January and February are when avid gardeners look to their mailboxes for the spring catalogue of seeds and plants to arrive.
Minds go wandering to warmer days spent in the sun elbows deep in the rich, loamy soil that will bring you a bounty of flowers and vegetables.
Don’t Wait till the Weather Gets Warm
In February there are tasks you can do in order for your garden to flourish when spring has sprung.
Winter pruning of plants that have spent the winter dormant such as wisteria, roses, fruit trees and grapes should be completed before the warm weather strikes. If you do that you are guaranteed to have a garden that is lushly landscaped.
Beware of Plants that are Sensitive to Frost
Plants that are sensitive to the cold such as bougainvillea and citrus plantings need to be protected.
You can use a frost cloth covering made especially for this purpose and don’t take them off until you are sure that the last frost has made its appearance.
Pruning
If you have hybrid tea roses they will only bloom on wood that is new, so in February get out there and get rid of those old branches so that new ones can sprout.
If you are unsure about how to go about doing this, any local home and garden store will typically have classes to ensure that you do the job properly without doing any damage.
While you are pruning and you come across plants that seem to have frost damage, you can leave them until March as Mother Nature can often stage a comeback that is no less than amazing.
The next task that is important is to spray your roses and fruit trees if you have them, with horticultural oil that will kill the eggs of insects that may be harboring in your garden.
Planning Your Vegetable Garden in February
Figuring out the yummy bounty that will flourish in your garden is one task the avid gardener looks forward to each year.
Deciding upon what type of corn will grow best as well as peppers, lettuce, snap peas, etc. makes a seasoned gardener act like a kid in a candy shop.
February may also be the time when you start your seedlings in your home so that when the warmer weather makes its way to your hometown you can plant the seedlings and not seeds which would take longer to break the surface.
