I always felt like pie was a trick. Dirty, nasty, good for nothing tricks that were only used to get kids to eat more fruit or to smash in the face of homophobes.
It didn’t help that my birthday fell just days before my older brother and that inevitably one of our birthdays fell on Thanksgiving. So we often got truncated birthday celebrations and a birthday pumpkin pie. Which, in case you haven’t figured it out, I hated. I felt robbed!
I’m older now, and my tastes have evolved. That doesn’t mean I like pie, but I can tolerate them more instead of crinkling my nose and running away with my arms flailing while I moan a sorrowful “nooooooooooo!” Now, I politely decline, or accept one piece of apple, sweet potato, or strawberry pie (for the sake of transparency, chocolate pie has always had diplomatic immunity in my mind. I can devour an entire chocolate mousse pie in one sitting and not feel bad about it…save the feeling bad from it part).
One thing I have learned about pie, especially apple pie, is that everyone has their own recipe and everyone thinks their recipe is the best. I remember at certain family reunions standing with my paper plate in hand before the dessert table, various aunts and cousins hovering like overly permed flies, my reflection convexly distorted in their cheap walgreen sunglasses. They’d all point a red acrylic tipped finger in the direction of whatever pie they brought and quietly screech “Try mine, honey! It’s the ginger peach, second from the end” or “Nah, you don’t want that one, Jujube. You want mine. That sweet lemon merengue behind the brownies.” Then they’d all cluck disapprovingly as I always went for the brownies.
But gardening is a lot like pie. You can pick up a hundred books on gardening (well unless you’re trying to go regionally. In which case you can only pick up like 5 specific to our region) and they will all give you different advice.
That’s mostly because gardening is science, art, and (once you get the hang of it) a good bit of intuition.
My aim in writing out these to do is to give y’all the best recipes from my box of tips and tricks along with the tried and true. February is a great time to get started. You can get ahead of the spring rush now so that you’re on track for a successful garden, instead of being plopped into the thick of it come May with a bunch of tarot plants you aren’t prepared for.
With that in mind, let’s get to baking for February.
General Notes
February is often one of our coldest months. But like most things down in the south, you can’t rely on it to be so. We can still get freezes and our last frost date is still tax day.
Hard freezes are still possible.
Now is a good time to add amendments, double dig, or no till layer.
If doing the organic method, adding fertilizer now is great and preemergents where weed seeds are an issue. Be aware that preemergents will prevent most self seeding annuals and grasses from germinating.
Perennials
If the soil isn’t frozen you may continue to divide perennials. I personally would refrain from dividing spring blooming perennials until after they bloom, but sometimes it cant be helped.
Be aware of bulbs that are coming up. I’ve crushed many a daffodil this time of year.
Shrubs
Continue planting and transplanting shrubs to your ideal spot as long as the soil is not frozen. Keep in mind deciduous trees will leaf out some observant of sun patterns.
A note on moving shrubs; fruiting plants will be less productive the year they are moved. If you have recently moved a fruiting plant and it didn’t bare fruit, give it sometime in its new home before rethinking the location. For the most part, fruiting plants need about 5+ hours of direct sunlight. They don’t have to be all in a row. Just 5 or more total.
You can prune Hydrangea arborescence and H. paniculata now for size.
Remove any dead wood.
Spraying with horticultural oil will help prevent scale insects from hatching and attaching. Adult scale insects still need to be removed by hand.
Top dress with compost and mulch before the mad rush of spring.
It’s too early to prune conifers, but broadleaf evergreens are ready for attention.
Roses
It may not seem like it from some of my other posts, but I actually do like roses. And now is the time to plant and prune.
Container grown roses should be planted a little higher so that the crown isn’t drowning after you mulch. Bare root roses should be planted with the roots draped over a mound and the crown above soil level.
Prune roses back hard for bush varieties (yogurt knock out roses fall into this category. But start to rethink knock outs as the rose rosette disease is really becoming an issue) and hybrid tea roses. English and modern roses need a little more size and structure, so prune back to 3 strong buds from where you want them to bloom.
Trees
Remove any dead or diseased wood.
Now is the time for coppice and pollarding. Coppice is the practice of cutting some trees all the way down to the ground in order to create new, straight growth. Trees that we do this with include willows and the colorful stemmed dogwoods. Pollarding is a lot like coppice, but typically on a main stem, or series of stems. We often call it crepe murdering when applied to crepe myrtles. This is another good example of the apple pie theory. Some people LOVE the look of a pollarded crepe myrtle. Others despise it.
Japanese maples are to be pruned now for size and shape. Bear in mind, sometimes you want your weeping Japanese maple to look like a character from the muppets. But it is better to have it look like a weeping tree that has been tended to with care. And never…I mean NEVER prune it to look like it has bangs or a bob. Except for when you want it to look like that. See? Apple pie again.
Fruit trees can be pruned now for size and shape.
Veggies and Herbs
If you made it through the freeze with your herbs and veggies intact, consider yourself blessed. And topdress with some fine compost.
If you did not make it through, you’re not alone. Start planning now. Look at last year’s rotation and remember to keep moving your veggies each year.
If you have frost cloth you can start spring cabbages, mustards, and turnips. Onion sets can be set out now.
Prune blackberry canes from 2 years ago down to the ground on single crop varieties and side branches down to 3-5 nodes. On 2 crops varieties remove dead or weak canes.
Prune raspberries down to the ground.
Lawn
Spread preemergent for crabgrass unless you plan on seeding.
The Take Away
Do yourself a favor and get a plan together in order to keep up with the springs frenetic and crazy pace.
Don’t skimp on mulch. It will save you a lot of time in the upcoming weeks.
Pruning now is ideal as you can see the shape of things and there is a low risk of spreading disease.
Connect with your garden. Every time you connect with your garden you are connecting to nature and to a piece of yourself.
Alchemy Gardens and Design 