February Gardening Jobs

Sunny but still bitterly cold, garden is at work getting ready for spring. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

February Gardening Chores

The ground where I live in USDA Hardiness zone 5 till hasn’t frozen this winter so I may sneak some trees still in their pots into the ground on a warm day.

Some of our big box stores have seed offerings and seed starting kits for sale, something I try to stay away from so that I’m not tempted to bring every single one of them home.

Still time to sneak tulip bulbs into the ground for late spring blooming. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

The following are my typical February gardening chores:

• Locate downed tree trunks and use them to border flower beds. As the tree trunks decompose, they will improve soil. I tend to wait until the tree trunks dry out, much lighter and easier to move.

• Pressure is on so if you haven’t made a dent in your reading pile, get a start, spring is only 47 days away.

•  If you haven’t ordered your favorite gardening catalogs, get them ordered. Look for catalogs with detailed plant descriptions and good photographs so you can use them for reference.  Missouri Wildflowers Catalog has lovely pictures, even old catalogs are still good references. www.mowildflowers.net. For heirloom seeds, try Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds at www.rareseeds.com, both are Missouri nurseries.

• Update garden diary entries. If you’ve missed a few entries, add them now. Underline items you wanted to get done this year. I make a list, then decide which projects I want to tackle. I also carry over the ones I didn’t get to last year, or drop them off the master list. This is a good time to plan, and to dream.

• Focus on adding native plants. Once established, they will be low care and tend to require less water than other plants. They also have an established relationship with hey native pollinators. They are connected. Check out George O. White State Forest Nursery, they may still have some seedlings left. Order even if they say sold out, you may still get the seedlings if the previous person didn’t pay for their order.

• On warm days, remember to water mums planted this past year. New mums need a gallon a month to keep their roots moist their first year. Once established, mums will become perennials and deter bugs from around where they are planted.

• Pile mulch and leaves on garden beds if they’ve been blown off by winter winds.

• Check inside plants for any hitchhiking bugs and remove. Make sure they are getting their sunlight needs met. If not, move them. Water with diluted fertilizer. Prune as necessary.

• Drop your garden pruners and other garden tools off to get sharpened, this is a slow time of year and this will give you a head start on the season.

• When feeding birds, add a little sand in the bird feeder mix. Birds need sand to help them digest seeds. Also ensure they have an available water source. Feed suet on cold days.

• If you have fish in an outside pond, make sure it has a hole in the ice so fish will get oxygen.

Charlotte

February Gardening Chores

Sunny but still bitterly cold, garden is at work getting ready for spring. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

February Gardening Chores

The ground where I live in USDA Hardiness zone 5 till hasn’t frozen this winter so I may sneak some trees still in their pots into the ground on warm day.

Some of our big box stores have seed offerings and seed starting kits for sale, something I try to stay away from so that I’m not tempted to bring every single one of them home.

Still time to sneak tulip bulbs into the ground for late spring blooming. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

The following are my typical February gardening chores in USDA Hardiness Zone 5:

• Locate downed tree trunks and use them to border flower beds. As the tree trunks decompose, they will improve soil. I tend to wait until the tree trunks dry out, much lighter and easier to move.

• Pressure is on so if you haven’t made a dent in your reading pile, get a start, spring is only 47 days away.

•  If you haven’t ordered your favorite gardening catalogs, get them ordered. Look for catalogs with detailed plant descriptions and good photographs so you can use them for reference.  Missouri Wildflowers Catalog has lovely pictures, even old catalogs are still good references. www.mowildflowers.net. For heirloom seeds, try Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds at www.rareseeds.com, both are Missouri nurseries.

• Update garden diary entries. If you’ve missed a few entries, add them now. Underline items you wanted to get done this year. I make a list, then decide which projects I want to tackle. I also carry over the ones I didn’t get to last year, or drop them off the master list. This is a good time to plan, and to dream.

• Focus on adding native plants. Once established, they will be low care and tend to require less water than other plants. They also have an established relationship with hey native pollinators. They are connected. Check out George O. White State Forest Nursery, they may still have some seedlings left. Order even if they say sold out, you may still get the seedlings if the previous person didn’t pay for their order.

• On warm days, remember to water mums planted this past year. New mums need a gallon a month to keep their roots moist their first year. Once established, mums will become perennials and deter bugs from around where they are planted.

