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 February,
is a challenging month for the avid gardener. The weather is
unpredictable, and it seems that there is not much to do. In this area, it
may even be our coldest month. But yet, there are gardening chores and
improvements we can make to our landscapes and gardens.
Indoor Plants
Lawns and Landscaping
Perennials, Annuals and Bulbs
Trees, Shrubs and Groundcovers
Miscellaneous
Tools and Equipment
Indoor Plants
 | Once a month, water your acid-loving plants,
such as gardenia and citrus, using a solution of 1 teaspoon of vinegar to 1
quart of water. |
| Check plants on southern indoor windowsills.
Low winter sun angles may cause scorching. |
| Resume a fertilizer schedule for indoor plants. |
| Remember as a general rule, plants with thick
leaves can take lower light levels than those with thin leaves. |
| Pot up a few clumps of crocuses from the garden
as they emerge. In a sunny indoors spot, they will develop blooms before
the ones outside. |
| Late February is a good time to air-layer such
house plants as dracaena, dieffenbachia, fatsia, and rubber plant, especially
if they have grown too tall and leggy. |
| Check all five growing factors if your house
plants are not growing well. Light, temperature, nutrients, moisture,
and humidity must be favorable to provide good growth. |
| Amaryllis bulbs may not bloom if they are in too
large a pot. There should be no more than one inch of space on each side
of the bulb. At least one third of the bulb should be above the soil
line. |
| Wash leaves of plants with smooth or large
leaves to remove dust and grime, keeping the leaf pores open. |
| Good air circulation is absolutely necessary for
cacti and succulents. Avoid placing them in hot, stuffy areas. Be
sure your indoor garden is well ventilated, yet not drafty. |
| Research has shown that some leaf shine products
sold for house plants can reduce the amount of light reaching the interior of
the leaves. It was shown that surfaces of leaves treated as such,
reflect significant amounts of light instead of absorbing it. Low-light
conditions, plus use of leaf shine compounds, could add up to unhealthy
plants. |
| Never fertilize a plant in dry soil. The
fertilizer could burn roots that need water. It's better to water plants
a couple of hours before fertilizing. |
| The fumes produced by kerosene heaters in a
small greenhouse may damage plants. |
| Avoid overcrowding in greenhouses and hotbeds.
Crowding can lead to trouble in the middle of winter when the ventilators are
rarely opened. Still, damp air encourages fungus diseases, and the soft
new growth on the plants invites aphid infestation, especially when crowding
occurs. |
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Lawns and Landscaping
| Don't forget wildlife when creating a landscape
plan. They need both living and dead trees for survival. |
| If you think back over the yard work of last
year and feel it took too much time and effort, an analysis of your site and
the suitability of your plantings is in order. Landscaping looks best
and is most easily maintained where a site has been analyzed for its natural
characteristics, including pH, drainage, slopes, sun and shade patterns, wind
direction and intensity, exposure to salt or air pollution, and so on.
With such an analysis in hand, you can select plants that work with your site,
rather than in spite of it. The result will be reduced maintenance and a
better looking landscape. |
| Place stakes in intended planting spots and view
from several angles to help you picture how new plants will look. Once
you have the plants ready to plant, always place them, still in the pots,
where you intend to plant and step back and view the whole area one last time
before committing the plant to the ground. |
| Consider planting plants with interesting winter
form or color so you can enjoy them next year. |
| Cold winds this month should remind you to order
evergreen windbreaks such as American arborvitae, Austrian pine, Canadian
hemlock, and white spruce. |
| Consider using ferns in your home landscape.
Maidenhair, sensitive, cinnamon, and Christmas ferns are good choices.
Ferns like an even supply of water throughout the growing season, so soil with
a high humus content is ideal because it retains water. |
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Perennials, Annuals and Bulbs
| If the soil dries out against a house under the eaves where rain rarely
reaches, water well during a thaw to prevent loss of plants. Remember
that plants require water during the winter to replace water lost due to wind
desiccation and lack or rain or snow. |
| Delphinium and echinop will bloom again this fall, if cut back to the
ground after flowering this spring. Coreopsis, heliopsis, and gaillardia
should bloom again in the fall, if seed is not allowed to develop on the
plants in spring. |
| Geranium seeds started now will produce plants large enough to transplant
to outdoor flower beds in May. Plant in sterilized potting soil,
covering them about one-fourth inch deep. If you over wintered geraniums
indoors, root cuttings now. |
| Start slow-developing flowers such as alyssum, coleus, dusty miller,
geranium, impatiens, marigold, petunia, phlox, portulaca, salvia, vinca, and
verbena in January or February. |
| Watch for signs of growth in early spring bulbs. When foliage is 1
inch high, gradually start removing mulch. Cloudy days are best, for the
initial exposure of the leaves to strong sunlight can burn tender foliage. |
| Pinch off early buds from developing pansies to encourage plants to branch
and form more buds. |
| Order perennial plants and bulbs now for cut flowers this summer.
Good choices are phlox, daisy, dahlia, cosmos, aster, gladiolus, and lily. |
| Ageratum, begonia, marigold, and petunia seeds can be started indoors now.
