GARDENPLANS FOR FEBRUARY, ALL WORK AND NO PLAY

February is all about getting the garden ready for the long, hot summer. Pruning, clearing, fertilising, sowing and planting are your keywords for these months.

And when the summer comes, you can sit on your patio with some cold, nice drink in your hand, smile and look out over your kingdom no matter how small it is.

Yes, but no.

It’s not like that at all, you always want to do things better all year round. But we can pretend that this is how it works. Anyway, it is far less to be annoyed over if you prepare the garden well and the main part of the work is planned and performed in early spring.

This is the Boston fern after I removed all the dead foliage and with the new sprouts.

This is the Boston fern before the frost in January.

I have some Plastic cuffs around the small tomatoplants.

You can almost see the leek growing at the moment.

There is much that must be pruned back after the devastating January frost here in Houston. The majority sprouts again already, but some who still looks dead are left behind so I’m sure it’s completely dead before I remove it.

This week I am still cleaning up after the winter, removing dead branches and withered plants, relocate plants or shrubs that do not thrive or is slightly congested at its current habitat. Next week I will cut lawn edges towards the flower beds and take action against the weeds before it gets out of hand.

I try to gather all the self-seeded Zinnia and Nicotiana in drifts, to ease the loss of the big Hibiscus and Peregrina (Jatropha integerrima) shrubs. There are big changes in the garden compared to the previous year, but I guess (and it looks like it at the moment) that most of the shrubs set new sprouts from the root.

The winter vegetable garden looks healthy and fresh. Especially now after yesterday’s heavy rain. At the moment there is leek, salad, pea seedlings, parsley, brussels sprouts, basil, cilantro, dill, onions, garlic, and a couple of tomato plants there.