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Gardening Advice and Helpful Tips

Your gardening advice for February.

Will Clark

Plant Area Manager

It’s time to get ahead of the game with Will Clark’s top gardening tips for February.

1. Top of the crops

Potatoes are the most popular vegetable to grow your own. Some very good early varieties in stock now include Foremost, Swift and Rocket. To get a head start chit now and as plants start to grow earth up. If you don’t have room, a container is always a good option.

2. Down to earth

As long as the ground isn’t frozen, you can start preparing seedbeds by weeding thoroughly and covering with a thick layer of garden compost to warm up the soil for sowing in the coming months.

3. Pruning time

It’s a good idea to prune late-flowering clematis. Cut back approximately 30cm from the base, removing all the dead growth above. Ornamental grasses can be pruned now too. Simply cut all old growth back to the base.

4. Divide and rule

Divide larger clumps of herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses by digging your spade in and splitting to create more plants. As well as encouraging healthy growth, it’s a good way to get some free plants!

6. Summer colour

You’ll find loads of summer bulbs in the garden centre now to start planting in the greenhouse or indoors. Make a head start now and your garden will be filled with begonias, lilies, dahlias and Agapanthus come summer.

7. Chill factor

February is often a very unpredictable month and the temperatures can get very cold, so make sure you stock up on plenty of horticultural fleece to keep vulnerable plants warm when frost is threatened.

8. Winter jewels

For a splash of instant colour and scent, try the evergreen shrub Viburnum tinus which has clusters of sweet smelling, small, white flowers tinged with pink. Hamamelis mollis, with its richly fragrant, bright yellow flowers makes another joyful addition to the winter garden.

9. Nest life

It’s time to put up a nest box if you haven’t already done so. With nesting time around the corner, this increases the chance of them being used sooner.

9. Sharp hedges

February is a good month to plant hedges. The soil needs to be easily workable, so avoid planting when the ground is frozen or heavily waterlogged. Planting now when plants are dormant gives them plenty of time to establish a strong root system before the demands of spring growth.

10. Joy of spring

This time of year is all about finding little glimpses of colour in the garden. The sight of snowdrops, crocus, Hellebores and primrose can really lift the spirits and give us a sense of what’s waiting around the corner.

Feature plant: Camellias

Camellias are easy to grow plants with glossy evergreen leaves and showy blooms in white, pink and red. Ideal for borders and containers, they give a gorgeous burst of colour early in the year when not much else is flowering.

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Ruth McNamee

Greenhouse Senior

October on the Veg Plot...

October is a great month to get ahead in the veg patch, writes Ruth McNamee.

Choose a sunny sheltered spot to sow broad beans. The variety Aquadulce Claudia does well from autumn sowing. Sow a double row with seeds 20cm apart. These plants should germinate, stand over winter and quickly establish when the weather warms. The crop can be enjoyed a couple of weeks earlier than spring sown seeds.

You can start to plant out garlic this month 15cm apart in rows 30cm apart. This can be left to next month if preferred. And there is still time to plant out overwintering onions. Make a shallow drill and place the sets pointy end up 15cms apart in rows 30cms apart. Onions are ready to harvest early next summer. Try onion and garlic in big pots and keep in a sheltered spot for the best results.

October is a great month to get your permanent planting done. It’s a good time to establish your fruit and asparagus beds while the soil is still warm from the summer heat. Rhubarb and asparagus crowns will now be available in the garden centre. Prepare the beds by removing all weeds. These crops will be in these beds for many years so it helps to give them a good start.

May is the month where strawberries flower so mulch plants with straw.

Prune early flowering shrubs such as the Forsynthia and Weigela.

Direct sow basil next to tomato seedlings to help draw white fly away.

Veg seeds that can be sown outdoors include courgette, beetroot and sprouts.

Lift and divide your spring bulbs and plant where you want for next year.

Check all foliage for lily beetle and greenfly and dispose of any found.

Gardening Jobs for January

Buy seeds to be sown in January or February.

Buy seed potatoes, onion sets and garlic.

Appraise the garden for form and structure, and plan alterations and additions.

Plant window boxes and containers for seasonal colour.

Protect vulnerable plants from frost and wind damage.

Firm in any autumn-planted shrubs and border plants lifted by frost.

Knock snow off branches, especially on conifers and hedges, if they are bending under the weight.

Check stakes and ties on newly planted trees.

Remember the birds in the garden and put out food for them, especially when it’s frosty.