Desperate to find evidence that spring is on its way
My patience with winter is always wearing thin by February, and with the addition of a bit of lockdown cabin fever this year, I’m even more desperate than usual to find some evidence that spring is on its way.
Whatever the weather, snowdrops, aconites, Cyclamen coum and hellebores will bloom this month, along with scented winter-flowering shrubs such as Mahonia, Daphne and Chimonanthus praecox.
Be sure to get out and enjoy them, whether that’s in your own garden or on walks through your neighbourhood. Local parks and woodlands can also sometimes reveal amazing displays of bulbs, as well as catkin-laden branches, so stay curious as you wander.
The other great thing about February is that it’s possible to start sowing vegetable seeds. I would normally suggest sowing hardy broad beans and planting garlic into outdoor beds this month, but unusually wet weather means this would only be wise on very free draining soil.
Otherwise, both can be planted in deep pots of multipurpose compost and kept in an unheated greenhouse, cold frame or sheltered place outdoors to be planted out next month. Start chitting early seed potatoes later in the month by standing them in egg boxes or seed trays, with the ends with the most eyes (buds) pointing upwards, and leaving them on a cool, bright windowsill to sprout.
This is also a good time to get heatloving crops, like chillies, peppers and aubergines, off to a head start by sowing them on a warm windowsill or in a heated propagator. Sowing this early will give them the long growing season that’s essential to ripen fruit in our cool climate.
Towards the end of the month try sowing a tray of cut-and-come-again salad leaves on the windowsill to harvest just as you start sowing your salads outdoors.
Pruning is an important task to tackle this month. Finish pruning free-standing apple and pear trees and fruit bushes while they are still dormant, aiming to keep an open structure of branches that allows air and light into the crown. Winterflowering shrubs can also be cut back once their displays fade. It is easy to overlook Wisteria pruning while the branches of this glorious climber are bare, but if you cut back last year’s growth (which should have been shortened in late summer) to two or three pointed leaf buds, it will keep the plant neat and show the cascading late spring flowers at their best.
If you have left the old foliage and flower stems on perennials and grasses over winter, begin to cut them back in anticipation of the new growth that is just a few weeks away.
The other great thing about February is that it’s possible to start sowing