February garden tips
February garden tips
WITH the first month of the new year almost over, you are probably starting to think about what your garden needs for February. While it is still hot and very much summer in February, it is a good time to start thinking about planning for autumn. February is a really great time to do some maintenance to prepare for the upcoming autumn months. Make sure your compost heaps are ready to receive the constant stream of leaves autumn sheds every year.
Cutting edge
Don’t allow your lawn to become too long and then mow too short. The hot weather can harm the delicate lower parts of plants, so keeping your lawn a little longer than usual allows the leaf growth to protect the grass roots and soil. Collect rainwater and harvest grey water from household use for your garden as in the next month watering, mulching and feeding are very important.
Flowers
February is the time to start pruning summer flowering shrubs like Plumbago, Potato bush, Honeysuckle, Durantas. Make sure your pruning shears are ready and in good nick so you can use them to dead head annuals and perennials to encourage them to keep on flowering. Many summer flowering annuals start coming to the end of their flowering season and need to be removed. Don't forget to allow some of your favourite annuals to go to seed to give you seeds to plant in seedling trays for next season. While getting a head start on the coming season is good, beware of planting some things too early. Do not plant winter annuals until the worst of the heat is over as they don't like the heat. Instead, try planting another batch of petunias, marigolds or vincas. They will still give you lots of pleasure before winter. Sweet peas must be sown early to make sure of good strong plants and many flowers.
Look after the soil
Adding mulch and other organic matter, be it compost you have made from collecting your cuttings and vegetable waste from the kitchen or even store bought compost, helps prevent water loss from the soil. Adding any water retentive matter helps prevent water from evaporating before it has a chance to be absorbed by the plants.
Spraying
If you have roses in your garden remember to keep them well watered over this hot period and spray weekly against fungi when you do get the rain. Pay particular attention to red spider mites on your roses. Use a magnifying glass to check the undersides of the leaves. Be on the lookout for fungal infections like fairy ring, dollar spot and brown patches on your lawn. Lookout for mole crickets, ants and harvester termites. Pop into your local accredited garden centre to pick up everything you need.
