FEBRUARY Garden Tips & Tasks

Flowering quince

In Middle Tennessee, where The Garden Bench calls home, February can be unpredictable. One day the temperature may be in the 50s or 60s, with sun and blue skies; the next day there could be snow.

I write from Zone 7A on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Hardiness Map, where the low temperature could be 0-5 degrees F., but in truth, the temperature rarely gets that low. Still, there’s the chance that it could, so mid-winter, wherever you are in the region, is a good time to take it easy. Don’t rush the season, but spend time planning for it. Spring, the best season for enjoying a garden, is on its way.

• Got cabin fever? A little time in the garden can be a cure. Get outside on a sunny day and pick up any trash, twigs and other garden debris that may be littering your landscape.
• Plant a tree. On a day when the soil isn’t frozen, dig a hole that is slightly wider than the tree’s root ball, but no deeper. Place the tree in the hole; replace the soil and water it well. Add mulch, but do not mound it up around the tree’s trunk.
• Lenten roses (Helleborus) should be blooming now. Enjoy the blooms indoors by floating them in a bowl of water (an idea via Instagram from garden expert Brie Arthur, author of Gardening With Grains and The Foodscape Revolution.)
• If you insist on pristine, weed-free beds in your kitchen garden, dig up the deadnettle, henbit, chickweed and other winter annuals that are likely beginning to emerge before they take over your garden beds. (Chickweed is edible, you know. Good for salads.)
• Turn your attention to houseplants, but don’t overdo it. Too much water can be as bad as too little. Before you add water to the plant’s soil, check the soil’s moisture level by sticking your finger in.
• Welcome birds into your garden by providing nesting boxes. Cavity-dwelling birds may start a family in a simple box with a 1½-inch entry.
• Pansies in containers may benefit from a little attention. Snip off dead flowers and ragged leaves and provide a dose of liquid fertilizer (follow label directions) to perk them up and get them through the rest of the winter.
• Wild onions may grow tall in an otherwise winter-clipped lawn. If you don’t like the look, go after them with a trowel to dig out the bulbs and roots. This is easier just after a rain, when the ground is moist.
• Some vegetables can be direct-sown in the garden as soon as the soil can be worked. Later in the month, plant spinach, lettuce, radishes and snap peas in the kitchen garden. A gardening friend here in Middle Tennessee likes to follow an old gardening tradition of planting peas on Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately, she says, the weather doesn’t always cooperate.
• Coax branches of late-winter or spring-flowering shrubs and trees to bloom indoors. Cut 2- to 3-foot branches after the buds begin to swell, split the bottoms of the stems, then place them in a vase of water in a cool room. When the buds begin to show color, move the vase into a warmer area, and welcome spring into your home.

January garden tips & tasks

Peace lily (Spathiphyllum) is one of the easy-to-grow houseplants that can bring a touch of the outdoors to your home in winter.

Garden enthusiasts can always find a way to enjoy their favorite pastime, even in winter. If you’re missing the outdoors because of snow or rain or blustery winds, consider these tasks to keep you in touch with your garden:

• Begin a garden journal. Use it to jot down ideas and lists of plants you want to grow this year.
• Keep bird feeders filled to attract a wide variety of winged visitors to your garden in winter.
• If you bring home new houseplants, protect them from the cold air on the trip home. Once you bring them in, keep them separate from other plants for a few days to watch for pests.
• When the ground freezes and thaws, plants can be pushed out of the ground – a process known as “heaving.” If this happens, tuck the roots back into the soil and cover the area with a layer of mulch.
• You can grow herbs on a sunny windowsill indoors, but pinch them back regularly to keep them from getting tall and “leggy.”
• Birds also need water in winter, so provide water in a birdbath or shallow pan and change it frequently.
• Winter is a good time to have the soil in your lawn or garden beds tested. The Extension Service in your county can provide materials and instructions for testing.
• Watch for pests on houseplants and tender outdoor plants that spend the winter indoors. If you see evidence of aphids or scale infestations, take action immediately to keep them from spreading to other plants.

March into the garden with these tips and tasks

Gardeners in Middle Tennessee (home of The Garden Bench) know that, in spite of what the calendar says, early spring has arrived. It’s almost March, and buds are swelling, bulbs are up and many are blooming, tips of favorite perennials are poking up through the mulch. And while we know that winter can – probably will – visit us again in a few days, we can get outdoors and enjoy the emergence of the new season with these early-spring tips and tasks.

