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Q. With the holiday season and January over, like many I know I’m keen to get the gardening season launched. If you garden at the coast as I do, what steps do you take to initiate a new growing season? Anything outdoors? Pruning?
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A. I agree that February, for gardeners, is a month of reawakening, anticipation and preparation. There are seeds to acquire, the first indoor sowings to be made, greenhouses and cold frames to clean, lawns to rake clear of debris, compost heaps to awaken and fluff up at the first hint of warmth in the air.
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I take time this month to watch for pre-spring events in the garden. I look forward, on bright days, to sheets of crocuses under the kiwi vines and raspberry canes, their open blooms an invitation to the first bees of the year in the garden. Garlic shoots will be rising. Broad primrose clumps will be covered in bloom, and the scent of sweet violets will perfume the air.
My preferred time for pruning fruit trees and roses is when growth buds show the first sings of swelling. Usually, that process goes into full swing later this month. The plumping of the buds indicates that sap is rising in the plant and cuts will heal quickly. Prune on a dry day during a period of above-freezing weather. Clean up thoroughly under and around the plants afterward and spread a layer of a nourishing compost over the cleaned area.
I leave the previous year’s large, faded flower heads on the big-leaf hydrangeas all winter, for the bit of frost protection they offer to the sets of new flower buds that develop below. By mid-February, it is usually safe to remove the old blooms.
Finding the best place to make the pruning cuts is easy. On the stem below each faded flower head there will be a pair of fat buds that will develop into flowering growth. Make the cut immediately above those plump buds.
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