Gardening in February

CONTINUED OVER THE PAGE Gardening in February Dull, grey and miserable... an apt description of February? Or maybe not, it can in fact be a great time to get out and about in our own gardens and visiting others to get inspired for the coming gardening year.

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Long gone are the days where late winter was just the time to tidy up the borders and wait for Spring, or to sit perusing seed and bulb catalogues spending far more than you ought. Instead as the days start to lengthen gardens launch into life and the gardener is inevitably drawn outside to play.

First the snowdrops push their delicate looking but oh so hardy heads up. Whether you love the effect of thousands of naturalised bulbs or prefer to take a closer look at the flowers there is no doubt that these bulbs are charmers. Galanthus nivalis has been thriving in this country for centuries and both the single and double form G. nivalis f. pleniflorus ‘Flore Pleno’ are excellent for naturalising in grassy areas or under deciduous trees. While many of these colonies in the UK are often very uniform variation can be found in places like Northumberland where patches of golden snowdrops appear among the masses. For our gardens we can choose from over 1500 different cultivars ranging from the simple to the bizarre, from the tiny to the huge, with pure white outer petals to striped or green marked, golden ovaries, green ovaries, extra petals and even extra flowers per stem. The snowdrops are soon joined by a multitude of other bulbs including the earliest of the Crocus. The stunning white flowers of Crocus sieberi ‘Bowles White’ with their rich egg yolk yellow bases or the striking purple, yellow and white layered flowers of Crocus sieberi ‘Tricolor’ start things off soon followed by the more delicate looking but easier to naturalise Crocus tommasinianus. The latter are great mixed in with snowdrops in grassy areas adding shades of purple and blue to the white and green. On freer draining soils the miniature iris, Iris reticulata can put on a brilliant display with colours to match their namesake the goddess of the rainbow.

A garden though is not complete without scent and on a warmish February day there are a wealth of plants to provide it. Witchhazels, Hamamelis, are probably the earliest. Individually the flowers are spidery but on mass can add a wonderful splash of colour from bright yellow to dark bronze. Most important though is the scent which can be variable. A good combination of attractive flowers and strong sweet scent would be H. x intermedia ‘Harry’ with large light orange flowers. Not much to look at

but wonderful to smell are the Sweet Box, Sarcococca, a single plant more than able to fi ll a small garden with scent.

This has barely scratched the surface of what we can fi nd in the garden now. So, no more excuses, if your garden is looking bare go and visit one of the many gardens open to the public, the National Gardens Scheme is an excellent way to fi nd somewhere to visit, and get some inspiration to de-grey your winter days. n

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THINGS TO DO IN FEBRUARY This month there are signs of the approaching spring, with bulbs appearing and wildlife waking up as light levels and temperatures increase. There’s plenty to do indoors this month to prepare for the season ahead. Outdoors, as the garden comes to life again, it’s time to prune shrubs and climbers, such as Wisteria as well as evergreen hedges.

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1. Prepare vegetable seed beds, and sow some vegetables under cover Growing vegetables from seed can be satisfying. However, it is important to plan ahead so that you don’t fi nd that your hard work produces gluts and shortages. Knowing which vegetables to sow where, when and how means you can maintain constant supplies throughout the season.

2. Chit potato tubers Potatoes are generally grown from tubers known as ‘seed potatoes’. These are sprouted or ‘chitted’ prior to planting, particularly when growing early season cultivars. Chitting or sprouting tubers extends the growing period and leads to earlier tuber formation and higher yields.

3. Protect blossom on apricots, nectarines and peaches Most top fruit and soft fruit are very hardy but once they start into growth in spring, flowers and buds are especially vulnerable to frost and may need protection to crop well.

4. Net fruit and vegetable crops to keep the birds off Wood pigeons can cause a lot of damage to

plants in gardens and allotments. They peck at leaves, tearing them, often just leaving the stalks and larger leaf veins behind. Pigeons will feed on many plants, lilac, brassicas and peas are particularly susceptible.

