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Gardening tips for February

By Joe Daniels

Seasonal/Planning

• Most of your gardening efforts will continue to focus on indoor gardening and planning activities.
• Seed and plant catalogs can still be ordered to assist in your selection of plants for the garden.
• This is a good time to continue your review of garden books and magazines.
• Check notes from last year to see what you want to do the same and what should be changed.
• Chart vegetable and flower gardens on graph paper. This will help in rotation of vegetables from last year and assist in knowing how many of each plant will be needed.

Houseplants

• Continue to check on indoor humidity levels. Plants may need to be misted to supplement the existing humidity.
• Orchids can be repotted after they have finished blooming.
• Indoor plants will begin to need more water towards the end of the month. Start fertilizing the plants soon after you increase watering.
• Try germinating plants from fruit seeds: oranges, grapefruits, lemons, tangerines or pomegranates are all good candidates. Put them in warm, moist soil and check for germination within six weeks.

Bulbs

• The premature emergence of spring bulbs can sometimes be delayed by watering the soil and applying a layer of organic mulch.
• Start tuberous begonias in late February or early March.
• Check stored summer bulbs, tubers and corms. Discard any with soft spots or disease.

Small Fruits

• Fertilize grapes and blueberries.
• Remove dead and infested wood and mummified fruit from grapes and blueberries.

Tree Fruits

• This is a good time to prune, as long as it is not done right before a heavy freeze. Best time to prune apples.
• Peach and nectarine trees can be pruned heavily, removing half of last year's growth to produce new shoots for next year's crop.

Trees and Shrubs

• Most ornamental trees can be pruned in late February, except maple, birch and walnut.
• Prune summer flowering trees and shrubs now. Select relatively warm days in late February or early March where the weather is predicted to not be very cold for a few days.

Garden Planning in February

• Gather your books, catalogues, magazines, camera, and sketchbook or garden organizer along with a few pens or markers to sketch with, and maybe a few sheets or roll of tracing paper because it's time to get creative!
• Take a walk around the garden. Observe the architecture of the garden and the vertical and horizontal structure of the plants and hardscape elements without the distraction of foliage and flowers.
• Take a few photos of your garden from different angles, from both inside the house and outside. Looking through a camera lens offers an entirely different perspective.
• Head back inside and flip through your favorite garden books and magazines. Look for ideas that might work in your garden and bookmark them.
• Make a plant wish list. Flip through your plant catalogues and earmark anything and everything you're
• interested in. Write the list down on a piece of paper or in your garden organizer or journal for future reference.
• Paste the photos you took into your sketchbook or garden organizer leaving plenty of room to add notes for ideas around the picture. If you're handy with a pen lay a piece of trace paper over the photographs and sketch out some ideas.

Enjoy this time to observe and view the bare look of your garden for ideas as what to add or eliminate. Start exercising ........you know those backs and knees will be getting a work out in the next few months. Relax and enjoy the peacefulness and quiet of the winter garden to reflect on the season to come......as always good gardening, and see you at the February meeting.

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