In February everything is meticulously being decided, the worms are having top table meetings, the birds stirring and squirrels… well they are just asleep.
On the surface of our green, brown and grey patches, the beds seem a little bare and the borders look unfinished. Underneath it all, the garden is hatching its plans. And the work we put in now will echo right the way through to summer.
Take pruning. February pruning always feels a little dramatic. You stand there with the secateurs wondering if you’ve gone too far, or not far enough, or whether the rose will ever forgive you. Pruning now, while plants are still dormant, sets the shape and strength of everything to come. We have all seen those roses that think they are tress :). Roses bounce back with abundance, fruit trees reward you with cleaner growth and heavier crops. Shrubs don’t spend the year sulking under their own weight nothing worse than a floppy bush.
Soil. That giver of life we take for granted. Its really all about feeding what we can’t see. Adding compost, good compost mind. Leaf mulch or well-rotted manure now gives time for nutrients to settle in before roots wake up. We as a team, prefer chicken pellets or bio char, what you have will do. Your focus is nutrients to the roots just as the plants come to life this spring.
The soil structure improves; moisture is held better in the summer. Good soil means less watering, less feeding, bumper root growth and secures a better year all round.
Mulching in February is the biggest quiet win. Done now, before weeds get any ideas above their station, mulch suppresses growth early, keeps moisture in, and protects soil beasties from sudden cold snaps. It’s not glamorous work… no medals, but come July, when you’re not weeding every five minutes, you’ll be laughing all the way to the barbecue.
Green tips, to see the bulbs early growth poking just above the surface. Remove a healthy amount of leaves. Watch the Iris, Aconites, Epimedium, primulas and daffodils as their heads unfold for next years display.
The Hyacinth’s with their ‘vibrant’ in your face colour just around the corner. An Ali (team) tip, is not to throw indoor Hyacinths away but heal them in under a deciduous bush and let them unfold, it just may be a gift that keeps giving.
No kit no gig. Tools are the back bone of we do, we all have our favourite spade as I’m sure you do too. We spend hours, cleaning and sharpening blades, oiling the wooden handles, changing filters, mending and fixing. Sharp niwaki secateurs ensure clean cuts, and equally give us pride, nowt more pleasing than good tools. Well they’re good now, having learnt the hard way 🙂
Perhaps the most important task of all, is simply to look. To drink it in with your eyes, feel the wind and rain, against your skin and breathe deeply. With leaves (almost) gone, the garden shows its bare bones, potential spaces for planting, room for improvements and opportunity to shine through. We find it hard to sit, but we encourage you to listen as February often tells many truths.
So yes, it may look like nothing much is happening. But February flickers through, each little bud, each fresh growth in the green is a cluster of energy about to happen as mother nature sets up things quietly and peacefully, and a little bit smugly. The garden remembers.
Until Next month soak it up,
Ed, Alwyn, Ali and maybe you? www.hayneshorticulture.co.uk