Below is a checklist of things that can be done in the garden during February:
Garden maintenance
Install a nest box with a camera, so you can watch birds raising their broods in spring
If snow falls, knock it off evergreen shrubs, hedges and conifers to prevent branches snapping under the weight
Buy or make a cold frame to use when hardening off young plants in spring
Check fleece or other insulation is still in place around pots and borderline-tender plants
Firm back down any plants that have been lifted by frost or loosened by wind-rock
Make fat ball feeders and hang them among roses to attract blue tits, which will also forage for overwintering pests
Improve the soil by spreading garden compost or well-rotted manure over beds and forking it
Spread a layer of well-rotted manure around roses and shrubs
Sort out and clean up canes, plant supports and cloches, ready for use in spring
Prune hybrid tea and floribunda roses, before growth restarts
Clear away old plant debris from pond margins and scoop out any leaves that have fallen into the water
Remove pond netting installed in autumn to catch falling leaves
Clean and service mowers and garden power tools, so they're in good order for spring
Coppice hazel, cutting to the base, to encourage a flush of new stems that you can use for plant supports in a few yearsFlowers
Cut down deciduous ornamental grasses left standing over winter, before fresh shoots appear
Divide large clumps of snowdrops and winter aconites after flowering and replant to start new colonies
Prune late-summer flowering clematis, cutting stems back to healthy buds about 30cm from the base
Divide congested clumps of herbaceous perennials and grasses to make vigorous new plants for free
Transplant deciduous shrubs growing in the wrong place, while they are dormant
Pot up containers with hardy spring bedding, such as primroses, wallflowers and forget-me-nots
Prune winter-blooming shrubs such as mahonia, winter jasmine and heathers, once they've finished flowering
Cut back wisteria side shoots to three buds from the base, to encourage abundant flowers in spring
Prune buddleja and elder to the base to keep these vigorous shrubs to a reasonable size
Trim back ivy, Virginia creeper and other climbers if they have outgrown their space, before birds start nesting
Cut away all the old foliage from epimediums with shears, before the spring flowers start to develop
Sprinkle slow-release fertiliser around the base of roses and other flowering shrubs
Flowers
Cut down deciduous ornamental grasses left standing over winter, before fresh shoots appear
Divide large clumps of snowdrops and winter aconites after flowering and replant to start new colonies
Prune late-summer flowering clematis, cutting stems back to healthy buds about 30cm from the base
Divide congested clumps of herbaceous perennials and grasses to make vigorous new plants for free
Transplant deciduous shrubs growing in the wrong place, while they are dormant
Pot up containers with hardy spring bedding, such as primroses, wallflowers and forget-me-nots
Prune winter-blooming shrubs such as mahonia, winter jasmine and heathers, once they've finished flowering
Cut back wisteria side shoots to three buds from the base, to encourage abundant flowers in spring
Prune buddleja and elder to the base to keep these vigorous shrubs to a reasonable size
Trim back ivy, Virginia creeper and other climbers if they have outgrown their space, before birds start nesting
Cut away all the old foliage from epimediums with shears, before the spring flowers start to develop
Sprinkle slow-release fertiliser around the base of roses and other flowering shrubs
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