Last updated on January 31st, 2013
I ALMOST DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START with the February chores, because our Northeastern winter this year has been…well, non-existent! On the downside, I worry the lack of snow could foretell a summer drought. But on the upside, my Witch Hazel, Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena,’ pictured above, is in full, fragrant bloom nearly a month ahead of schedule. Is it eerily-mild where you live, too? You can let me know by leaving a comment. Meanwhile, my to-do list for the month should probably begin with “Plant Palm Trees:”
Winter-Sowing: If you haven’t already sown your perennials outdoors in milk jugs or other containers, better get hopping. Most require a number of freezes and thaws, or “cold-stratification,” in order to germinate. In cold climates, you can wait until March to plant your annuals and vegetables. New to this nifty method of seed-sowing? Check out Winter-Sowing 101.
Seeds: Order these from catalogs now, especially if you have specific colors or varieties in mind. I learned the hard way that choice varieties often sell-out by March. And if you have extra annual and vegetable seeds held over from last year, make sure they are still viable before you plant them. My easy seed-testing guide.
Flowering Branches: Need colorful bouquets for the house? Clip the branches of spring-flowering trees and shrubs. I’ve been clipping and forcing the branches of forsythia and crab-apple since late December. How I force and display these brilliant blooms.
Plan ahead for March. Before spring — and utter chaos — arrives, order fertilizers, mulching material, stakes, plant ties, and tools if you need them. It’s so much easier to start equipped than to have to await some necessary item just when you need it most.
Save Your Wood Ashes. If you use fireplaces to heat your home — I do — you will find in your wood ashes a valuable soil amendment called Potash. I swear that regular ash-applications are the reason my lilacs and peonies bloom so well each spring. More details about this natural soil-sweetener.
Raised Vegetable Beds. Top these off with shredded leaves, as I do, and you won’t have to buy additional soil later on. A light sprinkling of nitrogen-rich soybean or alphalpha meal will hasten the leaves’ decay.
Screening. Before trees leaf out, take a good look at your property. Are there any eye-sores (like a neighbor’s trash can) you’d like to screen out? Now is the time to notice which evergreen trees or shrubs can frame your property, and transform it into the private sanctuary it ought to be. I used Thuja ‘Green Giant’ to make my neighbors disappear.
Pruning. Some warmish day when you won’t hate the job, start pruning your trees and late-blooming shrubs. Always prune with a purpose, such as: to get rid of dead or broken branches; to make plants more shapely; or to admit sunlight to areas beneath. In other words, don’t just saw off tops!
Houseplants need attention too:
African Violets. If you suffer from dry skin and a scratchy throat during the heating season, just imagine how miserable your humidity-craving “violets” must be! I boost humidity by setting plants on trays of pebbles and water. My easy, always-in-bloom program for this Saintpaulia ionantha.
Amaryllis. Cut away the faded flowering stem if your new plant has bloomed. Continue to tend it in the window. Feeding goes on until late in August. Your older plant might be ready to emerge from the cool, dark cellar; check the bulb for a green tip. My amaryllis growing-guide.
Bulbs. Bring the remaining hardy bulbs you are forcing out of cold storage, and give them a position in warmth and light. If you continue to feed and water after flowers fade, your bulbs can have a fine future in the garden outdoors. You can find all of my bulb features here.
Cyclamen. As some flowers fade and some leaves discolor, yank both out from the base of the plant. Remember to water from beneath. Be sure to feed the plant regularly, too, but only if you intend to keep its tuber for an encore performance next winter. How to grow and re-bloom this great plant.
Freesia. This is the big month for colorful, fragrant freesia. Water the bulbs daily, and be sure to read my freesia forcing-guide.
Geraniums. Those you’ve grown from September cuttings are probably setting bud now. I pamper mine with high-phosphorous food, at the rate of a 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of room-temperature water.
Petunias. Overwintered specimens, if placed in your sunniest window garden, will bloom with utter exuberance now. Provide food and water freely
Primroses. Your florist will have these enchanting plants this month to freshen up the window garden picture. Why not send yourself a Valentine of three misty lavender P. malecoides? This “Fairy” primrose will stay handsome for weeks, and while in bloom will require only light, not sun. I always enjoy a winter fling with primroses.
Sweet Olive. If leaf tips turn brown, you are either overfeeding the plant, or your tap water contains too much fluoride. Feed no oftener than once each month, and use distilled water if your tap is suspect.
Now, don’t forget to tell me: Does it feel like February where you are?
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Kelly says
You do a wonderful job with your posts! Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Why, thank you, Kelly!