5. Prune winter-flowering shrubs that have finished flowering Deciduous shrubs that flower in late winter, spring and early summer need annual pruning to encourage strong, healthy shoots and improve flowering. Annual pruning also prolongs the life of these early-flowering shrubs.

6. Divide bulbs such as snowdrops, and plant those that need planting ‘in the green’ Many bulbs readily multiply by producing offsets without any help from the gardener. But as well as taking advantage of this, it is quite simple to grow more of your favourite bulbs using just a few other techniques, including scaling, bulbils, seed and division.

7. Prune Wisteria Wisteria needs regular pruning to keep the growth and size under control, but it will also improve the flowering display. Although it seems complicated, wisteria pruning is quite simple if you follow our simple guide.

8. Prune hardy evergreen hedges and renovate overgrown deciduous hedges Once established, most evergreen shrubs are fairly low maintenance and need little or no regular pruning. Pruning, when required, is generally carried out in mid to late spring.

9. Prune conservatory climbers such as bougainvillea Vibrantly coloured bracts of Bougainvilleabrighten warm greenhouses and conservatory borders during the summer. These tropical climbers are suitable for large containers placed in the garden during summer but must be kept frost-free in winter.

10. Cut back deciduous grasses Remove dead grass from evergreen grasses Ornamental grasses fall into two main groups, evergreen and deciduous. Deciduous grasses need cutting back annually so that they will look their best. Evergreens just require a tidy-up. n

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Looking For Love

As Valentine’s Day arrives, we’re not the only ones feeling all loved-up...

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National Nest Box Week begins on 14th February so while we may be getting cuddly and snuggly, birds in your garden and the countryside are hunting for partners and suitable nesting spots in which to raise a family.

Spring is just around the corner so now is the perfect time for birds to start settling down. Some birds, such as bullfi nches, mate for life but others need to fi nd a suitable partner to help pass on their genes to the next generation. It’ll be a little while before mouths need feeding but fi nding the right nest site, building the nest and laying eggs takes a huge amount of energy.

First up, fi nding a partner. Hopefully you’ll have noticed an increase in birdsong; that’s the males declaring their presence and defending their territories. Next is the search for a site. Male wrens, for example, construct several nests before taking potential partners around these show-homes; the female makes the fi nal choice although males may end up using more than one nest by having a number of partners. Different birds look for different locations – blue and great tits, starlings and house sparrows look for holes (or nest boxes in your garden), blackbirds and robins hunt for easy-to-access but hidden sites whereas goldfi nches and long-tailed tits search for spots concealed in thick hedges, shrubs and other vegetation.

If you’ve got birds visiting your garden and space for a box, why not put one up? It should be high enough to be out of the reach of cats and sheltered enough that it won’t get the full force of either prevailing wind or direct sun. Sparrows nest colonially so a large box with separate openings and compartments is perfect, hide an open-fronted box for a robin in some vegetation and have a think about what size of hole your blue tits, great tits and starlings may need. For more information take a look at www. worcswildlifetrust.co.uk/wildlife-gardening

The breeding season coincides with a plentiful supply of natural food for both adults and chicks but continuing to put out food can give them a real boost. High-fat foods like suet balls, sunflower seeds and peanuts are great (but ensure that nuts are not available whole as baby birds can easily choke if fed them). A blue tit in my friend’s nest box a couple of years ago laid an astonishing 14 eggs – there’s a lot of energy needed to feed that many mouths!

If, like our feathered friends, your partner makes your heart sing, why not give them one of our wildlife gift boxes for Valentine’s Day? Our gift boxes have something in for your loved one and something in for wildlife; our bird box, for example, has a suet-fi lled half coconut shell as well as an identifi cation chart and a bag of bird-shaped chocolates. Profi ts from our boxes help our work to help wildlife throughout Worcestershire. Visit www.worcswildlifetrust.co.uk/ shop for more information. n