February in the Garden
The first signs of spring are just around the corner
February may still bring chilly days and frosty mornings, but there are hints of spring all around — bulbs pushing through the soil, birds becoming more active, and daylight slowly stretching further into the evening. While the weather can be unpredictable, there’s plenty to do both indoors and outdoors to prepare your garden for the season ahead.
Garden Maintenance & Preparation
This month, play it by ear — or rather, by local conditions! February often delivers winter’s final bite, so it’s best to hold off on sowing if the soil is waterlogged or frozen. When conditions allow, you can start:
- Digging over vegetable beds to improve aeration and drainage, breaking down large clods of soil. Cover beds with cloches or plastic sheeting to warm the ground ready for early sowing.
- Pruning shrubs and climbers, including Wisteria, hardy evergreen hedges, and any overgrown deciduous hedges.
- Cutting back ornamental grasses, removing old stems from both deciduous and evergreen varieties.
- Tidying conservatory and greenhouse climbers, such as bougainvillea, to encourage fresh new growth.
Top 10 Jobs for February
- Prepare vegetable seed beds and sow hardy crops under cover.
- Chit your potato tubers in a cool, bright, frost-free place.
- Protect fruit blossom on apricots, nectarines, and peaches from frost using fleece or cloches.
- Net fruit and vegetable crops to keep hungry birds away.
- Prune winter-flowering shrubs once their display has finished.
- Divide snowdrops and other bulbs that need planting ‘in the green’.
- Prune Wisteria, cutting back the long summer side shoots to two or three buds.
- Prune hardy evergreen hedges and renovate overgrown deciduous ones.
- Prune conservatory climbers such as bougainvillea.
- Cut back deciduous grasses left untrimmed over winter, and tidy evergreen ones by removing dead material.
What to Sow This Month
Most vegetable seeds sown in February need to be started indoors or under cover before being transplanted outside later in spring. Try sowing:
- Leeks, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, chillies, and herbs indoors.
- Peas, broad beans, and spinach outdoors under cloches or fleece for protection.
- Early parsnips in milder areas, again under warmed soil for best germination.
Perfect Planning
Now’s a great time to sketch out your garden plan for the year ahead. Think about crop rotation to avoid soil-borne pests and diseases, and plan successions so you can enjoy a continuous harvest throughout the growing season.
In Stock This Month
At Newquay Garden Centre, you’ll find everything you need to get started this season — from over twenty varieties of seed potatoes and onion sets to a wide range of vegetable seeds and growing supplies.
For more information on growing potatoes, see our guide to growing potatoes in your garden.
Cornwall Gardening Tip
While Cornwall often escapes the harshest frosts, strong coastal winds can still damage tender growth. Use horticultural fleece or cloches to protect early sowings and soft shoots. The milder temperatures here also mean you can start chitting potatoes or sowing hardy vegetables a week or two earlier than gardeners further inland — just be ready to cover them if the weather turns.
