February Gardening

Even though February is a relatively slow month for gardening, there are some pretty important tasks that deserve to be considered right about now. This week I would like to offer a few of these.

In past articles, I have briefly mentioned the importance of feeding your established beds of pansies, cabbage, kale, chard, parsley, dianthus, etc. Specifically, add about one cup of 8-8-8 or 10-10-10 or a similar complete fertilizer per 100 square feet of surface area. If using a soluble or slow-release fertilizer, be sure that at least half of the nitrogen it contains is in the nitrate form.

Why? Because that is the form of nitrogen which plants can immediately use. The urea and ammonium forms of nitrogen must be broken down by soil bacteria first and then converted to the nitrate form; this takes more time and higher soil temperatures than are normally found this time of year. Check the fertilizer label for this information.

There are quite a few vegetables which can be planted this month in the early spring garden. These include asparagus, beets, carrots, onions, onion sets, leeks, Irish potatoes, radishes, early peas, rhubarb roots, spinach, Swiss chard, and turnips. Don’t forget collards, kale, mustard, cabbage, lettuce, cauliflower, and broccoli.

Once in the ground, leafy greens like lettuce, turnips, kale, and mustard prefer to grow fast and steady. The best way to make them happy is to offer them plenty of fertilizer containing a high percentage of nitrate nitrogen (as explained above).

Remember that now is an excellent time to plant shrubs and trees. The perfect time to transplant is on a cool afternoon when the soil is moist from a recent rain. It is permissible to prune way several branches to make the plant small enough to handle easily but no more than one third of the total canopy should be removed. Generally, the fewer roots that are retained the fewer branches that should be sacrificed.

Dig a large hole at least twice, and preferably three times, the size of the root ball of the plant to be transplanted. Plant it at the same level it was growing in its original container. Water generously after planting in order to settle the soil around the roots and remove air pockets from the soil.

Many gardeners believe that February is the time to plant Irish potato tubers. Remember that potatoes fare better in a slightly more acidic soil than most of their vegetable peers. A reading of 5.0 to 5.5 is recommended, whereas most other crops prefer a higher pH range (6.0 to 6.5). The lower pH tends to discourage that age-old nemesis of potatoes-scab.

Scab is caused by a bacterium found in the soil. This pathogen usually becomes established in soil which is continuously planted to Irish potatoes. The severity of scab increases as the soil pH increases above 5.5. Scab is characterized by dark, brown to black surface lesions on the tubers. These lesions are unsightly, reduce tuber quality, and may increase the rot of tubers in storage.

Scab can also affect beets, turnips, radishes, and other fleshy-rooted crops. Control scab by planting resistant varieties. Varieties with resistance to scab include Dark Red Norland, Kennebec, Superior, Norchip, and Atlantic. Those without resistance are Red Pontiac, Katahdin, and Yukon Gold.

Clean out bluebird boxes and other bird houses this month. It won’t be long before our feathered friends will be coming back around to nest in them.

Overgrown liriope (border grass) can be trimmed now. Mow the scraggly leaves at your mower’s highest setting. Don’t worry; they will grow back quickly in the spring.

There are many interesting and important gardening tasks to be done in the dreary month of February. Have good success with all of them!

Tim Lewis is a Georgia Green Industry Association Certified Plant Professional, gardening writer, and former Perry High School horticulture instructor. He can be reached at (478)954-1507 or timlewis1@windstream.net .