February in your garden

Thorngrove glasshouse manager Chris is back with some more tips for February!

“Here we are again, another month gone by but here at Thorngrove we have been very busy dividing and splitting herbaceous, and we’ve also had our first delivery of bare root herbaceous like Hostas, Iris’s, and Dicentras. We have new plug plants coming in weekly ready for you to fill your pots and baskets for the summer, so if you want to know what we have coming in give us a call!

We have also been busy potting up lovely lilies and Gladioli. So while you’re thinking about all the beautiful plants you would like for your garden this year, here are a few things you can be getting on with this month!

• Prepare your vegetable seed beds – you can start some vegetables off under cover like lettuce, radish, carrots.
• Chit your potato tubers use an old egg box these work very well for this as they will help support your potatoes. Here at Thorngrove we have a nice range of seed potatoes. We also have onions and shallots!
• If you have any Apricot Nectarine or Peach trees protect the blossom by covering them with fleece.
• Prune winter flowering shrubs that have finished flowering .
• Prune Autumn Raspberries (var like Autumn bliss, just chop down all last years growth to ground level as the fruit will grow on this year’s canes. Or if your looking to grow some for the first time why not come to Thorngrove and buy a few Raspberry cane and give it a  go theres nothing nicer than going out into the garden and picking fresh raspberries.
• Divide bulbs such as Snowdrops as its better to plant these in the green or buy new ones from your garden centre to help increase stock for next year.
• Its not too late to Prune your Wisteria ,shorten summer pruned shoots further by cutting them back to within 2.5-5cm (1-2 inches) of older wood or 2to 3 buds.
• It’s a good time to get out and prune your Evergreen hedges and renovate overgrown Deciduous hedges by cutting them back and removing any dead or diseased branches.
• If you grow grasses, cut back deciduous grasses left uncut over winter and remove dead grass from Evergreen grasses.

Lawns

If the weather’s warm you may need to start mowing! Set your mower on its maximum cutting height, and only mow if the grass is dry. It is also a good time to lay turf providing the soil is not too wet or frosty – work from a plank to prevent compaction of the soil.

If you have trees in your garden which are staked, check the tree ties and stakes, replace, tighten, or slacken where necessary. Also remove weeds from around the bases of young trees.

Flower sowing and Planting

Lily bulbs can be planted in pots for summer flowering. Start them of in a cool greenhouse. We have a nice selection of these here in our shop and some lovely new varieties!

I love Dahlias so if you have tubers which you have stored over winter or bought this year they can be started into growth by placing them in alight warm place.

Gladiola corms can be placed in seed trays or boxes. Place somewhere light and warm around 10 degrees C or (50 degrees F} to encourage them to sprout before planting this will ensure an earlier display.

So that’s plenty to keep you busy for now! If you need any further advice, all you need to do is pop by and ask, and we’ll be happy to help!”