February to-dos in gardens
Is your irrigation system on or off? In February’s cool temperatures and short days, plants don’t need very much water. So if periodic rains continue through the month, your irrigation system can stay off. If there’s no rain for a couple of weeks, run each irrigation zone once, then wait for more rain. With or without rain, your smart irrigation controller should adjust the schedule based on the weather. Check the controller from time to time to be sure it is working correctly.
Here are 11 additional gardening tips for the month:
1. Cool, wet weather is an excellent time to switch out overhead sprinklers or point-source drip irrigation to in-line drip irrigation. In-line drip systems are flexible tubing with emitters embedded in those lines. The lines are laid out in a grid, over the entire planting bed, then covered with mulch. This layout wets the soil evenly and deeply to encourage droughtresistant roots. Drip-irrigated plants thrive on a low-water diet.
2. Cover and protect cold-tender plants until mid-month in coastal areas, the end of the month in inland gardens and March in the mountains. After that, prune frost-damaged leaves and stems.
3. Continue planting natives and other Mediterranean climate perennials, shrubs, trees and vines. Mulch after planting. These plants need no fertilizer.
4. Prune flowering shrubs, trees and perennials before flower buds form. (If you prune flower buds, there won’t be any flowers or fruit this year.)
5. Renew your garden’s mulch. A 3-inch layer insulates moisture in the earth, moderates soil temperature and combats weeds. As the organic matter breaks down, it also feeds beneficial soil microbes. Always keep mulch a few inches away from stems and trunks.
6. Monitor container plants to be sure the soil doesn’t stay too wet, especially for potted cactus and succulents. Make sure pots aren’t standing in water.
7. Continue to plant cool-season vegetables: cauliflower, broccoli rabe and others in the cabbage family. This is also the time to plant potatoes, carrots, radishes, turnips, spinach, chives, chard, collards and beets.
8. If you planted a cover crop in your vegetable garden, cut it and turn it into the soil. It needs six or eight weeks to compost in place before warm season veggies, flowers and herbs can be planted.
9. Continue to plant bare-root fruit trees, plus blueberries, artichokes, strawberries, etc.
10. Start fertilizing citrus and avocado with organic food. Granulated fertilizers are easiest to use, but liquids work just as well. Follow label directions.
11. As weather warms, watch for stone fruits, apples, pears, grapes and subtropical fruiting trees to sprout new growth. Once you see new green, start fertilizing..
Sterman is a garden designer and writer. Her website is waterwisegardener.com.