JANUARY/FEBRUARY GARDENING CALENDAR

[Sefton Paine]

JANUARYThis a month all about preparation, ordering seeds, pruning for spring and ensuring everything is tidy. I will make these checklists easy to understand and in priority.GENERAL GARDEN MAINTENANCENo walking on frosted grass, as this will become yellow in the spring during the first growth but use the hard earth to repair and reshape lawn edges.We should be tending the BORDERS, ensuring all leaves have been cleared, cutting back of the perennial plants, perennial weeds dug up, forking over of compacted soil and improving with home made compost. Dead, diseased leaves (Especially Hellebore) and flower heads should also be removed but watch out for emerging shoots from planted bulbs. Dead, diseased fruit from trees can be removed too as well as giving them a spray with washing up liquid, if they have aphids present. Collect any hibernating snails and take away from the garden. Any self seeded plants can be moved to a new location.Fruit trees should be fed now with sulphate of potash (potassium) and then mulched, especially if pruning.Move any pots to sheltered positions and see if you can keep them raised off the ground, away from Easterly/Northerly winds.Lots of feeding goes on at this time of year to, and Chicken Pellets can be sprinkled around the base of shrubs and hedges.Potted Azaleas, as they all should be, being acidic, need watering regularly, which is uncommon for potted plants, this time of the yearOther cleaning jobs include greenhouses (ventilating too), cloches, and canes, old vines from fences etc. and of course, our tools and mowers.The following is not something which will not be in our work but is nice to knowTender plants will need cloches over them, snow to be removed from evergreens and conifers. Turf can be laid now. Alpine plants can be exposed to the elements. Stored bulbs can rot, check but these should have been stored in dry compost with a light dusting of sulphur powder.PRUNING/CUTTING BACKRemember, all pruning should be done on mild days and all shrubs should be checked for dead wood, which should be removed. Yew/Privet cut back to 6inch of main stem. Dogwood, Buddleia, Cotinus, Willow, Catalpa, and Roses can be cut back hard and any greenhouse vines. Grape vines can be also cut. Wisteria, cut back to two buds from main stem. Blackcurrants cut 1 in 4 stems to base, concentrating on old and central stems. Ivy cut from gutters and window frames. Ornamental Grasses like Miscanthus, can be cut right down. Apples, Pears, Gooseberries can also be pruned (read about fruit tree pruning first though as correct techniques need to be observed) Snowdrops can be lifted and divided.FRUIT AND VEGWe can encourage customers to grow their own crops of which we would do for them and if so plan the crop rotation, potatoes are easy and fantastic.Clean patch of any old unused crops and possibly cover with cloche to warm soil for seedlings. Fill runner bean trenches, with compost heap contents, especially kitchen food waste. Peach trees to be placed in sheltered spot to prevent leaf curl. Strawberries covered also until mid-march. Cover Rhubarb with wheelbarrow or bin, this encourages stem growth, if too old, cut out younger stems and replant, throwing away old crown.Customers may want to order potatoes seeds, chit when arrived.Sow spring onions in greenhouse (preferably heated) border of compost and fertiliser; also sow garden fruits and berries. Digging up mint and putting into pots will force early growth.SOWING/PLANTING/PROPAGATIONNotify customers that if they would like Hardy Perennials, like Marigold, to order seeds now, also tubers for Dahlias and Canna. SummerPlanting of hardwood cuttings and bare rooted shrubs need to be planted now, with compost and grit. If creating hedge, ensure cuttings are 1ft apart. Also the moving of any shrubs or small trees can happen as they are still dormant.Hardwood Cuttings: Roses, Broom, Buddliea, Caryopteris, Cherry Laurel, Escallonia, Dogwood, Forsythia, Honeysuckle, Philadelphus, Poplar, Spireae, Symphoricarpos, Tamarisk, Vines, Weigela, Willow.Other