The February Garden Guide

It’s February, the weather is still cold but the days are getting noticeably longer and there are signs of the approaching spring.

There’s plenty of work to do, in both the greenhouse and out in the garden, so why not follow our top 10 gardening tips and make the most of your February garden?

Top 10 February Gardening Tips

large wooden planters in a back garden

 

1. Prepare Vegetable Beds  

Put aside a bit of time each day to weed your vegetable beds.

Then, with a relatively weed-free environment, your seedlings are sure to thrive.  

a pot of yellow pansies

 

2. Deadhead Pansies

Cutting off the old flowerheads now should ensure a couple more months of flowering, which will provide the colour you need to see you through to the joys of the springtime garden.

a clump of snowdrops

 

3. Split Snowdrops

The best time to split snowdrops is as they go past flowering.

Lift the clump out of the soil, using a hand fork, and then carefully tease the individual plants apart, by hand, into smaller clumps, taking care not to damage the roots.

Plant the smaller clumps in their new locations, to the same depth as before, water in thoroughly and enjoy further growth.

wisteria growing on a wall

 

4. Prune Wisteria

Wisteria needs pruning twice a year: now and in late summer.

Cut back so that you leave just a few buds per stem.

This will help keep the size of the plant under control and improve flowering.

a man laying turf

 

5. Lay Turf

Remove weeds and debris from the soil, make it roughly level, and then rake.

Walk over the soil to firm it down and then rake again.

Lay the turf and, following spring showers, it should be properly established before summer.

Please note that this job should not be attempted if the soil is waterlogged or frozen.

a hessian sack of potatoes

 

6. Chit Potatoes

Choose a bright, frost-free place, such as an unheated greenhouse or windowsill, and place the potatoes on a tray, in a single layer, with the eyes facing upwards.

They will develop shoots before it’s time to plant in mid spring.

This extends the growing period and leads to a better yield of crop.

a cauliflower

 

7. Sow Cauliflowers and Leeks

These two vegetables need a long growing season, so you should start them off now.

Sow one seed per pot, place in a propagator and watch them grow.

some red chillies

 

8. Sow Chillies

Chillies also need a long growing season.

They love heat and light, so perform best on a warm windowsill or inside a thermostatically-controlled propagator.

red gladioli growing in a garden

 

9. Start Gladioli

Remove the papery tunics from the corms and then place the corms in trays, in a frost-free spot.

In a few weeks’ time, once the buds are growing, they’re ready to be planted.

a red rose in the garden

 

10. Plant Roses

Firstly, remove any debris from the planting hole.

Then, place a banana skin in the base of the hole, dust the roses' roots with mycorrhizal fungi and plant.

The trick behind the banana skin is that as it slowly rots down, it releases fertiliser into the soil.

Garden Supplies for Sale

a polycarbonate greenhouse with a green resin frame

 


Here at Buy Sheds Direct, we know how much you value spending time in your garden.

Choose from our superb range of greenhouses, wooden planters and other garden supplies, so that you can make the most of your garden the whole year round.