• Pile mulch and leaves on garden beds if they’ve been blown off by winter winds.

• Check inside plants for any hitchhiking bugs and remove. Make sure they are getting their sunlight needs met. If not, move them. Water with diluted fertilizer. Prune as necessary.

• Drop your garden pruners and other garden tools off to get sharpened, this is a slow time of year and this will give you a head start on the season.

• When feeding birds, add a little sand in the bird feeder mix. Birds need sand to help them digest seeds. Also ensure they have an available water source. Feed suet on cold days.

• If you have fish in an outside pond, make sure it has a hole in the ice so fish will get oxygen.

Charlotte

February Gardening Jobs

Time to find Hellebores, or Lenten Roses, in bloom. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

February Gardening Jobs

January is ending in continued rain with the promise of colder temperatures early February. The ground where I live still hasn’t frozen this winter so I may sneak some trees still in their pots into the garden on a dry day. Some of our big box stores have seed offerings and seed starting kits for sale, something I try to stay away from so that I’m not tempted to bring all of them home.

I live in USDA Hardiness Zone 5b-6A, inching more towards 6A based on recent past winters. I chose plants for zone 5 since the zone classification is an average of temperatures over 13 years.

The following are my February gardening chores or jobs:

• Locate downed tree trunks and use them to border flower beds. As the tree trunks decompose, they will improve the soil.

• Pressure is on so if you haven’t made a dent in your reading pile, get a start, spring is only 47 days away.

•  If you haven’t ordered your favorite gardening catalogs, get them ordered. Look for catalogs with detailed plant descriptions and good photographs so you can use them for reference.  Missouri Wildflowers Catalog has lovely pictures, even old catalogs are still good references. www.mowildflowers.net. For heirloom seeds, try Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds at www.rareseeds.com, both are Missouri nurseries.

• Review last year’s garden diary entries. If you’ve missed a few entries, add them now. Underline items you wanted to get done this year. I make a list, then decide which projects I want to tackle. I also carry over the ones I didn’t get to last year, or drop them off the master list. This is a good time to dream.

• Focus on adding native plants. Once established, they will be low care and tend to require less water than other plants and they will feed the native pollinators. They are connected. Check out George O. White State Forest Nursery, they may still have some seedlings left. Order even if they say sold out, you may still get the seedlings if the previous person didn’t pay for their order.

• On warm days, remember to water mums planted this past year. New mums need a gallon a month to keep their roots moist their first year. Once established, mums will become perennials and deter bugs from around where they are planted.

• Pile mulch and leaves on garden beds if they’ve been blown off by winter winds.

• Check inside plants for any hitchhiking bugs and remove. Make sure they are getting their sunlight needs met. If not, move them. Water with diluted fertilizer. Prune as necessary.

• Drop your garden pruners and other garden tools off to get sharpened, this is a slow time of year and this will give you a head start on the season.

• When feeding birds, add a little sand in the bird feeder mix. Birds need sand to help them digest seeds. Also ensure they have an available water source. Feed suet on cold days.

• If you have fish in an outside pond, make sure it has a hole in the ice so fish will get oxygen.

Start looking for spring bulbs popping up out of the ground. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

You should start seeing spring bulbs popping up, love to see the new greenery.

Charlotte

February Gardening Chores

February is a good time to check your seed stash for viable seeds you can still use this year.

February Gardening Chores

Pressure is on so if you haven’t made a dent in your reading pile, get a start, spring is only two months away. Most of mid-Missouri is in USDA Hardiness Zone 5b which, with climate changing, means spring will start earlier than in the past and along with fall, last longer.

1.         If you haven’t ordered your favorite gardening catalogs, get them ordered. Look for catalogs with detailed plant descriptions and good photographs so you can use them for reference.  Missouri Wildflowers Catalog has lovely pictures, even old catalogs are still good references. www.mowildflowers.net. For heirloom seeds, try Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds at www.rareseeds.com, both are Missouri nurseries.

2.         Now for a great Native Plant Guide, you can download the Prairie Moon Catalog online. This guide out of Winona, Minnesota offers North American Native seeds and plants along with a guide on how to get wildflower seeds to grow, how to plant bare root plants, seed combinations and a plant/insect interaction guide so you know what plants attract what pollinators.