Spanish bluebells emerging

Prepare new garden beds: Have the soil tested (check with your county’s Extension service to learn how). Remove grass and dig or till soil 8 to 10 inches deep and mix with soil amendments and organic matter to improve drainage.

Add a dose of fertilizer to perennials as soon as you see new growth. Keep it light; too much fertilizer may result in lanky growth.

Cut back liriope and other ornamental grasses. It’s easier now that it will be once new growth emerges.

If your fescue lawn looks a little skimpy, overseed early this month. Fescue grows best when the weather is still cool. It’s best to wait until early fall for a complete lawn renovation.

Plant lettuce and other cool-weather crops

Herb transplants that don’t mind cool weather — parsley, cilantro, sage, oregano – can go in the ground now. And of course you can also plant seeds and transplants of radishes, lettuce, spinach and other cool-season vegetables.

Clip dead stems from perennial herbs – thyme, sage, lavender, rosemary (if your rosemary survived; many Middle Tennessee gardeners’ rosemary plants succumbed to the cold this winter). Pruning those perennial herbs encourages vigorous new growth. Remove mulch or leaves that may be covering perennials in garden beds.

If you need to prune nandinas, flowering quince and other airy shrubs, don’t shear the shrubs. Reach in and remove about a third of the branches at ground level.

Give pansies a light dose of fertilizer as they continue to bloom through early spring.

When you cut daffodils and other early-spring flowers to bring inside, cut the stems at an angle and place them in water right away. Change the water in the vase daily to keep them fresh longer.

 

August garden tips & tasks

It’s hot, so get out early in the day for these mid-summer garden tips and tasks:

Early in the month

Continue deadheading summer-flowering perennials and annuals, cutting off the spent flowers to encourage the plants to keep blooming. Be sure to cut fresh flowers, too, to enjoy in bouquets indoors.

Nothing’s more frustrating that finding that birds have poked holes in your prized tomatoes. To discourage pecking, pick tomatoes before they are fully red and let them ripen indoors.

July garden tips & tasks

Things are heating up! Here’s a to-do list to keep the garden at its best this month.

Early in the month

It’s time for summer tomatoes! The fruits tend crack when watering is inconsistent, so keep the soil around tomatoes evenly moist.

 

Coleus’ beauty is in the foliage, so when it begins to bloom, pinch off the flower spikes to encourage the plant to grow fuller and bushier. Wax begonias also benefit from periodic pinching to keep them from becoming leggy.

For the best flavor, pick squash and cucumbers while they are still small and tender. You can plant a second crop of bush beans, zucchini and cucumber, summer veggies that grow quickly.

June garden tips & tasks

June is the garden’s high season, “the time of perfect young summer,” said gardener designer Gertrude Jekyll. Here are some garden tasks to enjoy during this “perfect” time.

Early in June

Tomatoes do best with consistent moisture as they begin to ripen.

Summer tomatoes will begin ripening soon. Make sure they receive consistent moisture. Use mulch around the plants to keep them from drying out quickly. Replenish mulch around in all garden beds to help keep plants’ roots moist as the weather heats up.

May garden tips & tasks

May is a busy and beautiful time in the garden. Here are tasks and tips to keep you busy this month.

Early in the month

If you haven’t already gotten those warm-season vegetables in the ground, plant them now! Tomatoes, peppers, squash, okra, beans, eggplant and other favorites will get off to a fast start now that the weather is warm.

Set out bedding plants of zinnias and other summer annuals.

Set out bedding plants of zinnias, celosia, snapdragon, begonias, petunias, coleus – all the favorite summer annuals.

Plant plenty of basil in a sunny location to use in summer recipes. Clip and use it frequently, which allows the plants to grow sturdier. Snip off flowers as they begin to form.

April garden tips & tasks

Spring — however capricious it may be — has arrived, and it’s time to head back outdoors, keeping an eye on the weather. Gardeners in Middle Tennessee, Zone 7a, where The Garden Bench calls home, are anxious to get the season started. Warmer areas are already in full swing; if it’s cooler where you are, it’s getting close!

Here’s what’s on your garden to-do list for April.

March gardening tips & tasks

March can be fickle. Will it be warm? Or will we feel bone-chilling blasts of cold wind? Are there sunny days? Or does the rain fall nonstop for days on end? Will there be tornadoes? Whatever is in store weather-wise, we can be sure that winter is on its way out, spring is about to arrive. Get back out in the garden with these late-winter/early spring garden tasks.

Winter garden tips & tasks

Gardening doesn’t stop just because winter has set in. We gardeners find plenty of ways to keep busy until spring calls us outdoors again.

