February Tips From the Experts
THE VILLAGE GARDENER
Must Do Gardening Tips for December
February tips from Sharon at British Soil.
- Cut down deciduous grasses left standing over Winter.
- Cut back late flowering clematis.
- If you need to move deciduous shrubs, then now is the time.
- Cut back elder and buddleia
- Give Winter flowering heathers a light trim, being careful not to cut into the old wood stems.
Advice from Barry Harper of Twyn allotments.
- Chit early potatoes.
- Plant rhubarb crowns in rich soil.
- Cover strawberry plants with fleece or cloches to give them a good start.
- Prepare beds for sowing by weeding. Then cover soil with garden compost.
- Check what the other allotment folk are up to, so you don’t miss out.
There are countless magazines, radio and television programmes offering advice on what we ought to be doing in the garden in any given week. We need to be checking the local weather forecast before we start planting. There can be as much as four weeks between planting times between the southeast of England and the Scottish Highlands. Plants grown under nursery conditions will not take kindly to being put out in cold wet weather. Unless you can take care of the plants you see early in the season looking very inviting in neat rows on the garden centre shelves, please wait until clement weather can give them a good start.
The really warm weather in December has kept the grass growing as well as weeds and has also brought on daffodils early. During January the cyclamen and pansies were being pushed out by overzealous, under planted bulbs and corms. The Autumn sown sweet peas have put on a lot of growth and need the tips taken out to promote new side shoots. Repotting will help to give the roots space to grow.
Wisteria should have its Winter prune now to make sure it flowers well. Cut the shoots back to three or four buds but be careful to leave the main frame alone. Mahonia can be cut back now as the flowers fade. If the shrub has a good shape about it just remove the flower spikes. If it’s looking straggly you can prune it hard, and it will come back strongly.
The wet weather in late Winter will make greenhouses damp, the lack of sun to dry the air out can bring about grey mould which can do serious damage to over wintering plants. On milder days open doors and windows, check the leaves of plants and remove damaged ones. If some plants are badly infected remove the whole plant to the outside.
Allotment and veg gardeners have been troubled with potato blight over the last couple of years. It is very difficult to control but there are some preventative measures to take. One thing which can help is to grow early varieties such as Charlotte and Anya. Sarpo potatoes have a good resistance to blight. Experienced gardeners always leave a bigger gap between the tubers when planting as an increased air flow when plants are maturing helps enormously in blight prevention. If you grow potatoes in containers make sure you clean them out and disinfect to stop any infection and change the compost. Those gardeners who planted broad beans in the Autumn have seen a lot of growth due to mild conditions, which means they will need support.
Take care and enjoy your gardening