The Garden At Rock Cottage

Time to Activate

February may be the shortest month, but it always seems unbearable to me. I long to get my hands into the garden by this time of year and the increasing light and brightness seem to kindle my gardener’s addiction.

While it is still much too early on the East End to start digging and fertilizing, there are adequate tasks to accomplish in February. These activities, combined with a gardener’s dreams of hellebores, crocuses and snowdrops will get even impatient gardeners through this most capricious of months. Below are some suggestions.

If you potted daffodils and tulips for forcing in the fall, they ought to have lived through the required three months of cold. Soak the pots heavily, bring them into a sunny location and then water sparingly to encourage blooms. Be sure that light is adequate to prevent stalks from becoming leggy and flopping.

We can still expect cold and severe weather (March is usually awful). Help plants retain their shape by removing ice and heavy snow. This is particularly important with conically-shaped evergreens that have a tendency to separate when covered with heavy snow.

On days that are pleasant, walk through the garden to check on protective mulches. Be sure to replenish heavy mulches like oak leaves with lighter ones, especially over spring bulbs that are beginning to emerge. Be aware that lawns and heavy soils that get a lot of use can become compacted and form an impervious layer that will prevent water percolation downward. If you notice pools of water on the lawn, spike the area with a garden fork. Try to keep off lawns as much as possible and avoid walking on them when it is very wet. Clear spaces around snowdrops, violets, hellebores and early irises to promote flower buds.

Continue to apply the ash from wood-fires to flower beds (never use ashes from manufactured fireplace logs). The ashes enrich the soil much like a forest fire does and it helps to provide potassium and potash. Fireplace ash also discourages slugs that begin to activate at this time of year.

Prune away damaged branches in February. Trees that weren’t fed last fall can be fed at the end of this month. We recommend a mulch of well-composted manure as a treatment for trees. If you plan to use an acid-type fertilizer like “Hollytone” for evergreens, rhododendrons and azaleas, wait until mid-March to apply. Wait until April to prune and fertilize roses.

February is an important month to finish ordering seeds from garden and nursery catalogs. Many of the newest and most exciting seeds tend to sell out quickly, so it is important to get orders in now. For annuals that produce scentless flowers, you can add an enticing scent to the flowers by soaking the seeds overnight in rose water or an orange-extract mixture. Allow the seeds to dry out before sowing. When they bloom, the flowers will have the scent of rose or orange.

Start the seeds of annuals that require a long growing season such as lobelia, vinca, snapdragon and verbena. The seeds can be started indoors or in a greenhouse in late February. If growing indoors, cut cola bottles in half and use the tops over the plants as windowsill propagators.

February is a good month to continue to remove rubbish and debris from the garden. You can also prune summer-flowering shrubs. However, be aware that spring blooming shrubs produced their buds last fall and pruning them now will result in the loss of flowers. Prune forsythia, quince, spirea and other early spring-flowering shrubs after they flower.

Houseplants will begin to notice the longer days and begin growing. You can begin fertilizing them again, but use a 50% diluted fertilizer mix until the growth is robust.

Early spring is particularly hard on birds and animals. Continue filling feeders. This act will help birds stick around in spring to help with insect control. We also like to scatter dried bread in wooded areas for foxes and other foraging animals.

The above list of activities ought to keep even the most fidgety gardener occupied. Don’t fret, spring is just around the corner and the number of activities will be overwhelming. It makes good sense to complete some in February, while we still can.

You can contact Lance Brilliantine with any questions or comments at GardenLance@yahoo.com.