Perennials: Oriental Poppies, echinops, acanthus, phlox, romneya and pulsatilla, root cuttings can be taken and placed in pots with compost, covered with grit and placed in a cold frameFor winter colour plant primroses/primulaBedding Plants/Half hardy annuals needing long growing season (Begonia, Pelargonium, Lobelia, Geranium and Gazania) to be sowed in a heated propagator (21c): Sow, such as begonia/Gloxinia (Tubers), pelargonium, lobelia, Geranium and gazania which require long growing season.FEBRUARYWe should be seeing the last of the frosts and pruning comes into full force, in fact many jobs must have been completed by this point. You will have noticed that I have duplicated a number of jobs from January.GENERAL GARDEN MAINTENANCEIn borders pick off faded leaves and flowers (especially Winter Pansies, to encourage continuous flowering) to prevent disease, remove perennial weeds, add mulch and sprinkle organic or general fertilisers, such as bonemeal (these are slow activators) around plants and emerging clumps of bulbs, sulphate of potash around fruit trees and bushes and sequestered iron into the acidic soil of acid loving plants. Snowdrops which have finished flowering can be divided. Cover Hellebores with cloche or polythene if available to protect from heavy rain. Finish digging over beds for sowing and planting and cover with polythene or cloches to warm soil.Check shrubs for any disease, weather damage, dead wood, removing these with secateurs. Move any shrubs and conifers to more suitable conditions ensuring plenty of compost goes into planting hole and re-firm those which have been disturbed over winter. Any variegated evergreens, cut out stems of plain leaves, as the shrub will revert to plain leaf. Check ties on trees to ensure that they are not digging in. Drop any heathers further into the soil by digging a deeper hole, filling with a little compost and firmingContainer plants need to be watered sparingly to bring back into growth and moved to a sheltered position, and raised onto feet, ensuring water drains away. Azaleas, water often with rainwater and feed fortnightly. Keeping them pot bound allows them flower more. Cut off faded flower stalks.Herbs in containers can be place undercover to encourage early growth as with Nectarines/Peaches/Apricots, which once flowering, can have their pollen transferred from one plant to the next. Get rid with owners permission, any container plants past there best, returning compost to beds.Lawns also get treatment this month, with a good deep forking, filling the holes with grit/sand and spreading loam based compost over the lawn. If laying a new lawn, this should be prepared now.Ponds: If water has frozen on these, fill two plastic bottles with hot water, attach string and stand on iceWash greenhouses if used for propagation, pressure-wash away algae from paths, patios, decks and steps, clean gutters, empty water butts and any garden repairs. Treat fencing and wood with preservativeIndoor Bulbs: If finished flowering, return to cold frame/greenhouse and feed with Potash liquid (not during frosty weather). Check Summer bulbs in storage for rot.PRUNING/CUTTING BACK/DIVIDINGPrune Hydrangeas once frosts have passed. Remove tall, old stems from Mahonias. Hamamelis (Witch Hazel) and any other Winter Flowering Shrubs: After flowering, prune unwanted, crossing branches. Pyracanthus: Prune back to within two buds of main frame. Prune Vines no later than February and the sap from Spring growth will weaken the plant. Prune Deciduous trees but not Prunus (Cherry or like).Clematis (Summer Flowering): Jackmanii/Viticella/Vitalba/Texensis/Orientalis groups, 12in from ground, just above lowest buds. If early flowers wanted, prune less severely. Prune Winter Jasmine, once flowered. Wisteria, greenhouse vines and hardy evergreen and tatty looking deciduous hedges/shrubsPrune fruit trees and bushes, mulch and sprinkle fertiliser (Potassium, Nitrogen and Phosphurus) and around all