January

Can’t get outdoors to garden? Tend to your houseplants.

Satisfy your urge to garden by tending to your houseplants. Beyond regular watering and feeding, clean the leaves, trim dead foliage and flowers, and re-pot plants as necessary.

Watch for pests that may attack houseplants or outdoor plants that spend the winter indoors. Take quick action if you begin to see aphids, mealybugs, scale or spider mites.  A shower of lukewarm water may take care of light infestations of many insects.

Herbs and summer annuals that you may be growing indoors on a sunny windowsill should be pinched back periodically to keep them from becoming too tall and leggy. If plants are not getting enough sunlight, you may need to move them to a brighter location, or grow them under lights. Provide a dose of houseplant fertilizer every few weeks throughout the winter.

Save that poinsettia from Christmas to grow in your garden next spring. Place the pot in bright, indirect light and continue to water enough to keep the soil moist, but not soggy. After the danger of frost passes, place the pot outdoors and cut back the stems. It should continue to grow into a bushy, green plant that will die back at the first hint of frost next fall.

Watch the garden beds for signs of “heaving” – uprooting of plants by thawing and freezing soil. Tuck the plants’ roots back into the soil and cover with a layer of mulch.

The blooms of hellebores are beginning to brighten the landscape in some areas. Cut back last year’s dried foliage to allow new buds and foliage to thrive. If you’re planting hellebores for the first time, prepare a bed of well-drained soil. Hellebores will tolerate shade, but bloom better if they receive adequate sunlight, and should thrive for years with little maintenance.

If the soil isn’t frozen, it’s a good time to plant a tree. Dig a hole that is wider than the rootball, but no deeper. Place the rootball in the hole, fill the hole about halfway with soil, make final adjustments, then fill the rest of the hole and add water. Plant the tree only as deep as it grew originally. Add mulch, but do not mound mulch or soil up around the trunk.

Winter is a good time to prune deciduous trees, while they are dormant. Do not prune spring-flowering shrubs and trees now; to do so would cut off the buds that would bloom this spring.

Bring spring in early by forcing paperwhite narcissus bulbs in pots indoors. Grow them in soil or in water. They’ll bloom quickly and fill your home with a lovely (some say overwhelming) sweet fragrance.

Peruse mail-order catalogs or their online equivalent for new ideas and old favorites to add to your garden this spring.

February

Feeling house-bound? Cure cabin fever by getting out on a sunny day to pick up dry leaves, twigs and other garden debris that may have accumulated on lawns and in garden beds.

Welcome the birds by keeping feeders filled. Safflower seed attracts cardinals, tufted titmice, chickadees and more. A suet feeder draws woodpeckers, flickers and nuthatches. Take part in the 2016 Great Backyard Bird Count, Feb. 12 – 15. Learn more at http://gbbc.birdcount.org/

Some weeds may continue to grow.

In some areas, annual weeds that thrive in winter grow easily in cultivated perennial and vegetable beds. Dig them out or pull them up as soon as they begin to sprout to keep them from spreading.

Liriope (aka monkey grass or lilyturf) in the landscape benefits from a little winter maintenance: trim last year’s foliage before the new growth begins to emerge.

Houseplants that like humidity may suffer in the heat inside your home. Add humidity around the plants by lining a waterproof tray with stones, filling the tray with water and placing the plants on top of the stones.

Summer annuals can grow indoors over the winter, but they tend to get leggy if they’re not getting enough light. Move them to a sunnier spot, if possible, or grow them under lights.

It’s a good time to have your soil tested to find out what amendments might be needed. Contact your county’s extension office to learn how to have a soil test done

Cut branches of spring-blooming shrubs, such as flowering quince, to bloom indoors.

Bring the promise of spring indoors by cutting branches of spring-flowering shrubs (forsythia, flowering quince and so forth) to force into bloom. Scrape the ends of 12- to 18-inch branches and place them in a container of warm water. Place the container in a dark, cool spot at first, then move it to a sunnier place when the buds begin to open.

The 2016 gardening season may begin late in February in some climates! In the kitchen garden, plant cool-season vegetables such as snap peas, radishes, lettuce, spinach, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, beets, kale, mustard, bunching onions, turnip roots and greens. In colder climates, start those seeds indoors so you have transplants ready to set out in the garden when the time comes.

Begin making plans for spring and summer garden beds. If you grow a kitchen garden, begin to start seeds indoors so they will be ready at the appropriate outdoor planting time.