Easy gardening jobs for February

Despite the winter chill still in the air, February offers a much needed window of opportunity for tending to your garden’s needs. Pruning becomes a priority, shaping your landscape and encouraging healthy spring growth. Soil preparation takes precedence as beds are readied for the new planting season, enriched with compost and organic matter.

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Soil Preparation

Prepare your garden beds for spring by turning the soil this aerates the soil, reduces weeds and boosts fertility. Now is also a great time to add organic matter or compost to improve soil structure.

Planting

At the moment, the weather is fairly mild – if this continues you could start planting cold-tolerant vegetables such as peas, lettuces and spinach. Now is also a good time to plant bare-root fruit trees and roses

Mulching

Mulch vegetable plots, around trees and shrubs to help conserve moisture and suppress weeds. You can read more on Mulching by Stef Davies in our Winter edition of WhatToGrow

Indoor seed starting

Sow seeds indoors that require a longer growing season such as tomatoes and peppers. You can start these off on a sunny windowsil or if you feel like splashing out – use a Propagator Starter Tray from Amazon.

Protect plants

We could still experience a late frost so be prepared to protect tender plants using a Horticultural Fleece Plant Blanket. There are also other alternatives including sheep wool or why not try an old fleece from your wardrobe.

Fertilising

Apply a slow release fertiliser to your perennials and bulbs as they begin to emerge. This will provide the required nutrients in smaller amounts on a regular basis over a longer period of time.

Divide snowdrops

They are sure sign that change is on its way. But before the daffodils and tulips make their grand entrance, snowdrops brighten our winter gardens. After flowering, divide large clumps of snowdrops and spread them around the garden or share the love by giving them to your gardening buddies.

Prune wisteria

Encourage spring flowering by cutting back wisteria side shoots to three buds from the base. Left to its own devices, wisteria will grow unruly and while it would flower, regular trimming (twice a year) and encouraging short, flowering spurs will result in more flowers.

Sow herb seeds

Toward the end of the month you could start your kitchen garden off by sowing some Chervil, Parsley and Coriander. Read about creating your own Kitchen Garden