Jobs for the Month: February
- Published: 19 January 2022 19 January 2022
It’s the time to plant wildflower bulbs in the green and all your saved wildflower seeds from last year.
The days seem to be getting colder but Spring is only just around the corner! Make use of your propagators, greenhouses, cloches and windowsills so you have delicious, organic veg for the year ahead. Some of the seeds that can be sown this month include:
- Cucumbers
- Broad beans
- Cauliflower
- Chillies
- Radish
- Parsnips
- Broccolli
- Leeks
- Tomatoes
- Artichoke
It’s also your last chance to prune fruit bushes and pip fruit trees.
It’s too early for sowing seeds outside just now as February can be a very cold and wet month with frosts and snow.
- If your soil is not frozen or soaking wet you can plant rhubarb sets, shallot sets, garlic and broad beans and all bare root fruit trees and bushes.
- Fruit bushes should be pruned before their dormant period ends.
- Indoors you can start chitting potatoes in egg boxes or similar and put in a light cool room.
- If you have a propagator or a warm indoor window sill you can start sowing tomatoes, aubergines, peppers and chillies.
- You can also sow radish, the hardy salads, spinach, lettuce, leeks seeds and early peas in pots, ready for planting out later. Allan Jenkins recommends ‘
- Wash old seed trays and pots; buy or make compost ready for next month’s sowing.
- Weed and cover veg beds in cardboard or black polythene to warm the soil up (old compost bags split open work well)
- Cut out the old dark coloured stems from dogwood (cornus) to encourage the new bright coloured growth.
- Lilies can be planted in pots.
- Lift, split and transplant large clumps of woodland bulbs such as snowdrop, blue bells ns winter aconites.