February Gardening Tips
Early to mid-February is vegetable planing time for cool season crops: onions, Irish potatoes, radishes, greens, spinach, sugar snap peas, carrots, broccoli, beets, and turnips. Early planting ensures a good harvest prior to summer heat. Hold off on planting warm season summer vegetables such as tomoatoes, peppers and squash because a late freeze or frost will require repeated plantings. There is still time to start seeds indoors.
Now is a good time to select and plant gladiola bulbs and dahlia tubers for summer blooms. Cannas, daylilies, ornamental grasses and mums may be divided once new foliage appears in early spring.
Before buds begin to swell for spring, finish pruning summer flowering trees and shrubs. Do not prune spring flowering plants such as spirea, azalea, forsythia, or quince until after they bloom. Most plants, if properly selected for their space, need very little pruning. Follow these steps:
- Prune out any dead and damaged branches first;
- Thin by removing about one-third of the canes or stems at ground level, removing the oldest canes only;
- Shape the rest of the plant but do not cut everything back to the same height. Maintain natural forms.
Finish pruning peach and plum trees early this month for better harvest and easier picking. Pruning regulates tree height and stimulates new growth for the next year’s crop. Prune hybrid tea roses to induce new growth and spring blooms. Remove top growth 18 to 24 inches above ground, retaining several healthy canes. The older the plant, the more canes you should leave. make clean, sharp cuts just above buds which point outward. Postpone pruning of climbing roses until after their major flush of spring bloom. Many antique roses should not be as drastically pruned as hybrid teas.
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