Frozen February Jobs

This winter, we have seen unseasonably warm days and even weeks, followed by spells of snow, fierce frosts and ice blasts. So your garden might not be on par with what we would usually see at this time of year. Here we have a few “typical” February jobs, but you might find that some of your garden is behind, and other parts have already started to think it’s spring!

Fighting Frost

Here in the UK, it’s still highly likely that we will be getting some bad frosts into February. This means that you cant strip off all your frostproofing just yet. However, with unseasonably warm weather in between frosts, we do recommend keeping an eye on your local weather forecast!
On days where we certainly aren’t due a frost, peel back your frostproofing and allow that nice fresh air into your plants, trees and shrubs.
Leaving your frostproofing in place on warm days can lead to your plants sweating, and may eventually lead to fungus, which no one wants to battle!

Cutting Back The Old

This month is the ideal time to cut back those late summer-blooming flowers, such as clematis, to make space for spring bloomers in your borders.
It is also time to prepare for spring growth. This includes cutting back decorative grasses, and winter flowers such as winter Jasmine and winter heathers.

Greenhouse Jobs

In the greenhouse, you can start to plant up some of your summer flowering bulbs. While it may still be chilly outside, keeping your greenhouse wrapped up will allow these to start on their growth. As we get towards the end of the month, keeping an eye on the forecast, you might want to start cleaning your greenhouse glass. This will help to increase the levels of sunlight to increase the heat in the space. If it’s still frosty out, leave this job until next month so that the frostproofing stays in place.

Water In The Garden

From water butts to ponds, February is an important time to concentrate on any water that is around your garden.
With spring and then summer fast approaching now is the perfect time to ensure that you have a water butt in place, ready to help feed your garden with nice freshwater, rather than having to use chlorinated tap water. If you already have a water butt in your garden, ensure that the water is thawed, and there are no issues with the container that the winter has worsened.
If you have a pond in your garden, especially one with fish, you may have started to notice some increased movement. So it’s time to ensure that you have trimmed any plants back on the edges of your pond, there is no debris floating in the water, and that any additional wildlife has a nice form of access to enjoy your pond too.

Lawn Care

We may have had a number of unseasonably warm days and weeks throughout the winter months, which has led to your lawn looking a little longer than usual at this time of year. It is important to remember that while we are still in February, it is not time to start sowing lawn seed or mowing your lawn.
With frosts still on the horizon, mowing your lawn now will damage your blades of grass when frostbites. And any seed you may sow, will not grow due to the frost. It’s best to leave this another month, even if you want to get started now.

Of course, it is still February, it is still cold out, and not everyone wants to get out into the garden to get those all-important gardening jobs done. That’s where the team here at Abingdons Complete Garden Services comes in!
Get in touch today for Garden Maintenance, and Garden Landscaping to get your garden back on track in 2022.