It's blowing a hoolie and sleeting as I write, and apparently the rest of February may be similar, particularly here in the northwest. If you are likely to venture into the garden, I can assure you that you will experience a healthy, warm rosy glow and feeling of deep satisfaction... once you're back inside again. Here's a few tasks for you;
Shrubs and flowering plants
When the flowers have died back, congested clumps of snowdrops can be lifted, divided and replanted at the same depth;
Prune flowered stems of Winter Jasmine back to a healthy bud and remove weak spindly stems;
Trim the faded blooms off winter-flowering heathers to prevent plants becoming woody;
Shorten summer-pruned stems on Wisteria and campsis to two or three buds, and cut back any sideshoots;
Dead-head winter-flowering plants in containers, such as cyclamen and violas.
Fruit and veg
Cut back old, fruited canes of autumn-fruiting raspberries to ground level;
If any summer-fruiting raspberry canes have out-grown their supports, cut stems back to 10cm above the top wire;
Resist the temptation to sow too many seeds indoors or in propagators otherwise they'll need potting on and planting out, before temperatures are warm enough;
Put early varieties of seed-potatoes in cardboard egg-box trays on windowsills, to develop eyes ('chitting’), to give them a head-start;
Plant bare-root fruit canes, and apply a multi-purpose fertiliser around the base of existing fruit bushes, trees and canes.
Gardening alongside nature
Prune any deciduous hedges this month, before the nexting season starts;
Put up nesting boxes and continue to put out food for the birds;
Keep the area under bird feeders clean, to avoid attracting rodents;
Don't turn your compost heap until later in the spring, to avoid disturbing any creatures that may be sheltering there.
Retreat back to your sofa with a well-earned cuppa and maybe even a piece of cake.
