In February the garden begins to wake with Snowdrops, Cyclamen and little Daffodils heralding Spring. We are constantly told that spring is arriving earlier each year so let’s catch up before the buds burst, shoots emerge and weeds start to germinate.
It is still OK to prune fruit trees so remove any crossing branches from Apple Trees and reduce the quantity of fruit buds from established trees for less but larger and better quality fruit. Young trees may need new stakes and ties to protect them from March winds. Mulch around the base to encourage strong new growth and supress weeds. Use homemade compost, soil conditioner or rotted manure to a depth of 15cms keeping the bark of the tree clear to avoid stem rot.
Trees of interest this month include the Birches with their glorious white trunks that can be grown as either single or multi stemmed. I recommend Betula Snow Queen which has particularly snowy white bark. Prunus serrula Tibetica has amazing shiny mahogany bark and looks even better if you polish it with a soft cloth. Eucalyptus has an interesting patchwork bark of colours ranging from blue grey, green, purple brown to lemon yellow, red and orange.
Conifers are often a neglected plant group but their evergreen forms really are useful at this time of year. There’s the pencil thin and upright Italian Cypress, Cupressus Sempervirens, the smaller apple green Thuja occidentalis Smaragd and the golden Thuja pyramidalis Aurea. Orange and purple are colours you don’t expect in garden foliage in winter but some conifers adopt these as the weather gets colder in Autumn and stay until the spring growth appears. Thuja Rheingold and the smaller upright Chamaecyparis Rubicon show this feature. By planting Ornamental Grasses, Heuchera and Heucherella together with some winter interest shrubs like Leucathoe Scarletta and variegated Euonymus makes the planting scheme more interesting even without flowers and will require very little maintenance.
One of the best jobs you can ever do in your garden in February is to mulch the borders and plants. This mimics the natural process of leaves carpeting the ground in autumn when fungi, bacteria and insects then convert the sugars in them into useful food for plants. Rejuvenate your soil with a good thick covering of garden compost, leaf mould or soil conditioner around, but not on, the plants. Bulbs like specie Narcissus, and Tulips, Cyclamen, Muscari and dwarf Iris prefer a layer of horticultural grit instead of mulch as it enhances their display and stops rain from splashing mud on the delicate petals and leaves.
Now is a great time to plant roses. Some of the smaller and more modern varieties are good for putting in containers but planting them in the ground will require careful thought as they will be in there for many years. The modern shrub roses associate well with mixed shrub and herbaceous plants and give long lasting colour through summer. Roses like a rich soil so add plenty of rotted farmyard manure. Most roses including, bush, hybrid tea, patio, floribunda and shrubs are grafted onto a rootstock so ensure when planting that this is just below the surface of the soil to a depth of around 2.5cm to allow for more root growth and good soil anchorage. After planting cut the stems back to 15cms. This will encourage the rose to produce strong new growth and good flowers. Later feed your roses in March or April with a rose fertiliser that contains all the plant nutrients needed. Nothing beats a bed of well grown and scented roses. The Rose of the year this year is a hybrid T rose called “You’re My Everything” and promises to be special. In bud it is pink in colour edged soft cream and as the petals open it reveals rich golden yellow centres. It is single stemmed with exceptional disease resistance, vigorous growth habit and a captivating scent. They are ideal for borders, pots and containers growing to a height of 90cms.
Lastly if you are a Veg Grower finish digging the patch to allow a few weeks for the soil to break down before planting or if you grow in pots and troughs give these a good clean before the new season starts.
Next month we really start all over again. Happy Gardening.
In February the garden begins to wake with Snowdrops, Cyclamen and little Daffodils heralding Spring. We are constantly told that spring is arriving earlier each year so let’s catch up before the buds burst, shoots emerge and weeds start to germinate.
