Garden Calendar for February
While snow may still be flying that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty to do in February to get your property ready for Spring. Your garden calendar might have you spending more time in the house this February planning and making preparations for the months to come, but there are plenty of opportunities throughout the month to get your hands dirty. Click here for your FREE garden and landscape journal- the first step to gardening success!
February Garden Calendar
Lawn
- Tune up the mower Many dealers offer discounted prices to perform this service during winter months. So take it in now and be ready for the first flush of new grass.
- Clean and sharpen your garden tools As they say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Look for any cracked handles and repair any tools so they are ready to work for you.
- Check stock of all gardening necessities Hand tools, fertilizers, rose and fruit tree sprays, and make a list of what you need and maybe some new additions to your arsenal that you want to add to your shed.
- Check hoses For leaks and sprinklers for cracks or damage. You may need to delay this till March if the weather doesn’t cooperate. But finding problems early lets you take advantage of early Spring deals you might come across.
- Remove debris Here’is where you get to get your hands dirty in the garden calendar. If the weather permits you can start clearing leaves and debris from the yard and around the shrubs.
Landscape and Flower Beds
- Apply anti-desiccant Your second application of anti-desiccant is due this month. Any day above freezing get out there and reapply anti-desiccant spray to your Evergreens, Azalea, Rhododendron, Boxwood and Holly.
- Prepare tools Clean and sharpen your garden tools.
- Educate yourself Master gardeners groups and university extension services host a lot of seminars and clinics. Learn about what you love!
- Sort tubers Sort through your dahlias, cannas, glads and begonias tubers and bulbs that you stored last fall. Look for any that have decayed or shriveled and dispose of them.
- Plant Begonia tubers Buy or replant Begonia tubers in pots indoors now, they will be ready for your window box or planters by spring. You will save a ton of money versus buying potted plants at the garden center.
- Prune Get out and prune trees and shrubs. Don’t prune any spring flowering shrubs and trees, as the buds have already formed. Do not prune oaks, elm or walnut until fall.
- Build something for the garden Get out in the garage and start building window boxes, arbors and garden benches. Soon enough you’ll be busy working in the garden and wished you had spent a little time now.
- Plan Grab that stack of garden catalogs and plan your garden. Plot your garden on graph paper.
- Garden Journal Work on, or start, your garden journal. Keep track of plants you want to try, how they do, when and where you planted them. Record garden results, keep track of what you plant where so you can rotate crops effectively and know how many you need to add to your shopping list this spring.
- Order seeds Order seeds early, some sell out quickly.
- Start vegetable seeds By mid February you can start broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale and lettuce. By the end of February or in March you can start seeds for tomatoes, peppers, annuals and perennials.
- Start annual seeds By mid February you can start seeds for cool season annuals such as pansies and alyssum.
- Build a cold frame Looking for ideas? We built a raised garden and added a cover to it a couple years ago, take a look. Plant cool season crops such as radishes, spinach, and lettuce in March or April.
