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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Original poster

SO what are you all doing at this time of year in gardens?

74 replies

Stuckinstressville · 04/02/2017 15:11

I want to really improve my
Garden this year !
What are your gardening chores for Feb?
Bulbs?
Pruning?
Mulching?

Ideas please!

OP posts:
comeagainforbigfudge · 04/02/2017 15:24

Ooooh I was just coming to find/start a similar thread!!

No help obviously but will hang about to get some ideas too

Ruhrpott · 04/02/2017 15:26

I'm not doing much. Just been for a walk out there and found a part of my dry stone wall has collapsed. So looks like I am rebuilding that.

shovetheholly · 04/02/2017 15:47

Generally tidying things and getting as far ahead as I can before the mania of the growing season really kicks in. Jobs I've done in the last couple of weeks/will do soon

  • pruned my apple tree
  • sowed perennials that need some cold stratification
  • potting on perennials that I grew from seed last year
  • weeding out the early weeds (chickweed, grrr)
  • getting manure in at the plot so it's all ready for when I need in it April
  • moving a few perennials that are in the wrong place
  • cleaning out any pots I've used over winter so they're ready
  • enjoying the snowdrops Smile
WhoKn0wsWhereTheTimeG0es · 04/02/2017 15:50

Just cut back my autumn raspberries and dug out a stony grassy strip that has persistently resisted my efforts in warmer months when the ground is harder. Clear out my potting shed is next on the list.

MewlingQuim · 04/02/2017 15:56

I've been digging up some deciduous shrubs while they're dormant, planting some bulbs that I've been meaning to get in the ground since November, pruning some trees that have got a bit big and have been casting too much shade, cutting back dead growth on herbaceous perennials, putting down bark mulch and hanging up bird feeders.

I still have to get the shrubs back in their new spots (they are currently heeled in or in pots) and hang up bird boxes before spring gets going.

That's just the garden, I am refusing to think about the allotment yet....

AstrantiaMajor · 04/02/2017 16:47

I am waiting for my two Betula jacquemonti to arrive. This will complete my tree planting from my garden refurb. Currently too wet to plant the new grasses and shrubs so they are snuggled into a makeshift greenhouse I cobbled together from garden chairs and polywrap. Also waiting eagerly for the sun so that I can sit on my new bench.

Everything inthe garden seems to be sulking at the moment, including me.

IlPorcupinoNilSodomyEst · 04/02/2017 18:34

I've even filling the green bin today, my veg patch fence t the bottom of the garden is totally overgrown with ivy, brambles and a grape vine from a neighbour's garden and its threatening to engulf a whole corner of my garden! I'll fill the next two bins with the stuff as well, I might fill some builders bags and get the council to do a,pickup for me - they're very good here.

coolpatterngirl · 04/02/2017 18:46

I'm still raking up the leaves in our garden!

I need to buy some laurel hedging to motivate me to finish the front bed where the laurel is going.

I still have around 200 bulbs which need planting soon and I've bought some seeds to plant but not sure if the frosts are over now?

Shovetheholly, what have you sown lately that likes the cold?

coolpatterngirl · 04/02/2017 18:49

Oh, and I bought some new rose bushes, a raspberry and a black currant bush to plant.

Original poster
Stuckinstressville · 04/02/2017 19:52

cool what bulbs are you planting? Some of the alliums I planted last autumn are already 6inches up...
My hebes are looking sad- no idea why!
Want a fence climber with flowers.... rampant- any ideas? Is a passiflora suitable?

OP posts:
ChuckSnowballs · 04/02/2017 20:00

I am planning on where to put my new tree:). Also what has had its day and what can move. And going looking to see what is coming up and where. The odd bit of forgotten pruning.

traviata · 04/02/2017 20:33

I meant to move some perennials but I failed to mark them.. Why did I think I would remember not only where they are but what they are?

I've added an orange climbing rose to my warm border, and finally found a place to put the lilac that I bought on impulse last summer which has been sitting in its pot for months. The ground is still a bit cold, but the buds are showing already so I thought best to get it in.

