How do I identify wild garlic safely?

Crush a leaf: it must smell strongly of garlic. Broad, soft, pointed leaves rising individually from the ground. Lords-and-ladies grows alongside it and has no smell.

When can I tap birch sap?

For about two weeks around the spring equinox, before the leaves open. Drill shallowly, take a litre or two from a mature tree, and plug the hole afterwards.

What's in season in March in the southern hemisphere?

Autumn produce — apples, pears, late grapes, walnuts and pine mushrooms, with garlic going into the ground.

Season guide

What's in season in March, around the world

March. First green, wild garlic and the equinox in the north; harvest's end, apples and the autumn equinox in the south.

March at a glance

Climate band	Ripe now	Being foraged	Going in the ground
Northern temperate40–60°N	Purple sprouting broccoli, rhubarb, spring greens	Wild garlic, nettles, morels, birch sap	Potatoes, carrots, parsnips, peas
Mediterranean & warm temperate30–40°N/S	Artichokes, citrus, broad beans	Wild asparagus, morels, mallow	Tomatoes, courgettes, beans
Southern temperate30–50°S	Apples, pears, late grapes, walnuts	Rosehips, elderberries, pine mushrooms	Garlic, broad beans, winter salads
Tropical & subtropical0–25°N/S	Mango peak, banana, cashew fruit	Wild greens, honey	Root crops

In the north

First green. Wild garlic carpets the woodland floor, nettles are still tender, and morels come up on disturbed ground and old orchard edges for anyone patient enough to look.

Birch sap runs for a fortnight around the equinox — tap it, drink it fresh or reduce it, and plug the hole afterwards. It is the most seasonal thing you will ever taste, because it is only itself for two weeks.

In the ground it is the busiest sowing month of the northern year: potatoes traditionally on St Patrick's Day in Ireland, carrots, parsnips, peas, and the first outdoor salads.

What's in season in Ireland in March

In the south

The mirror of the north's September. Harvest is ending in the southern temperate band — the last grapes in, apples and pears coming off, walnuts on the ground.

The autumn equinox falls here in March, and gardeners are putting in garlic and broad beans as the north lifts its seed potatoes. In the tropics mango hits its peak across India and Southeast Asia.

Marked days

Nowruz
Iran and across Central Asia, spring equinox
The Persian new year. The haft-sin table is built around sabzeh — wheat or lentils sprouted in the weeks beforehand — which makes it a growing ritual as much as a meal.
Holi
India
Spring, colour, and the end of the winter crops.
St Patrick's Day
Ireland, 17 March
The traditional day to put the potatoes in the ground, and still the date most Irish gardeners work to.
Ume blossom
Japan
Plum before cherry, and the real start of the blossom year.

From the community

No entries for March yet — yours would be the first.

Tell us what's ripe where you are, and what your place does with it.

Find somewhere near you

3 places on the map are in season in March.

Douro Wild Olive & Almond Slopes
Wild almonds & olives · Pinhão, Douro Valley, Portugal
Batlow Mountain Apples
Pink Lady apples · Batlow, New South Wales, Australia
Hawke's Bay Stone Fruit Trail
Peaches & nectarines · Hastings, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand

Open the map

This month in the Harvest Club

March's Gathering is First Green — seed sowing, container growing, and wild garlic.

Join the club →

Questions

How do I identify wild garlic safely?: Crush a leaf: it must smell strongly of garlic. Broad, soft, pointed leaves rising individually from the ground. Lords-and-ladies grows alongside it and has no smell.
When can I tap birch sap?: For about two weeks around the spring equinox, before the leaves open. Drill shallowly, take a litre or two from a mature tree, and plug the hole afterwards.
What's in season in March in the southern hemisphere?: Autumn produce — apples, pears, late grapes, walnuts and pine mushrooms, with garlic going into the ground.