fruits including strawberriesRoses: reduce to by at least half to two thirds to outward facing buds. Weaker shoots even more but leaving those around base. Take out dead material and crossing stemsHedges from Yew Privet Forsythia Camellia and Beech can be cut hard into old wood, creates a much better hedge.Willows and Dogwood, autumn fruiting raspberries must be cut down to the baseTrain gooseberries back to two or three buds also blackcurrants as aboveCut away last years canes (Blackcurrant, Raspberries) and tie in new shoots feeding with high-potash fertiliser, shortening side shoots of those which are trained over pergolas or archesPerennial Clumps, these can be divided using the outermost, youngest sections, prepare the hole with compost and fertiliser and waterTrim down Ornamental Grasses to soil level, such as miscanthus, Pampus and hakonechloa feeding those in potsFRUIT AND VEGMove Strawberries from cold frame to greenhouse for early fruit.Vegetable Patch: Dig and Manure, preparing seedbeds for early planting/sowingCane Fruits(Bare Rooted): Plant now in organic matter. Canes need supporting except Autumn-fruting raspberriesDivide Rhubarb. Plant Jerusalem artichokes as windbreak on exposed sites.Sown in the Vegetable Patch: Shallots, just beneath the soilSown in pots: Chives and Mint RootsSown in Pot/Seedbox using seed compost: Peas and Lettuce. Sow outside in MarchSown under cloches now: Broad beans, hardy peas, carrots and parsnips, radish and spinachSown in pots in a windowsill propagator or heated greenhouse: Onions, Leeks, Basil, Coriander, Chives, Lemon Grass, Oregano, Parsley, Thyme, Celery, Tomatoes, Aubergines, Peppers.Seedlings that should be raised in the greenhouse now to plant out later include Sprouts, spring cabbage, cauliflower, celery, celeriac, leeks, lettuce and salad leaves.Chit Seed Potatoes: Put in shallow trays, with eyes pointing up, in light, frost free area, encouraging short but strong rootsSend of for seeds, bulbs, potatoes (slug resistant varieties: accent, foremost, Ulster and Cheiftan for first earlies and kestrel and Nadine for second earlies) and onion sets from mail order companiesSOWING/PLANTING/PROPAGATIONOrder: Gladioli, cannas, begonias, dahlias, and summer flowering bulbsPlant in Soil: Roses (last chance) inc. other bare root, applying bone meal to the planting area before hand. Lily of the Valley. Deciduous Hedging Plants, Fruit trees and canes (Bare Rooted): Make sure these are planted but soil must be dry, fertilised and mulched.Sow/Plant in Pots: Lilies, liatris, gloriosa, canna, eucomis, Dahlias, gloxinias, begonias, agapanthus.Soak: Anemone tubers for two days and plantPrick out and Pot up: Alpine seedlings from cold frames in gritty compost. Half hardy annuals plant into compost boxes, in good light and warmth. Sweet Pea if ready.Sow in Cold Frame/Greenhouse: Hardy Annuals in modular traysSow in heated Propagator (16-21c): Begonias, Busy Lizzies (Impatiens), Pelargoniums, Petunias, Cleome, Verbena, Lobelia, Ageratum, Phlox, Pansies, Antirrhinum and Tagetes , violasSow in Pots in Darkness: CyclamenSow: Perennial seeds in seed tray, covering with a little compost and applying gentle warmth. Sweet Pea (Lathyrus)Start: Dahlias by putting in fresh moist compost to encourage shoots for cutting, keeping at 16c.Thin Out: Hardy Annuals, if sown in Autumn. Use spare plants in border.Hardy Annuals: Finish thinning out if sown in Autumn if weather dry. Use spare plants in your borders.Repot: Ferns and HouseplantsChrysanthemums: Take cuttings from over wintered flowers and pot, placing undercover to encourage quicker growth. Potted versions should be the first to supply cuttings.

[Sefton Paine]

Colin. Thanks for the information. I originally created this for my employees, for when I am not with them and I had forgotten about what some of the text had said. Regardless, I will post each month hopefully, one month in advance and any adjustments made by Landscape Juice Members can be rectified/adjusted my end and ready for next year. Thanks Colin.