3.         Review last year’s garden diary entries. If you’ve missed a few entries, add them now. Underline items you wanted to get done this year. I make a list, then decide which projects I want to tackle. I also carry over the ones I didn’t get to last year, or drop them off the master list. This is a good time to dream.

4.         Focus on adding native plants. Once established, they will be low care and tend to require less water than other plants and they will feed the native pollinators. They are connected.

5.         Read. Whether it’s Missouri Gardener Magazine, which provides good local gardening information and gardening books, catch up on what you couldn’t get to last year. I keep a pile of gardening books from our local library’s semi-annual book sale just for snowy, cold winter days.

Prairie Moon Nursery's Native Plant Guide has a nice how to for planting wildflowers.

6.         On warm days, remember to water mums planted this past year. New mums need a gallon a month to keep their roots moist their first year. Once established, mums will become perennials and deter bugs from around where they are planted.

7.         Remove any broken limbs in pathways to keep walkways clear and safe.

8.         Pile mulch and leaves on garden beds if they’ve been blown off by winter winds.

9.         Check inside plants for any hitchhiking bugs and remove. Make sure they are getting their sunlight needs met. If not, move them. Water with diluted fertilizer. Prune as necessary.

10.       Drop your garden pruners and other garden tools off to get sharpened, this is a slow time of year and this will give you a head start on the season.

11.       When feeding birds, add a little sand in the birdfeeder mix. Birds need sand to help them digest seeds. Also ensure they have an available water source. Feed suet on cold days.

12.       If you have fish in an outside pond, make sure it has a hole in the ice so fish will get oxygen.

What else would you add to this list?

Charlotte

February Gardening Chores

Check seeds, most are good for 2-3 years. Old seeds, back, are only good to hold memories!

February Garden Chores

There are signs of activity in my hillside garden, ever so slight maybe but activity nevertheless. I am spotting mole runs through some of my walking paths, and the mums I planted last fall are sprouting little tufts of green in the center. I live in USDA Zone 5b.

I know, I should appreciate cold enough days that I have to stay inside but I enjoy sunny, warm days when I can get some things done. Here are my garden chores for February:

1.     Prune trees. I focus first on my compact fruit trees, pruning them into a goblet shape. I have one pear tree that I didn’t prune for many years, now I am trying to catch up by pruning only up to 1/3rd of the tree every year.

2.     Composting yet? If not, this is a good time to pick out and area and get it set up. There are many ways you can compost, from using pallets, reinforced chicken wire or splurge on a self-contained unit. I have three because I knew my wildlife would consider the other methods as fine dining.

3.     Remove dead branches. I used to wait to do this until a branch almost hit me on the head. I now remove them as soon as I see them, even if weather conditions are not conducive to being outside.

4.     Photograph your flower beds. It will give you an easy reference later when you decide to reshape them with plantings. Good bones are important for gardens, too.

5.     Inventory bird baths. How are they doing in terms of giving birds access to water? Add a heater to at least one to make sure your feathered friends have water access. If you have a base or a cut off tree, buy only the bird bath top to make sure you have a source of drinking water. My little waterfall off my front porch has been running most of the winter, inviting all sorts of birds and wildlife to take a drink including 9 bluebirds and 3 robins at the same time. I also enjoy having birds on my favorite throws like this birds in the garden. Keeps me warm!

February is a good month to get your key garden tools sharpened, such as my favorite pick ax.

6.     Get your gardening tools sharpened. Many home and garden centers offer this service so if you haven’t checked, this is a good time to do so.

7.     Save milk jugs, toilet paper rolls, kitty litter containers. You can use milk jugs for early spring plant covers; make planting pots out of toilet paper rolls and repurpose empty kitty litter containers into watering cans.  Save a few extra to exchange with other gardening friends who may have plastic bottles you can puncture holes in and bury in pots for watering.

8.     Check indoor plants for mealy bugs and other pests. Usually by now those bugs have found a foothold and need some nudging to leave.

9.     If you haven’t ordered gardening catalogs, do so now. Catalogs are good references for names and plant care. Plant tags have become very generic and almost not much help so get at least one catalog you can use as a reference.

10. Have your early spring seeds picked out? Lettuce, spinach, peas all like cool spring growing conditions.

What are your February garden chores?

Charlotte