Gardening in February/March
In late Summer the flowers in our garden are really taking off. The dahlias are in full bloom and a rainbow of colour. I can fill my house with bunches of flowers and take them to friends and family and you wouldn’t be able to tell where I have picked from. The days are long and the weather is much more settled. I can get home from work and still spend a few hours in the garden and enjoy the last of the sunlight. Late Summer evenings in the garden are so relaxing. I love watering the garden with a gin in my hands and admiring all of the gorgeous colours. Usually by now the flowers are so big and beautiful I don’t even notice the weeds anymore! It is leading into Autumn but that doesn’t mean we need to slow down in the garden. Autumn is one of my busier times of the year for me in the garden and possibly my favourite too.
Gardening jobs for Feb/March:
Feb:
Deadhead flowers
Stake up plants
Sow seeds for Winter hardy varieties
Protect from white butterfly
March:
Cutting back perennials
Save seeds
Sow seeds
Plant out bulbs
Divide perennials
Mulch
Sowing seed for Winter hardy varieties:
Sowing seeds late Summer/Autumn seems like a strange thing to do to many people because we are going into Winter. However, many plants both flowers and vegetables, are Winter hardy and can handle frosts if you get them hardened off a few weeks before the first one. I have created some lists below of the things I will be sowing in Feb and March that will grow through the Winter. The flowers will build up their root system and build lush healthy plants ready to flower in Spring. The vegetables listed below can be eaten right through Winter apart front the peas. The plants will build up a strong root system and start to climb ready to flower in early Spring.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to grow from seed, you can purchase vegetable seedlings from our pop up store or your local hardware store and plant them out now too. I have put a list below of the things that can be planted out as seedlings now.
Seeds to sow:
Vegetables:
Rocket
Coriander
Lettuce
Peas
Radish
Onions
Mizuna
Spinach
Carrots
Beetroot
Flowers:
Larkspur
Nigella
Honeywort
Mignonette
Echinacea
Bells of Ireland
Scabiosa
Snap dragons
Fox gloves
Sweet Peas
Seedlings to plant out:
Onions
Celery
Broccoli
Beetroot
Cauliflower
Kale
Spinach
Lettuce
Cabbage
Need to deadhead your flowers but don’t know where to start?
Flowers like Dalhias, Sweet Peas and Cosmos are cut and come again flowers that want you to pick them. It can be hard dead heading because you can still see so much beauty in the flowers but believe me it is worth it. The more you pick the more they produce which is a great excuse to fill your house with flowers. Sounds weird I know.. but let me explain. When a Dahlia flower is starting to get a bit old the plant will naturally then put energy into reproducing and developing the flower head into a seed head. By doing this it will spend less energy on making new flowers and more energy on setting seed. Hence why the more flowers you cut, the more flowers it will give you.
To know when to dead head them you look for any petals starting to look brown or mushy. With Dahlias, if the petals have fallen off, it can be hard to tell between a bud and a spent flower head. Usually you can see the petals which has colour on it and shows that it is a flower bud but if not the shape is always a good indicator. Spent flower heads are more of a cone shape and the buds are more round and tight.
If you are leaving lots of flowers on the plant to enjoy while you walk around the garden and admire your hard work, make sure you still remove the older flower heads. Do this every few days if you can with some sharp snips to encourage those new flowers. If you don’t have any snips handy but notice some seed heads forming, just snap them off with your hands.
Lacking space but want to grow your own food?
Sometimes space can limit us from giving gardening a go but don’t let it hold you back. Growing your own food can be a very simple and effective way to save money and reduce food waste. Growing food in containers is a great way to get fresh veges into your diet this Winter and have them nice and close to your door so you don’t have to go far on cold Winter nights. Here’s how to grow your own Winter salad greens in a container.
The things you will need:
Pot or Container of choice
Potting mix
Vege seedlings: Any of the following - Lettuce, Rocket, Mizuna, Kale, or Asian greens
Watering can/hose
Wearing a facemask, fill your pot of choice with potting mix.
Make some holes in the potting mix and place your seedlings in them.
Firm down around the seedlings so they are secure.
Water in the seedlings and enjoy.