February's Seasonal Tips

Now is the time to start the tidying up process around the garden. For example weeding beds, borders, rock gardens and patio containers. This forms the basis to help you create a colourful and fragrant winter garden.

Caring for your indoor plants
Tender plants
Tender plants, such as pelargoniums and fuchsias, must be kept at a temperature above about 4^oC (40^oF). Check over plants once a week and remove any dead flowers or leaves that you find, to reduce the risk of fungal diseases. If any shoots have started to rot, trim them back to healthy growth. Keep their compost almost dry and make sure that there is good air circulation around the plants - a fan heater is an easy way of doing this.

Sow bedding plants
Create a heated area of the greenhouse by using bubble polythene to partition off a small area of the greenhouse. This can then be used for raising plants. Make the first sowings in a heated propagator of summer bedding plants that need a long growing season. These include geraniums, petunias, busy lizzies and nicotianas. Most require a germination temperature of 21^oC (70^oF).

Cold frames
A cold frame can provide extra winter protection for plants of borderline hardiness. Position the frames carefully, choosing a sheltered site in full light, so that they benefit from the warmth of the sun but aren't blasted by cold winds. Although you could put electric warming cables in your frame, they are normally left unheated, as their wooden sides provide some insulation from the cold. Open them on warm days to provide ventilation and prevent conditions getting too warm. Close up again at night and be prepared to cover the frame with an extra overcoat of insulation, such as an old rug, if conditions turn very cold.

Activity in the garden
Flowers
Prune clematis
Summer-flowering clematis can be pruned back hard. These will make rapid new growth during spring to carry flowers later this year. Clematis to prune early in the month include those in the texensis group and viticella group. Many large-flowered hybrids should also be pruned down to emerging buds.

Deadheading
Winter and spring bedding plants tend to flower in phases depending on temperature. Play your part by keeping pansies, primulas and other plants regularly deadheaded. Pick off faded blooms to keep plants looking tidy and prevent them setting seed, which can reduce flowering performance.

Moving plants
This is also a good time to move shrubs or flowers to a new position if they have outgrown their site.

Dividing perennials
In mild areas, clumps of perennials can be divided and healthy young outer portions replanted into freshly prepared soil.

Prune dogwood
Now you've enjoyed the dramatic colours of your winter dogwoods, they can be cut back hard down to ground level. This will encourage them to produce brightly coloured new shoots that will provide interest next winter.

Fruits & Vegetables
Harvesting
You can enjoy fresh veg even in the depths of winter. Leeks, Brussels sprouts and cabbages can be picked as you need them. Check sprouts regularly to catch them before they become too large. There are also root crops to lift, including Jerusalem artichokes and parsnips. Covering the soil with straw will help to ensure that it doesn’t freeze solid so you can carry on harvesting in the harshest of weather. Lift them carefully, with a garden fork, to avoid damaging them. Remember to save a few Jerusalem artichoke tubers to replant in spring.

Crops to sow
In warm districts, crops that can be sown under cloches include broad beans, early carrots and parsnips. Shallots can also be planted out. Sow summer cabbage, leeks and onions under cover in a warm propagator.

Fruit in store
Check apples and pears in store, removing any that show signs of rot or deterioration.

General care and maintenance
Spread mulch
Spread mulch this month before plants get too large. Use a thick layer of compost, pulverised bark or similar material over borders and between trees, shrubs, roses and fruit. This can be applied up to 5cm to 7.5cm (2in to 3in) thick, if you have sufficient material. Newly emerging perennials should grow up through it. Take care not to cover dwarf bulbs, such as winter aconites, now in flower.

Clean pots and trays
Piles of pots and stacks of dirty seed trays need to be washed out and stored away ready for use this spring. Add in some general household disinfectant, then rinse in clean water. Using hot water makes the job more bearable on a cold day. Traditional pot cleaning brushes are available, but any brush will do to thoroughly remove dirt and old compost that could harbour pests or diseases.

Order seeds
Send off to mail-order companies for seeds to sow this spring. An impressive range of new varieties of flowers and vegetables can be found in most catalogues, so do try some of these exciting introductions to complement your tried and tested favourites. Remember to store seed packets in a cool and dry place, such as in a sandwich box in your fridge, until ready for sowing.

Cover soil for sowing or digging
Covering soil with a large sheet of clear polythene, held down with lengths of wood or bricks, will help keep heavy rain off so the soil remains dry and workable. Simply roll back the sheet to continue digging when you get time, replacing the polythene afterwards. This is particularly useful for heavy or clay soils. Also use polythene to warm the soil for early sowings. A single layer left in place for a couple of weeks can raise the soil temperature by a few degrees. This will help to encourage rapid germination and establishment.

Composting
Even if you don’t get time to start the winter digging, try and cover areas to be dug with a layer of compost or manure. This will be worked in by worms over time, or it can be lightly forked in to the surface in spring to prepare the soil for planting.

Tree ties
Check tree ties to ensure they aren’t cutting into the bark. Replace any that are worn or damaged. It is particularly important to check your tree stakes and ties for damage after heavy wind and storms.

Ice and snow
Knock snow from trees and shrubs to prevent its weight breaking branches. Keep using floating pond heaters to prevent ice forming over the entire surface of ponds.