva, Green Zebra) Cocktail tomato (Ruthje, Siberian pear, Fredi, Yello Submarine, Vesennij Mieurinskij), bush tomato/balcony tomato (Little Red Riding Hood, Pauline, Balcony starling), hanging tomato (Tumbling Tom Red), wild tomato (Golden Currant, Red marble)
- Basil (preculture)
- Parsley
- Radishrecommendations for the tub: Sora, Rudi, Icicle, French Breakfast2
- PeaRecommendation Sweet pea Ambrosiapigeon pea Miracle of Kelvedonpurple-flowering sweet pea with blue pods Blauwschokker
- Kohlrabiblue recommendation: Blaro, Azur Starwhite: Orinoco
- SpinachRecommendation Verdil, Thorin, Butterfly
- Topinambur stick — simply a single tuber from the organic market in a bucket-sized bucket or larger
- Cultivation of Microgreens and sprouts on the kitchen table and windowsill
On the (deviating) sowing dates
Just as the information on the seed packets and seed suppliers’ websites varies, so do the sowing calendars of seed suppliers and gardeners’ websites. Regional conditions are different everywhere and experiences vary. Our balconies in the cities have even more different conditions due to the heat of the city and radiating house walls. Here too, it is important to COURAGEOUSLY, PLAYFULLY and EXPERIMENTALLY gather your own experience and SEED. The seed itself ultimately decides after sowing whether the conditions of light, water and temperature appear favorable for germination or not until later.
Good information on sowing dates and conditions at:
- Bingenheim seeds, special page Current seeds in March — what can I sow now?
- Janet Glausch Natural garden seeds from Leipzig Special page — What can I sow now in March?
- Borago — Sowing March
- Templin herb garden
Potatoes
Potatoes can be pre-germinated for sowing. In warmer regions, they can be planted outside if the tender shoots are protected from frost with a cloche or fleece.
Great wild plants with beautiful, insect-friendly flowers can be sown on the balcony in February (until June):
I have marked my favorite proven wild plants for containers in bold. Location, flowering period, flowering color, size/height/spacing, perennial/biennial or annual, information on sowing, germination period, use/edibility and which animals use them (1TP5 animal plants) can be found in the link.
Yellow flowers:
- Common toadflax
- Sweet clover
- Black mullein
- Magnificent mullein
- Large-flowered mullein
- Usury flower
- St. John’s wort
- Common piglet weed
- Dyer’s dog chamomile
Blue and purple flowers:
- Persistent flax
- Common chicory
- Common viper’s bugloss
- Forest forget-me-not
- Long-leaved speedwell
- Grand Prize of Honor
- Gamander speedwell
- Speedwell
- Round-leaved bellflower
- Peach-leaved bellflower
- Nettle-leaved bellflower
- Field bellflower
- Large-flowered brown allium
- Common brown allium
Pink and red flowers:
- Red campion
- Mauritanian mallow
- Night violet
- Carnation cinquefoil
- Ruprecht’s weed
- Carthusian pink
- Nodding thistle
- Tufted carnation
- Common loosestrife
- Meadow widow flower
- Meadow foamwort
- Common water azalea
- Red clover
- Seed sparrow
- Pitch carnation
- Meadow knapweed
- Corn cockle
- True motherwort
White flowers:
- Meadow yarrow
- Meadow daisy
- Middle plantain
- White sweet clover
- Pointed plantain
- Greater sorrel
- Feverfew
- Spoonwort
- White campion
- Nodding cinquefoil
- Common cuckoo flower
- Real catnip
- Roman chamomile
- True chamomile
- Common shepherd’s purse
- Daisies
- True marshmallow
- Wild carrot
Seed-resistant insect-friendly herbs for pre-cultivation from February/March
- Lemon tagetes
- Lemon basil
- Cinnamon basil
- Lettuce leaf basil
- Red basil
- Genovese basil
- Small meadow button
- Genuine thyme
- Wild rocket
- Wild oregano
- True fennel
- Chives
- Curly parsley
- Flat-leaf parsley
- Genuine coriander
- Curly chervil
- Genuine chervil
- Red garden milkweed
- Green garden melilot
- Yellow garden mint
- Dill
Planting and caring for fruit trees and shrubs
New shrubs can be planted during the dormant period until they sprout (early February to mid-May), container plants all year round. Aronia berry, rock pear, cornelian cherry and cherry are particularly suitable for use in containers. Columnar apple trees Proven. The best way to buy fruit trees is bare root from a professional fruit nursery. They can advise you on the variety that is suitable for your climate and cultivation in large containers. Variety and rootstock/rootstock (slow-growing) make a big difference to success. Our experts Conrad Amber and Dr. Sonja Schwingesbauer presented ourselves for the 6th Online Organic Balcony Congress March 2021 Can you plant animals? lists of which woody plants are suitable for the extreme balcony location. In September 2024, the Organic Balcony Congress was dedicated to Shrubs in tubs. A List with 105 woody plantswhich have proven themselves in pot cultivation.