Kelli Patton says
Thanks for the reminder of all the things I should be doing! Our unseasonably warm weather has me feeling like I should be outside digging new beds! BUT….I noticed that some of my wintersown seeds are SPROUTING! In early February in Zone 6. Are they goners when real winter shows up? I saved extras to re-sow, but I’m so SAD at the thought of losing those seedlings..
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Kelli Patton – Heartbreaking, I know. It’s been a WEIRD winter.
But…if your sprouted seedlings are perennial types, you shouldn’t have to worry. Even hardy-type annuals can manage frosty conditions to a point. (More about this in What to Winter-Sow…& When)
If you planted tender annuals too early and these have sprouted, you may very well have to re-sow them. Here in zone 5-b I always wait until late March to sow frost-tender plants.
Mind letting me know which seedlings have already sprouted for you?
badger gardener says
I miss Winter! Noting better in Jan/Feb than being snowed in and making yourself a cocktail to sip between shovelling. Last year on this date we were digging out of 20 inches from the Ground Hog Day blizzard. The same one that buried cars and stranded motorists along Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. We’ve only had 2 snowfalls all Winter and those both melted in warm ups shortly afterward. My boys are disappointed too. They’ve been sledding twice but no snow forts in the backyard and no Snow Day home from school. I’m not used to dealing with muddy boots and jackets in Feb.
Kelli Patton says
Kevin, the seeds that have oh-so-foolishly sprouted are the yellow lupines, cosmos, tall red bachelor buttons, scarlet flax and the ornamental kale. I’m pretty sure I reserved seed of all of them – just in case! I’m with badger – I miss winter. There are news stories everywhere about people golfing at our famous WV ski resorts!
Lisa says
Kevin – Your site is addictive! Everything I winter sowed in Feb. and March last year survived and thrived but this year I’m holding off for another month with the weather so unseasonably warm in the day and still dropping below freezing at night. The bulbs and flowering trees are way ahead of schedule – only to be frozen before the real spring arrives. But even so, I’m not with Badger – the memory of shoveling out from under nearly 30 inches of snow at this time last year is still too vivid… we get the lake effect bonus! In the meantime I will be punching holes in water jugs and patiently awaiting my next “House Tour” fix.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
badger gardener – Last year, we received 2 year’s-worth of snow in one winter. Kids used up all their snow days at school, and had to give up part of a vacation, as I recall. So maybe we are getting a reprieve?
Kelli – Those plants were mighty foolish! But some of them might surprise you, and survive a sudden onslaught of snow/cold. I can tell you that the lupins in my garden, which endured a freak Oct. snow-storm and then numerous bitterly cold days/nights, are still green. Cosmos is too tender to withstand any prolonged freeze — I’d wait until March to re-sow.
Lisa – Same 2010-11 snow-memory here. And our plowing bill, at $75 a pop, was enormous. Glad you liked the house tour. More to come, I promise!
badger gardener says
Kevin-I should appreciate the reprieve but it does dampen the feeling come Spring that we’ve earned it. Our schools hardly ever close, not because we are better at dealing w/ snow but because the terrain is relatively flat. I grew up in PA and still remember the treachery of driving up and down hills in a snow storm. Driving is much easier here.
Kelli- I love WV. I have family roots there an 1 of my childhood memories is driving thru one of your WV blizzards to get back to PA. Turned a 2 hr. trip into 6. I’ve skiied there too! John Denver’s Country Roads is running thru my head : )
badger gardener says
So I accepted the winter reprieve and went out into the garden today to cut forsythia and do some clean-up. I noted that my fall-planted garlic is sending up shoots. 1 actually did so in late fall/early winter, but 2 more are new. I threw some shredded leaves on top. Should I smother them or should the green still show through to get sun? Or is it a hopeless cause if we sink back down in temps?
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
badger gardener – Good news! Garlic isn’t the least fussy. Although I always apply a 2-inch layer of mulch after the bulbs are planted in fall, this mulch is intended to keep roots cold and unstimulated. But garlic tends to send up shoots until the soil freezes. If these are damaged by the cold, you can count on new shoots to follow. Fertilize the bulbs in spring, and your harvest will be a happy one.
Oh. If you apply mulch now, limit it to 2 inches. No need to cover the green growth.
badger gardener says
That is good news. I should have followed all of your steps for planting garlic in the Fall : ) They did get a big mound of compost when I planted them. What do you use to fertilize? I am such a “cheap” gardener that I usually use a compost tea but I don’t know how good it is when the compost isn’t actually finished (all my finished compost went into the beds in Fall).
However, w/ this warm Winter maybe the compost will be further along. I thought about actually turning the pile yesterday but didn’t want to release any heat. It is definitely not frozen this year.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
badger gardener – amazing that your compost isn’t frozen. Just how warm is it in the badger state? Here, it’s 36F, which is cold, but not as cold as we are accustomed to at this time of the year.
