Weekly Reminder -- February 21

A Check List of Timely Tasks

1. Spend time sketching ideas on graph paper and making notes on what is lacking in your garden.  Often the best garden plans are hatched in the middle of winter when you stare out of the window at a blank white landscape and long for the colors and fragrances of summer.

2. The time to start planting your first row of peas outside is only a few weeks away -- traditionally weather permitting this is done on St. Patrick’s Day.  Before you start sowing, sketch out your summer vegetable and cutting garden on paper, keeping in mind plot rotations and compass directions so tall plants don’t shadow sun loving crops.. There is still enough time to sow slow-growing annuals from seed.  Plant in a 2/3 soil-less planting medium, 1/3 perlite mixture and use heat seedling mat to maintain an even temperature of 75 degrees F. day and night.

3. The days are getting longer and brighter which encourages houseplant growth.  Start fertilizing your plants either by adding one-quarter the recommended strength every time you water, or full strength every couple of weeks until April when you can increase your fertilization program further in preparation for summer.

4.If the recent snows and freezing weather has damaged odd evergreen branches (or as with my sarcococca whole sections) it’s a good time to prune out the damage.  Some of my evergreens look really sickly, those I’m leaving until late April in the probably vain hope they perk up or some new growth appears.

6. It kills me to do it, but I now do throw out my paperwhite bulbs when they finish blooming.  They’re not hardy in zone 6 and I’ve tried coddling them, leaving the foliage to die and saving them for the next year with disappointing results --there’s nothing worse than forcing a bunch of bloom-free leaves.  I now shut my eyes and throw them on the compost heap.  

7.When there’s a warm break in the weather, and if the snow allows, check your perennials.  If the frost has heaved any up, wait for a thaw and gently dig them into the soil to ensure their roots are covered.