09:25 - 22 February 2010
As the days start to get longer, it’s a signal for garden plants to emerge from their slumber and wonderful signs of spring can start to be seen all around the garden. Early spring bulbs are starting to push through the cold dark soil and the buds on early trees and shrubs are starting to swell and burst. The garden is coming alive and its time for gardeners to get started.
Check all your trees, roses and other shrubs for signs of winter damage. The recent snowfall may have caused all sorts of damage. Prune out any broken stems and branches, using sharp secateurs or loppers, taking great care to leave a clean, smooth wound. Adjust any loose tree ties and tie in any growth that is being rocked by wind and rain.
Top up mulches around your trees, shrubs and roses and firm in any that are newly planted and may have been lifted by the heavy frost and cold weather.
Tidy up and remove any dead leaves from around the base of your shrubs and roses, especially if the plants have been affected by fungal problems. Black spot in particular will over winter on dead leaves and be ready to infect your plants when the weather turns in spring.
Buy some suitable fertiliser for roses, trees and shrubs so that you are ready to apply it next month.
Feed fruit trees and bushes with a controlled release fertiliser to start them into growth. These high tech plant foods are designed to release fertiliser to your plants when the growing conditions are right. When the weather is cold and the plants are growing slowly, the granules trickle feed tiny amounts of feed to the plants. But as the weather warms and the plants are encouraged to grow more vigorously the granules release larger amounts of nutrients to support this surge in growth. If you garden organically then choose a pelleted chicken manure, preferably sourced from free-range hens.
Warm the soil in the vegetable garden before you start sowing seeds, ideally for two weeks using cloches or black polythene and then sow broad bean seeds and peas into shallow trenches filled with a quality compost. Cover over with cloches and protect from slugs using your preferred method. Early summer cabbage, radish, turnips and leeks can also be sown under cloches in late February.
Sow lettuce in pots of fresh, quality seed compost in a frost-free greenhouse or on a windowsill.
Sow greenhouse tomato seeds in a heated propagator for an early indoor crop.
Sow nasturtiums, alyssum, clarkia and lupins in pots of seed compost in a frost-free greenhouse or on the windowsill.
Buy your seed potatoes now choosing varieties that are resistant to problems you know are prevalent in your area. Choose to buy a few tubers of several different varieties that mature at different times. Take them out of their bags and spread them out in trays in a light, frost-free place to sprout. A frost-free greenhouse is ideal.
Keep the flower borders free from weeds, weed them out with a hand fork or border fork but take care not to damage emerging spring bulbs.
Protect new shoots and tender plant growth from slug damage by using slug barriers or employ traps to catch these persistent garden pests before they decimate everything in sight.
Hard-prune late-flowering Clematis plants that flower on fresh stems. Cut back the old stems to the bottom 2 or 3 buds (20-30cm above ground level) to encourage plenty of new growth that will produce flowers later in the year.
Keep a watch out for early signs of pest damage. In milder weather a few aphids can quickly become an epidemic feeding on fresh spring growth and sapping its energy. If you find any greenfly, deal with them promptly using your preferred method of control.
Dig over bare areas of ground. If you have heavy clay soil then leave the clods of clay that form after digging on the surface, and the frost will help to break them up. Dig in some your garden compost, well-rotted manure or other soil conditioner into the soil to add valuable organic matter. This will improve drainage, increase the water retention properties and encourage the activity of healthy soil organisms that breathe life into the soil.
In February after heavy rainfall it’s a very good time to mulch your garden borders. The winter garden is devoid of excess foliage so it is much easier to see the soil between your plants and to apply a mulch. Clear away any remaining garden debris, root out any perennial garden weeds and apply a mulch over the garden soil. It helps to suppress garden weeds, improve and retain soil moisture and will also insulate plant roots against extreme cold or heat.
