Well I think you'll agree that there has been quite strange weather in a lot of locations during January. Will February be the same? Assuming that the weather will not be too far detached from a regular February what are your usual essential tasks to be performed?
I plan on finishing my new beds, making new ones,cleaning and clearing out old plants dried plants.Getting seeds started in green house.
Just too tired to think straight at the moment. :-? I'll get back to you on this one. I'm off for a shower!!!
I need to get old debris cleaned out and dig the garden and flower beds and get them ready for planting. We can't plant frost tender things until April. Though we have mild winters frost sneaks up on you until then. We need to repair the greenhouse. The summer sun and wind ruined the plastic. We're planning something rigid this year. I need to order some seeds or think about what I want and have room to plant. I might just go to the nursery and buy some things, too. They have lots of bare root stuff coming out now. Dooley
If you read the old farmers almanac right, we are due for a blizzard in a couple of weeks around here. Since I don't read the almanac, I should be ok. So my main task is to bring home several truckloads of shredded tree to mulch down my reshaped beds. Then I'll need to work some Bunny Mulch into my raised beds, and I really Must find a way to contain my raspberry vines before they pop out new growth. I'm ordering a couple of patio blueberries, too. The ground here is too dry for them, but I can keep pots about right. And I'm hoping garage sales will start popping up so I can scout out some big pots.
I get to go out and start trimming back the grape arbor, whenever it looks nice and sunny enough that I don't mind my hands freezing a bit. Also need to get my little pots/pellets/whatever figured out so I can start some seeds going. Picking up lots of branches and debris around the property, a little at a time too.
I go out and check for deer damage. I also have a couple of fences to check. If I see any damage I will probably spray again.
In Michigan the only February gardening tasks for me is dreaming of spring. Too cold and snowy for anything else.
Seed starting time. I did sow quite a lot today, tomatos, chillis, peppers and aubergenes. Over the next couple of weeks I will complete these sowings, and also start to sow hardy annual flowers. I will plant my first row of very early potatos on the allotment and protect them with a double layer of fleece. I need to rebuild my fruit cage, construct a brassica cage for this coming year and replace the roof on my tomato house on the allotment. In the garden, just a general tidy really - cut the grass if we have a prolonged dry spell and clean out the leaves from the pond.
Plant summer flowering bulbs, clean out existing beds, rake leaves, start seeds, work on new beds, all, of course, depending on the rain. The grass also needs cutting, already. I ususally have most of this done by now, but it has been way too wet and it is raining now through tomorrow.
I might not get much, if anything, done in February since the forecast is for wet and cold a good portion of the month. What I really need to do is some tree pruning so there isn't as much shade in certain areas and to make room for a re-do of my potting area. Then I can start the seeds I have. But if all the things I want/need to be doing out there have to wait until March because of the rain I am not going to complain...at least this year we are getting rain.
We must get this back fence finshed and then we want to move some plants to new locations while they're still, more or less, dormant. Weed the flower beds. At the end of the month we will put down some of our 'Black Gold' (home-made compost) to give everything a boost as they start to grow after winter. I want to plant sweet peas but I think it's maybe a job for March - we'll see what the weather is like though. MUST get my tomato seeds in without fail. I've already started some petunias in mini greenhouses I've made for them. :-D All our tools will need sharpening for the new growing season too and clear the pond of any debris.
Make paper pots, drill holes in clear tub for winter sowing, Sow seeds under wintersowing guidelines . . . Hopefully, get the cinderblocks to outline the new plots and put down newspaper and leaves til I can buy dirt. Pray! that everything grows
I appears that Sunday and Monday will both be in the 50's with no rain or wintry mix. I think we need to use Sunday to get my old potting area cleared out so I can re-do it. So many volunteer trees have come up over the years along the fence and since they were providing privacy I ignorned them. But I noticed last summer that they were creating too much shade over the established beds. So they must be trimmed back and some taken down completely. Guess I had better plan on making a hearty breakfast for Randy Sunday morning cause I am gonna be working his tushie off out back. :-D
Our Feb. weather is much like Polly's. So I will throw another log on the fire and look through a seed catalog and doze off for a dream of warm weather!
