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Garden notes for February 2024

This year is a leap year so we have an extra 24 hours this month to get the garden going! As the days start to draw out, and it does not seem so gloomy the urge to get plants started is almost irresistible. Any seedbeds that have been protected under cloches or garden fleece can be started to be sown with hardy vegetables such as parsnips. You can also start to consider sowing some early cabbage and brussel sprouts. Divide and replant chives towards the end of the month.

Dahlia tubers should be started in gentle heat towards the end of the month for most of us. Remember your house-plants on cold, frosty night. Keep them on the room side, not behind the curtain. Plants are most likely to die from drastic temperature changes between a heated room in the day and a frosty sill at night.

Plants to prune this month include winter flowering jasmine, buddleia (towards the end of the month) and all the dogwoods.

Do not forget your garden machinery. Look over mowers, hedge trimmers and so on. Make sure that they are ready for the onslaught when the grass and the hedges start to burst into life again. If you are like me, and not very good with machinery it is best to get them serviced by a reliable supplier. As the saying goes, ‘Look after your tools, and they will look after you’.

Most of the garden centres will be selling fuchsia cuttings, and this is a good way to get the plants you want as they can be brought on in the greenhouse without much heat, although they must be kept frost free.

Chrysanthemum stools that you brought in under a cold frame in January should be making good growth and cuttings should be taken to be potted on. Watch out for greenfly and the dreaded whitefly that can also hatch out with slightly warmer days. Use a drenching of ‘Provera’ (made by Bio) as a precaution. Provera should also be used for lilies to keep the lily beetle under control. It is also useful for indoor plants to stop the fruit fly hatching out.

Towards the end of February, start of March, bush roses should be pruned. Use sharp secateurs. Cuts should not be more than 5mm above a bud, and should slope away from it. Prune die-back to healthy wood. Remove all dead, diseased stems and burn them. Trace suckers back to the roots from which they are growing and pull them away. Always wear protective gloves, the scratches from rose thorns can be nasty.

That reminds me, everyone, but especially all gardeners, should make sure that they keep their tetanus inoculation up-to-date. It should be done at least once every 10 years. It is available on the NHS and it really is important to be safe rather than sorry.

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