I've also put some dahlia tubers into pots to get them started, and put loads of compost mulch over my newly cleared border area, and weeded.

Next job is to fix some more wires for training along a wall, then I will do some pruning at the end of the month - we're due some more frosts and sub-zero temperatures, so I'm leaving it for now.

traviata · 04/02/2017 20:35

I haven't had much luck with passiflora - it has been rampant, but long and stringy rather than dense.

what about a clematis?

Palomb · 05/02/2017 09:19

I've got a ton of compost i need to seive and use as s mulch and the next compost bin needs turning butbits massive so I keep putting it off.

I sowed some seeds on Friday and now have propagaters dotted around the place. All perennials. No idea where I'll plant them all if they all come up!

MaudOnceMore · 07/02/2017 01:06

I've been cutting the dead stems from perennials - those with some structural value, like phlomis, can stay but anything collapsed or tatty has gone. I also need to refill the bird feeders and shift a few things around. There's an inexplicably empty spot and I almost decided today to plant a rose in it, but I've done this sort of thing before and realised too late that I've plonked one plant on top of another. I've also just had my first online plant shopping splurge.

How about honeysuckle or clematis Montana for rampant fence coverage?

Twittery · 07/02/2017 01:13

I'm not doing much in the garden apart from admiring my beautiful snowdrops and disparing at my mossy lawn.

Twittery · 07/02/2017 01:16

My hebes are looking sad- no idea why!

I've tried and tried with hebes but have decided we just don't get along. I tried all the YouTube pruning tips but they still end up leggy and ugly. They've now been banished. Life's too short for tricky plants especially when you don't really know what you are doing.

ChuckSnowballs · 07/02/2017 07:52

disparing at my mossy lawn

I love a mossy lawn - so lovely and soft in the summer.

shovetheholly · 07/02/2017 08:05

Mine is now so mossy, I'm thinking of pulling out the grass and pretending it was intentionally Japanese. Grin

MaudOnceMore · 07/02/2017 08:08

That's the endearing/infuriating thing about moss - it's greener and more luxuriant than the grass!

Hemlock2013 · 07/02/2017 08:13

Does anyone have a fool proof tip for getting rid of vine weed? It overruns my veg patch.

Last year I dug it all out as far as I could in spring and that did make a difference but it's still there.. 😬

shovetheholly · 07/02/2017 08:16

Do you mean bindweed?

It's a bugger. I had an infestation of it at my allotment. Buying a horihori and getting right down to the roots (which are the devil's spaghetti) is vital - if you just pull off the green tops, it will resprout. In fact, it can regenerate from any tiny piece of root, so digging may be necessary to eradicate it - followed by a period of constant vigilance to keep it at bay. I am winning my battle against it, but it's been a long and vicious fight Grin

Secretspillernamechange · 07/02/2017 08:19

I'm planning an epic gardening day on Sunday having neglected it since before Christmas. On my list is:
Dig over the vegetable bed and level it
Tidy the front - I still haven't completely removed last year's growth from some of my perennials, and the lawn is full of chives.
Wash down the greenhouse and tidy the pots.
Karcher the patio
Mark off an area to become another flower bed
Re-construct the barrier that keeps BigDog off my vegetables
Tame the berberis.

Hemlock2013 · 07/02/2017 08:21

Bind weed yes! I actually typed that first then thought it looked wrong and went with vine! Grin

So if you have veg in the bind weed patch do you dig around or leave the whole area clear for a year to get to the bottom of it?

I'm so sick of it!!! I'd forgo veg for a year if needed

WhoKn0wsWhereTheTimeG0es · 07/02/2017 08:33

I've reached an impasse with bindweed both at home and at the allotment. I remove it, it comes back, ad infinitum, but I do find that so long as I keep removing the strands (I quite like pulling an armful out) it keeps on top of it. I remive every bit of root I find when I clear a bed but I know I'll never torally get rid. The main thing I watch out for is strands sneaking off through grass to infest a new area.