Monthly Garden Guide – February
Welcome to your Monthly Gardening Guide for February! Below you will find information on what I will be doing, (or trying to do) for the month of February. These are goals, not standards and some months I am on top of it and other months I blow it. But somehow, and thankfully, the garden is forgiving. Your garden to-do list may look different than mine, and that is okay. Perhaps you will glean something from my list and please, if you have any suggestions, opinions or tips & tricks feel free to contact me! I would love to hear from you. Now, let’s get our hands dirty and get growing!
Main Goal
It’s still too early to be planting much in North Texas, except for a handful of items. But a lot of planning and chores can be done both inside and outside this month. You did order your seeds, right?!!
Prepare
Prime importance for our Monthly Planning Guide this month is seeds! If you haven’t already, finish up your seed orders, here is a listing of great places to order heirloom seeds. When the seeds arrive, read the instructions on the packets and make a chart of what date to start each variety, working backward from the last frost date for your area. Here is a great chart to keep track of all your seeds, date started, transplanted and estimated time to plant. Germination rates—how long it takes a plant to go from seed to the first sign of leaves—vary, and in order to have the little guys ready to plant, you must start them at the right time. To keep your information straight, write down your ideal planting day for each one on a Post-It, stick it to the individual packets, and organize the seeds in chronological order in a card file.
To prep for seed starting, hit the stores and stock up on enough of the right growing mix
, seed trays
, and peat pots.
Great info on Seed Starting—> Starting Seeds Indoors
Check out this video on How to harden off indoor sown plants
Dig out your gardening tools; double check them all for wear and tear and replacement, clean/sharpen. The essentials to have in your shed: a round-headed shovel
, a garden spade
and garden fork
, a scuffle hoe
, a dirt rake
, a bypass pruner
, a trowel
, a garden thermometer
, and a wheelbarrow
. Garden gloves
and sloggers.
Double check on last frost dates before planting anything outside this month. Go HERE to check that.
Plant’em
Outside: Early in the month: Finish planting Onions and Snap Peas.
Mid-month: Cabbage, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, Potatoes
Late in the month: Leaf and root vegetables; Spinach, Leaf Lettuce, Chard, Carrots, Radishes, Turnips, Beets.
Plant cool season annual flowers: Pinks, snapdragons (early), larkspur English daisies, sweet alyssum, ornamental chard, petunias, calendula, Iceland poppies, stocks.
Summer and fall flowering perennials. Dig and divide mallows, gloriosa daisies, cannas, mums, fall asters and salvias.
- Plant fruit trees, grapes and berries. Prune trees 50% after planting. Make sure and stake/support trees.
- Most bare-rooted trees and shrubs as well as bare-rooted deciduous fruit trees can be planted now.
- You can begin planting perennial garden crops, such as blueberries, blackberries, and grapes.
Prune’em
- Bush roses, remove half of top growth-then fertilize.
- Ground covers, leave 4-5 inches
- Evergreen shrubs, to shape
- Crape Myrtles, in case you missed them in January do it now – do NOT top.
- Summer flowering vines and shrubs, only as needed to shape.
- Peach and plum trees, early in the month BEFORE buds, remove vertical shoots.
- Grapes 80-85%.
- Scalp your lawn late in the month. Use clippings in your compost!!
- Do not prune spring-flowering plants until after they bloom. When pruning, never remove more than 1/4 of the total plant.
Feed’em
- New trees and shrubs, liquid high-phosphorus root stimulating fertilizer month for first year.
- Asparagus – same as January. Harvest stalks for 6-8 weeks, then feed again and allow plants to grow untrimmed the rest of the year.
- Cool season turf late in the month – Wait until April to fertilize warm-season grass.
- Cool season color plants
Look Out For’s & To-do’s
- Put your pre-emergent weed killer granules down. Or your organic option.
- Check your weeds.
- Scale insects.
- Fruit and pecan trees – apply fungicides to protect from pests.
- Beware of late frosts or freezes – keep clothe handy and secure clothe all the way to the ground.
Dig in to more Gardening Posts here:
I'm married to an amazing man, we have 4 crazy kids, and 4 crazy cats.Pull up a seat, grab a glass of sweet tea and stay awhile!
- 3 Steps to Creating New Habits - January 10, 2025
- Winter is Finally Here, are ya Ready? - January 3, 2025
- Monthly Gardening Guide – August - July 28, 2024
Leave a Reply