This month there are lots of things you can do to look after your garden and ensure it thrives this coming Spring.
Here are Jordan’s top tips for February:
- Chit (allow shoots to form) seed potatoes now by placing in a cool, light, frost free place such as a shed with a window or windowsill in conservatory.
- Prune winter-flowering shrubs that have finished flowering – Such as Mahonia and various varieties of Viburnum once they have finished flowering.
- Prune Wisteria, cutting back summer side shoots to 2 or 3 buds.
- Prune hardy evergreen hedges and overgrown deciduous hedges.
- Cut back shrubs such as Salix and Cornus, grown for their bright stems during the winter, right back to the base of the plant.
- Cut back deciduous grasses left uncut in the winter and remove dead grass from evergreen varieties. Remove dead growth to within a few centimetres from the ground. Most grasses will show new growth around March time. The use of grasses in winter arrangements and borders adds both structure and texture. Especially on a frosty morning.
- Prepare vegetable seed beds. Remove any debris or weeks, turn the soil over using a fork and mix in anything you think is necessary whether that be sand, manure, 6X pellets or a general growmore – we have everything you need in stock now to grow the best vegetables around!
- Sow some vegetables under cover – such as leeks and onions, we have a huge range of seeds in stock, ALL 3 FOR 2!
- Force rhubarb plants for an early crop
- Lift and divide snowdrops which are still ‘in the green’ if you want to create more clumps.
- Prune pear trees and apple trees whilst they’re still dormant. Leave cherry trees, apricots and plum trees until the summer after fruiting. This will prevent any chances of Silver Leaf disease.