Gardening in February

unheated propogator

It may be getting cold in the air, but the soil is still retaining some warmth. So it’s a good time to plant that hedge you have always wanted or shrubs and trees. Get rid of your old roses and replace with new. The warmth in the soil means good strong root growth , so get them in now before heavy snow comes along and the soil freezes.
You can plant out now, camellias, azaleas, conifers, shrubs, roses, rhododendrons, trees, plants and trees on display outside at garden centres are usually ones you can plant now, but its always best to check a member of staff.

By now you should also be dying to get sowing seeds, and getting stuck into the greenhouse and the garden. Well, patience is a virtue! It won’t be long before you are starting off your sweet peas, and broad beans, but for now, preparation, rather than seed planting in February is the key!!! Get your seed trays ready in the greenhouse, get your seed bags ordered and get ready for planting those seeds later this month. If you have compost from last year, use it for potting on, or mulching. For seed sowing, get fresh compost. Whether you like to use special seed compost, or good old multi-purpose, get it fresh. Old compost will have had time to harbour all sorts of bugs and fungus! One thing very handy is to have an old plastic swing top kitchen bin in a corner of the greenhouse for compost. Not out in the rain and cold, and as it is dry, easier to sieve out lumps for seed sowing. Great for propogating and growing seeds are the electric propogators. They are quite expensive though and a cheap, but effective alternative is this, an unheated propogator which will take much of the risk element out of your seed growing. In my opinion it is worth every penny in February.