Top Tips for February 

 

Due to some sudden cold weather throughout the past few weeks, you may have to re-think about your plans for the garden.

 

Nevertheless, here's our top gardening tips this month, including some from Toomers Garden Centre!:

1. Protect your crop! If you're anything like us, you'll hate losing your potentially large fruit crop to birds and other pesky critters. Preserve newly emerging buds with nets to ensure plentiful supply of fruit & veg later in the year. (P.S, keep topping up your bird feeders, though. We wouldn't want them to starve.)

 

2. Step things up a size. Now is a great time to re-plant your houseplants into a larger pot, ready for their growing season a little later in the year. However, be careful not to disturb the roots, as you may end up doing the plant more harm than good.

 

3. Wet, wet, wet! It's pretty unlikely that we'll have a heat-wave this summer, but on the off-chance it's a good idea to start collecting rainwater, should there be a hosepipe ban in the coming months. Nearly all garden centres will have a decent range of sizes, with most collecting straight off your existing house drains, leaving you to sit back and, er, enjoy the rain.

 

4. Gentlemen, start your engines. To check they still work, that is. Now is a good time to service and repair your lawn-mower, ready for the grass-cutting seasons that are just a few months away!

 

5. Spread your seed. Sow tomatoes, cucumbers and aubergines, along with many other types of vegetables. If you fancy something a little more exciting, why not try growing one of the world's hottest chillis - the Dorset Naga. We can tell you from experience, it'll put most spice-lovers in their place.

 

Plant

- Shallots

- Spring cabbage, cauliflower, onions, leeks, lettuce and salad leaves (in the greenhouse, to be transplanted at a later date)

- Sweet peas: Pinch out shoot tips once two pairs of leaves have grown

- Hedging plants

- Lillies