Sprinkle the small seeds sparingly onto moist soil and gently press them in. |
| Check stored bulbs, tubers, and corms. Discard any that are soft or
diseased. |
| Don't remove mulch from perennials too early. A warm day may make
you think spring is almost here, but there may be more cold weather yet to
come. |
| Order gladiolus corms now for planting later in the spring after all
danger of frost has passed. Locate in full sun in well-drained soil. |
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Trees, Shrubs and Groundcovers
| Deciduous trees with narrow crotch angles (such
as Bradford pear) are more susceptible to snow damage than are trees with
wide-branching angles as they have poor structure across the angle. |
| Ice damage to woody plants occurs when high
winds break heavily coated branches. Evergreens are more susceptible to
snow damage than are deciduous plants as they have more foliage surface for
snow accumulation. |
| Crape myrtles are hardier if grown as a small
shrub and pruned back each spring when growth starts. Water, fertilize,
and remove dead blossoms until mid-August for almost continuous summer bloom.
Withhold water, nutrients, and pruning in early fall to slow growth prior to
winter. |
| If you are planning to add shade trees to your
landscape, here are a few things you should know. Some types of trees
have roots that may invade drain fields, crack walks, and pierce foundation
walls, so plan the placement and species of the trees to avoid problems.
For instance, poplar and ash are known for cracking walls, and should never be
planted near houses or walls. Keep these species at the perimeter of the
yard. Maple roots can raise heavy concrete sidewalks, and willow and
crabapple trees can invade drainage fields with their fibrous roots. |
| Broadleaved evergreens can be pruned before new
growth begins this spring. This will enable new growth to cover the cut
surfaces and exposed inner branches. |
| Shrubs for spring planting should be ordered
now. Bare root, deciduous types should be planted while still dormant,
about 1 month before the average date of the last frost in our area.
Hardy, container-grown and balled and burlapped shrubs may be planted anytime,
except during severe, cold weather. |
| Check valuable trees and shrubs for tent
caterpillar egg masses and bag worms. Remove them to reduce the number
of destructive pests this spring. Tent caterpillar egg masses are gray
and varnished looking and form a collar around twigs. Bagworms look
somewhat like a pine cone hanging at the end of branches. |
| Remove honeysuckle and other weedy vines from
deciduous plants while the plants are still leafless. It's easier then
to distinguish between the weeds and desired plants. |
| Water shrubs in your landscape throughout the
winter if the soil is dry. Evergreen plants transpire water from their
leaves whenever the air temperature is above 40°. |
| Late winter is the time to prune many deciduous
trees. Look over your plants now and remove dead, dying, unsightly parts
of the tree, sprouts growing at or near the base of the tree trunk, crossed
branches, and V-shaped crotches. |
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Miscellaneous
| Check the roses in your Valentine's arrangement
for "bent neck". When your roses droop this way, it is best to pull them
from the arrangement and discard since recutting the stems will not perk them
up again. |
| To save time when the growing season is in full
swing, sort seed packets by season now. Put each group (transplant,
early, middle, late) in its own box. In each box, group packets into
early, middle and late subsections. When sowing time comes, there will
be no time lost searching for seed. |
| Thyme, a low-growing, woody perennial herb,
should be started from seed every two or three years because older plants
produce coarser, lower grade stems and leaves. Thyme seeds often
germinate poorly when planted directly in the soil, so it is advisable to
start plants indoors and transplant later. |
| Handle seed packets carefully. Rubbing the
outside to determine how many seeds are inside can break the protective seed
coats, thereby reducing germination. |
| Poor seed germination often results from
planting in cold soil. Seeds presprouted between layers of moist paper
towels may become successfully established when dormant seeds fail. But
presprouted seeds are fragile to handle. A planting gel can be made by
suspending presprouted seeds in a mixture of 1 tablespoon of cornstarch heated
to a boil in 1 cup of water. When the mixture cools, put it in a plastic
bag, add presprouted seeds, and stir gently to distribute seeds evenly.
Then cut a small hole in the bottom of the bag and squeeze the gel out along
the planting furrow. You have solved the problem of poor germination as
well as plant spacing. |
| To make old hay and manure weed-free, spread
them on the soil in late winter, water well, and cover with black plastic.
Weed seeds will sprout after a few days of warm weather, then will be killed
by frost and lack of light. |
| If you seek unusual glass vases for cut flowers,
try test tubes and beakers, available from hospital supply stores and
catalogs. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Offering a
full view of stems, they add a new dimension to flower arranging. |
| Insecticidal soaps can cause browning of leaf
margins and brown or yellow spots on leaves of some plants, especially if the
plants are stressed from repotting or transplanting. Some varieties of
begonias, impatiens, geraniums, fuchsias, gardenias, and nasturtiums show
sensitivity to soap sprays. Test for sensitivity by treating a small
part of the plant, then checking the plant several times over the next two
days. If a test plant wilts, rinse it off with water and do not use soap
spray on that cultivar. |
| If fungus develops on your potted herbs, cut
them back to encourage healthy new growth. |
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Tools and Equipment
| Repair and paint window boxes, lawn furniture,
and other items in preparation for outdoor gardening and recreational use. |
| Make labels for your spring garden.
Plastic milk jugs or bleach bottles cut in strips 1 inch by 6 or 7 inches work
well. Use permanent ink markers to write on them. |
| Start building up your supply of gardening aids,
such as plastic milk jugs for hot caps and orange juice cans to make guards to
stop cutworms. |
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