Gardening Bytes

Archive for February, 2012

Some of the typical activities in February involve improving your garden for the coming spring. Purchase summer bulbs and plant them for a great display in your garden. Summer bulbs to consider planting include agapanthus, canna, dahlias and lilies. Start begonias indoors or in a greenhouse to plant out when the weather warms up. Start baiting for snails and slugs before they damage the new growth coming up in spring. A natural method for disposing of snails is to gather them in a bucket with a strong solution of salt water, the salt will dispatch them. Add fertilizer to your specialized plants as we head into spring. Wait until the final frost to plant out new fruit plants and vegetable starts. Now is a good time to plant out trees, consider planting maple, ginkgo, or flowering cherry or plum trees, they will add leaf color and colorful blooms to your garden. When the weather warms start a clean up of your garden by weeding and trimming back frost damage if you haven’t done so already. Wait until heavy frosts are finished to do major pruning of shrubs and trees.

Water your container plants when temps are expected to dip below freezing the next morning, the water keeps the plant roots from going below 32 degrees. When water freezes, it releases heat, acting as an insulator to plant root systems during cold weather. In-ground plants need mulching during winter to help protect them against frost. Plants that are budding ready to bloom have a bigger chance of dropping buds when spring is near and heavy frosts occur. To protect fragile plants use an old sheet or commercial frost cover. Do not use plastic only as a protective cover since plastic heats up considerably when the sun hits it and can burn plants. Plastic can be used over a piece of cloth for added warmth for plants. Remove cloth and plastic first thing in the morning to keep condensation from forming and damaging the plant the next night during a freeze. Use burlap to surround your plants. Create an insulation barrier around your plants to protect them from freezes. Place wooden stakes around the perimeter of your plant then wrap burlap around the outside of the stakes. Use leaves or hay inside the area of the burlap next to the plant to help insulate them. Remove the wrap and insulation the next morning so the plants receive needed sunlight. Bring in container plants that are outdoors when frost is imminent, or move container plants into a greenhouse when available to protect plants. Use use quick hoops to cover vegetables in your garden during freezing weather. Hoops are a tunnel shaped device with a cover that can act as a greenhouse to cover your vegetable crop. Plant low lying, dense ground cover surrounding the base of tender shrubs, the ground cover acts as mulch during colder weather.

Indeterminate tomatoes take up more space and produce more fruit than Determinate type tomatoes. Indeterminate tomatoes will set fruit early if you pinch off the tips of the main tomato stem in early summer. Determinate tomatoes set and ripen the tomato fruit all at the same time if you are looking for a big yield for sauce.

Use black or clear plastic over the tomato growing area to heat the ground for your new tomato plants. Tomatoes love heat and the added warmth will equal earlier tomatoes to harvest. Mulch your tomatoes later once planted after the ground warms up from the plastic covering.

Plant your tomatoes deep to establish a stronger root ball, farther than they are planted in their pot. Strip the leaves along the stem to create a strong plant. Tomatoes can develop roots all along their stems if you plant them deeply.

Don’t plant out tomatoes too early. Tomatoes need warmer nighttime temps of 55° F (13°C) or above to flower and produce fruit.

Once tomato plants are established at 3 feet tall be sure to remove the leaves from the bottom 1 inch of the stem to avoid fungus problems.

Water your tomatoes regularly and evenly to avoid fruit splitting, drying out and Blossom End Rot.

Harvest the tomatoes regularly so new tomatoes may form and old tomatoes do not stay on the vine sapping energy from the rest of the tomatoes.

Watch for frosts because tomato plants will not withstand frost. When frosts begin it is time to harvest all the tomatoes, even the green tomatoes. For your green tomatoes find green tomato chutney and fried green tomatoes recipes to use them up.

This UK gardening infographic gives you the lowdown on how to grow your own vegetable garden. Find out what the most typical vegetables are grown in a home garden, methods of growing vegetables, and statistics for UK gardening.

Click on the image below to get a close up look at the full sized gardening infographic.

Grow your own infographic from LoveTheGarden.com