It might not be time yet to plant in your region, but there's still a lot of preparation that can be done in March.
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00:00Well, it is the time of year that we're starting to see those flowers emerge from the ground
00:06after winter.
00:07We're not quite into spring yet, but it's starting to look and feel like spring, right?
00:11And some of you might be preparing your own gardens at home.
00:14Maybe you're going to plant some new flowers, other plants as we get towards the spring
00:18season.
00:19A couple things to keep in mind now is really when you can be doing that prep work, right?
00:23So some of these things that you can do, look at your USDA plant hardiness zone.
00:27We're going to get to that in a second.
00:29But first there's other prep work you can do.
00:31You can order your seeds, clean your garden beds, do all of that kind of prep, deciding
00:35where your garden is going to be.
00:36Of course, location is important and knowing what plants you want in what location.
00:42That is going to be a key element as well.
00:44You can prepare the mulch, all of those types of things.
00:48Now let's talk about what types of plants you should be looking for.
00:52This is a map of the USDA gardening zones.
00:55Each color on the map indicates a zone and the goal is to give gardeners an idea of which
00:59perennial plants are most likely to thrive in different areas of the country.
01:04The zones are determined based on the average annual low temperatures during the winter.
01:09Now these do not include record challenging lows, but rather the historical averages that
01:14you hear us talk about sometimes.
01:15Now I'll give you an example.
01:17So category 6 here, that is in the 0 to 10 degrees below zero category.
01:25The USDA has an interactive version of this map on their website.
01:28You can even put in your zip code to get the most precise information.
01:32And when you go to buy the plants, many seed packets actually have the USDA zones listed
01:37on the packaging to help you know which plants you should be buying.
01:41And there are, of course, other factors that are important.
01:43Light, some plants need more sunlight than others, soil moisture, temperature, all things
01:48that you should be looking at when you're choosing your plants.