Garlic likes a high-nitrogen fertilizer. I should think that your compost tea, made from finished compost, would be ideal. In my own garlic patch I have used a variety of different organic foods, including Espoma’s 4-2-2 organic “Garden Manure.”
badger gardener says
My thermometer says 48 right now. We had a few days in the 50’s earlier in the week and since, mid-40’s. I heard a report yesterday that there is lots of cold air to be had in the North but a high pressure trough keeps pushing it back. Hence Europe and Alaska’s woes. I wonder how Canada is doing? It is forecasted to stay that way for 2 wks. but that is as far in advance that they predict. If that moves or disappears (whaterver pressure systems do) that cold air will probably come rushing down to say Hello to all of us.
Melissa Horton says
Hi Kevin, Our night was in the 30’s and it will go up to the 60’s this afternoon. I have been raking out old dead debris and pruning back overgrown shrubs. This has been the strangest year ever. We need our winter rains here in Sonoma.
Cathy in Cleveland says
Hi Kevin-
My greens (mustard, kale, turnip) seed packets say the plants prefer cool weather and to direct sow outdoors in the early spring as soon as the soil can be worked… which is right now. What is your feeling about when to put these into the ground considering our warm winter (5b zone) here in Cleveland?
I have been cleaning up the yard while enjoying the bright sunshine and watching the crocus and daffodils emerging from the ground. Yikes!
I also have a couple of plants I want to move in the garden. Can I do it this time of year?
Thanks!
Julie Fredericksen says
Here in Bismarck, ND, there is no snow on the ground. It promises to be 51 degrees today. This has been the pattern all winter. We have enjoyed many, many winter days in the 40s, 50s and even 60 degrees.
Stacey Kenkeremath says
This year, I have dubbed it “Febru-where-y”. Even for northern VA this is a pretty weak winter.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Melissa Horton – I didn’t know that Sonoma was enduring a weird winter, too. Yikes.
Cathy – Cleveland could very well get socked with snow and a deep-freeze. I’d wait until mid-March to plant turnips, kale and mustard greens. Ditto for moving any plants in the garden. But I can tell you are itching to get your hands in the soil…and that’s a good thing!
Julie Fredericksen – No cold even for Bismarck, ND? That’s incredible. I hope for you…and for me…this snowless winter isn’t followed by rainless spring. Egads.
Stacey Kenkeremath – “Febru-where-y” — LOVE it!
Erica says
The USDA bumped Cape Cod up to 7a from 6a this year, but we’ve been closer to zone 8. I have lettuce that I planted last October which sprouted and is holding steady at about 2″. I am also wondering if I could throw out some kale or swiss chard or arugula seeds in the next couple of weeks? Or should I wait until the lettuce starts growing again?
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Erica – Wow – hard to believe that Cape Cod, which is only 2.5 hours from me, is closer to zone 8. I’d go ahead and plant the greens, but with caution. Perhaps you can limit your sowing to just a row of each for now. The seeds won’t germinate until the soil temperature is fairly warm, and by then your already-sprouted lettuce will resume its growth, too.
Julie Fredericksen says
Regarding a rainless spring: I hope not too. The Bismarck Tribune published a U.S. Drought Monitor, North Dakota, map today on its front page. The Red River Valley (a strip down the eastern side of ND) already shows “moderate drought”. The rest of the state is classifed as “abnormally dry”.
James Lambert says
Yes, it has been unusually warm here in Seattle as well- in the 50’s – I worked out in the garden this morning – cleaning up the beds – my hardy Cyclamen are blooming and my Hellebores are finally blooming – they seem to be behind everyone else’s –
My tulip and daffodil bulbs are also peeking up out of the ground – my carnivorous plant bog also looks good – so I’m excited for Spring – will be attending the Flower and Garden show here at the Convention Center this weekend –
Happy Blooms to all
james
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
James – Cyclamen and hellebores already in bloom? Wow. Sounds like your growing season is going to be a LONG one.
Marnie says
The lack of winter has got me nervously waiting for summer. I hear the bugs will be close to unbearable if we don’t get a good long freeze. I hate mosquitos! Plus snow is the only thing that really makes me happy in the winter. It covers the dead leaves and dirty lawns. It’s pretty and peaceful. On a really snowy night you can go outside and hear nothing but the wind and soft falling of the snow. People tend to stay inside and cuddle up. I LOVE IT! The cold not so much, but the snow is delightful! 🙂
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Marnie – That’s my fear, too — bugs. Here, even after the most severe winters, the tick population is scary-enormous. Can only imagine how they will prosper after a mild season.
Fortunately it has been cold enough for nightly fires…and cuddling, too!