Strawberries planted now as an underplanting will not bear abundantly in the first year, but will do so the following year. Monthly strawberries or continuously bearing strawberries are great (Mara des Bois). The existing soft fruit with Worm humus or compost or mulch with horn shavings or Sheep’s wool pellets fertilize as a slow-release fertilizer.
Here is a good source for bare-rooted shrubs in Demeter qualitythere can never be enough berries (with discount code Organic balcony10 save 10 % on every purchase)
Herb balcony
Perennial herbs such as mint, lemon balm, chives or lovage can still be divided in April. To do this, cut the root balls into several pieces and replant them individually.
Order organic dahlias
The dahlia tubers are brought out of hibernation. Place them in pots with a good substrate and forge ahead at around 15 degrees. They can be placed outside from mid-May. Only Dahlias with unfilled flowers benefit the insects (use the discount code biobalkon25).
Harvest in March
As the days get warmer and longer, you will notice that the plants start to make a growth spurt. They can be harvested towards the end of the month: In addition to leafy vegetables such as Swiss chard, kale, spoon cabbage, winter cress, chopped garlic, chopped celery and Asian salads, the frost-hardy culinary herbs rosemary and sage can also be harvested. If you have planted Jerusalem artichokes, you can dig them up now and leave a tuber in the pot for the next season. From our native wild plants sorrel, mugwort, Dandelion, goutweed and nettles young shoot tips can be harvested.
Want to know more about growing the three most important edible wild plants? Their vital substance density is so much better than that of common salads. They are also Dandelion, goutweed and nettles They grow vigorously, they sprout again and again, we can harvest young shoot tips again and again.
Keep your feet still, don’t cut anything down
As is the case throughout the fall and winter, leave dead stems standing because they are important habitats for insects. So keep your feet still and look forward to the season! People used to clean all their pots at this time of year. But that’s not necessary, it was probably mainly to keep gardeners busy in winter.
Winter protection — tidying up?
To protect our insects, wait with the tidying up, with the pruning, delay it, they still need their winter quarters. Please leave it “untidy”, even if the sun is shining beautifully and the early bloomers are already peeking out and starting to blossom. It is often still too early to cut them back. The fresh green of the perennials can be clearly seen. Store the cut stems and foliage as loosely and airily as possible in a SUNNY PLACE for about 5 days so that the insects can crawl out. Here, biologist Elke Schwarzer talks about overwintering guests and when to prune.
Sources of supply
Our Green card with non-toxic organic (producing) nurseries and organic balconies
600 varieties of seed-resistant organic seed
Discounts and recommendations for the organic balcony movement
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One Response
I’ve only just got a balcony and I’m thinking about what I want to plant. Basil, oregano and other herbs in any case, I got two flowers yesterday. I also want strawberries. I’m taking part in the online congress! I’m already looking forward to it. Best wishes!
Miriam