your February garden

A few drier days are on the way, hopefully. Not much digging weather lately, but the birds are in fine song and the days are lengthening. There’s plenty to do and to plan in the garden. Cheering yourself up with a bit of instant seasonal colour is always a good start.

 SEASONAL COLOUR is available in primroses violas, pansies and cyclamen. Many spring bulbs are available to brighten up winter containers… starting with snowdrops, crocus, and dwarf narcissus. And the first camellias will soon be in bloom. 

VEGETABLES Time to think about chitting the seed potatoes i.e. setting them somewhere bright and cool (but frost-free) to allow shoots to develop and strengthen before March planting. And we have potato bags for growing your own on the patio. If you have a frost free greenhouse, get them going now for a really early crop. Start sowing seeds under cover. 

FRUIT Plant raspberry canes, currant and gooseberry and blueberry bushes. 

SUMMER BULBS It’s a bit early to plant some of these (unless you can provide warmth) but not to early to buy. For the best choice of varieties buy now. Lilies, dahlias and gladioli are back in fashion. And it is hard to match the sustained flower power of begonias. And that wonderfully fragrant classic, Lily-of-the-valley, is also available. 

FEED THE BIRDS Keep topping up feeders and bird tables, and consider positioning a nest box or two. National nestbox week commenced, appropriately, yesterday.

PATHS can still be slippery at this time of year. Clear moss and algae with Armillatox. Keep a bag of de-icing salt for those frosty or black-ice mornings.

LAWNS Lawn edges can be tidied up. Also consider improving drainage, with fork or hollow-tine aerator. Brush grit into holes. Depending on the weather, mowing can recommence in the next few weeks.

WINTER PLANTING Roses, fruit, hedging and most shrubs and trees when ground is not frozen or waterlogged.

WINTER PRUNING fruit bushes and fruit trees (apple and pear only). Check for, and remove straight suckers from twisted hazel. Many shrubs and climbers can be tidied back, or, in the case of late-flowering clematis, pruned hard (to 30-40cm height, ensuring that some healthy buds are left).