February Chores Saturday, February 5, 2005
By Denise Levine UC Master Gardener
February's to-do list is pretty long, but the timing of most of your chores really depends on the weather. Finish planting and pruning fruit trees this month. Save some of your pruned branches to bring into the house. Striking arrangements of sweet-scented blossoms slowly opening on leafless, winter-stark boughs are an immediate reward for doing your gardening chores.
Wait to prune until the forecast calls for a few consecutive days of dry weather. Pruning in the rain can expose your trees to diseases that will plague you for a long time. Make sure your shears are scissor-action instead of anvil shears for clean cuts. Hold them so the cutting blade is down, and for good measure, disinfect your shears and loppers with a weak bleach solution. Certainly if any of your trees are already diseased, disinfect your shears before you move on to the next one.
Keep pruning roses, but be wary that pruning stimulates growth, and a cold snap can kill tender shoots overnight.
Peaches and nectarines need to be sprayed for peach leaf curl. The nursery can help you find a product with at least 50 percent copper. Always read the label and follow directions carefully.
While you are out in the garden cleaning up, pick up fallen camellia blossoms and the leaves around deciduous plants and trees.
Weeds are definitely easier to control when they are small, so keep after them now and save yourself lots of time later.
Lemon-yellow violas, deep-blue pansies, cool peppermint-pink cyclamen and cheerful calendulas tempt me into garden centers this time of year. Great in pots, window boxes or beds, their bright colors are welcome on our many gray days.
Subtle promises of summer color fill bins in the forms of tubers, corms and bulbs. Dahlia, watsonia, lilies, gladiolas, sweet-smelling freesias (plant a pot or bed by a window or door for scented days) and begonias can all go into beds or pots now for striking summer vistas.
Seeds of early spring vegetables can be sown directly in beds or large pots. Scallions, radishes, carrots, beets, spinach, peas (both sugar snap and shelling) chard, kohlrabi, turnips, and lettuces and mesclun mixes prefer cool weather. Alyssum, sweet peas and just about any other seed packet that states "as early in spring as ground can be worked" can be planted.
Perennials and herbs can go into the ground now, too. Dianthus in all its forms, from carnations to fringed petal pinks, bring tidy color with silvery leaves to your garden and edging beds. Growing cilantro, parsley, celery, oregano, thyme and sage will save you trips to the grocery store and make cooking more fun.
Take advantage of rainy February days to plan your summer garden. Think about what worked and what didn't in past gardens.
Last year I planted opal basil in front of a bed of five types of eggplant. The rich and unusual color combination of opal basil with its pink blossoms and star-shaped lavender eggplant blossoms followed by the royal purples of the different eggplants was a happy accident last year. This year it is the starting point for a pink and purple edible garden bed.
It seems like we are having a mild season so far, so it is probably safe to start seeds for summer vegetables indoors. Growing tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and other vegetables from seed is challenging, but it opens up a cornucopia of possibilities. Nursery selections are better than ever but can't compare to the varieties available through specialty seed catalogues. Read directions on all seed packets carefully, and follow them. Seed companies want you to succeed, so directions are usually detailed.