February is the ideal time to lay the foundation for a great gardening season. Activities should include winter watering, planning, focused pruning, soil improvement, seed starting inventory, and tool maintenance.
Watering: The Most Important Task of the Month. Deep‑water trees, shrubs, roses, and perennials when temperatures rise above freezing and the ground is void of snow. Water all the trees, shrubs, roses, and perennials in your landscape, with special attention to evergreens, young trees, and anything planted in the last two years. Water early in the day so moisture can move into the soil before nighttime temperatures drop.
Why it matters: Even in winter dormancy, your garden is alive beneath the surface. Roots continue to breathe; soil microbes remain active, and moisture loss accelerates under dry winds and freeze-thaw cycles. February is when desiccation peaks — especially for evergreens and young transplants — making deep watering a critical intervention.
In the vegetable garden, it's time to decide what to plant where and when. Refer to your gardening notes to remind you of successes and problems from past seasons to help you decide what you want to grow, then draw up a layout to help you with the planning process. Sketching isn’t just aesthetic — it helps optimize sun exposure, airflow, and crop rotation, reducing disease pressure and boosting yields.
Whether you are establishing a new bed or renewing last year’s garden, it’s important to have a plan. Among other things, a plan will help you decide what you’re going to grow this season. Planning your garden now will help you achieve the most in the space and location you have available. Having a plan will also help you apply lessons – good and bad, from past gardening experiences.
When deciding what to plant this year, it’s always good to grow what you’ll eat. If you don’t like beets or broccoli, don’t plant them. Once you’ve made your list of crops to grow, the next question is whether to direct sow, start your own seedlings or buy rooted starter plants from The Flower Bin. The best choice may be a combination of all three.
Selective pruning at this point of the season aligns with plant physiology, but it’s important to know your shrubs before you prune. You can prune summer flowering shrubs such as butterfly bush, blue mist spirea and hardy hibiscus in late winter or early spring, because they bloom on this year’s growth or “new wood”. It is safe to prune these shrubs because they haven’t set flower buds yet. Exceptions to dormant season pruning include early spring flowering shrubs such as lilacs, Rose of Sharon, Weigela, Forsythia. If you prune these now, you’ll remove any flowers.
Prepping garden beds now gives soil microbes time to integrate compost and organic matter before spring planting. As a rule, to improve your garden soil and lower the pH, you need to add more organic material in the form of sheep manure and organic compost. We recommend you add two to three inches of locally produced organic material to your garden in the spring and again in the fall. Coconut coir and worm casting are also good choices for improving your garden soil.
Avoid digging or turning soil if the ground is wet or frozen. If this is the case, simply top dress the bed with the appropriate amount of organic material and wait for warmer soil conditions to work it in.
If you’ve decided to start seeds indoors, make sure you have the supplies you need, including trays, domes, heat mats, seed starting soil, and grow lights.
Tool maintenance includes sharpening pruners and loppers, cleaning trowels, shovels, and garden forks. Replace mower blades or send them for sharpening.
Plan your Spring planting projects. If you are looking for new perennials, trees, or shrubs, a good starting point is our plant guide. https://plants.theflowerbin.net/12120039/
This guide is intended for informational services only. While it represents the many of the shrubs, perennials and other plants we carry over the course of the season, we cannot guarantee every variety will be in stock - please contact the store directly for current availability.
It’s important to note that this guide does not include our entire selection of plants, so be sure to visit our store to see varieties that may not be represented on this list.
Remember to keep the water in your birdbath thawed and full.
