insideKENT Magazine Issue 71 - February 2018 | Page 124

OUTDOORLIVING
YOUR GARDEN THIS MONTH:
FEBRUARY
TOP 10 JOBS THIS MONTH
1. Prepare vegetable seed beds and sow some
vegetables under cover
2. Chit potato tubers
3. Protect blossom on apricots, nectarines
and peaches
4. Net fruit and vegetable crops to keep the
birds off
5. Prune winter-flowering shrubs that have
finished flowering
6. Divide bulbs such as snowdrops and plant
those that need planting 'in the green'
7. Prune Wisteria
8. Prune hardy evergreen hedges and
renovate overgrown deciduous hedges
• Soft fruit bushes: use fleece to cover and
protect the flowers and developing crop on
nights when frost is forecast. encourage offset production, shallow-plant a
stock bulb, or notch the basal plate of the stock
bulb to promote offset formation.
• Small fruit trees: cover with fleece overnight
to provide frost protection and remove
during the day (this is generally impractical
with larger trees). CUT BACK DECIDUOUS GRASSES
• Fruit grown on walls and fences (cordon,
espalier or fan-trained): cover with two or
three layers of horticultural fleece, hessian
or shade netting. This should be rolled up
during the day. Use canes to keep the
material off the blossoms. Remove the covers
as soon as the danger is over.
• Keep grass around trees mown short in
flowering season, as long grass prevents heat
being radiated from the soil.
9. Prune conservatory climbers such as
bougainvillea • Apply mulches after flowering – bare soil
radiates useful amounts of heat, protecting
the blossom.
10. Cut back deciduous grasses left uncut over
the winter; remove dead grass from
evergreen grasses DIVIDE BULBS
PROTECT BLOSSOM ON APRICOTS,
NECTARINES AND PEACHES
Most potential fruit damage can be avoided
by choosing a site where spring frosts are least
likely, but this is seldom an option for
gardeners. Plant fruit in a sunny, sheltered
position such as a south-facing wall – this is
especially appropriate for early flowering crops
such as apricots, peaches and nectarines, and
avoid frost pockets.
If this is not possible consider protecting them
with the following methods:
124
From the Royal Horticultural Society
Deciduous grasses, which turn a golden, straw
brown rather than necessarily lose their leaves,
need different treatment from those which
are evergreen.
Some deciduous species, for example
Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Ka