February is all about preparation and early starts. The soil might still be chilly, but there’s plenty you can do now to set your garden up for a brilliant growing season. Check out our list of what to sow/plant this month!
In the Vegetable Garden
This is the month to get ahead.
Prepare your seed beds
As the soil slowly begins to warm, start getting beds ready for sowing in the coming weeks. Weed thoroughly and spread a generous layer of garden compost or well-rotted manure over the surface. Fork it in lightly if conditions allow. When planting time comes, you’ll be ready to go.
Start seeds indoors
Seed trays are perfect for getting crops off to an early start. Once seedlings have produced a few sets of leaves, they can be moved into their own pots or planted outside when conditions improve.
Cell trays are handy, as the individual compartments help reduce root disturbance when transplanting.
You don’t need fancy equipment either — fruit punnets and yoghurt pots work well as long as you add drainage holes.
Keep indoor seedlings:
On a bright, sunny windowsill, or
In a heated propagator for best results
Chit your potatoes
Place seed potatoes in a cool, bright spot (like a windowsill or frost-free shed) to encourage sturdy shoots before planting. By exposing seed potatoes to light and warmth, you create short, sturdy green or purple shoots, usually 2-3cm long, within 4-6 weeks of planting. Encouraging a more productive harvest.
In the Fruit Garden
Protect strawberries
Cover plants with fleece or pop them under a cloche to encourage an earlier crop and protect emerging flowers from frost.
Prune apple and pear trees
If you haven’t already, winter pruning of apples and pears can still be done this month while they are dormant.
Flowers, Bulbs & Borders
There’s lots to do to keep borders looking their best.
Divide Snowdrops
Once flowering has finished, lift and divide clumps “in the green” to help them spread naturally around the garden.
Plant summer bulbs indoors
Start tender summer bulbs, such as lilies and Begonias, in pots indoors now for earlier displays.
Start Dahlias into growth
Pot up Dahlia tubers in a light compost and keep them somewhere frost-free to encourage early shoots.
Prune Roses
Bush and climbing roses can be pruned now. Remove dead, damaged or crossing stems and shape the plant. Sprinkle a slow-release fertiliser around the base afterwards. (Leave rambling roses until late summer.)
Feeling adventurous? Try taking hardwood cuttings from healthy stems to propagate your own roses. Read more about winter rose pruning here.
Prune Wisteria
While it’s still leafless, cut back side shoots to two or three buds to keep plants tidy and encourage flowering.
Cut back ornamental grasses
Deciduous grasses (the golden, straw-coloured ones) should be cut back low before new growth starts
Evergreen grasses don’t like hard pruning — instead, comb through with your fingers or a rake to remove dead material
Finish by adding a mulch around plants to improve the soil and retain moisture.
Prune winter-flowering shrubs
Once they’ve finished blooming (such as winter jasmine or mahonia), prune lightly to shape and control size.
Starter plants
Our selection has arrived! A cost-effective way to get ahead for a summer full of colour for your hanging baskets, pots, and containers. Simply grow them undercover now and plant out after the last frosts.
What to Sow & Plant Now
February is the perfect time to start dreaming of a colourful and productive garden. Here’s what you can get going now:
Vegetables to sow indoors
Leeks
Peas (for early crops)
Kale
Tomatoes
Chillies
Aubergines
Basil
Flowers & bulbs to start
Cosmos
Sweet peas (pinch tips once established for bushier plants)
Salvias
Lilies
Hardy geraniums
Japanese anemones
Roses
Fruit to plant
Raspberries
Strawberries
Rhubarb
Blackcurrants
Apple trees
Shrubs & trees to plant
Blackthorn
Amelanchier
Japanese maples
February might still feel like winter, but every seed sown and bed prepared now brings you one step closer to a thriving spring garden. Pop in and see us at Haddenham Garden Centre if you need seeds, compost, tools or a bit of growing advice — we’re always happy to help.