February 2025 Gardening Advice
Packets of vegetable seeds. Photo by ParentingPatch.
by Jennifer Fairfield, Garden Mill
Well, I didn’t get my wished-for “January Thaw” this year, so my daffodils are still not planted. But I’m not giving up hope. Those daffodils have been living in a box in my garage, where it’s been cold enough to give them the chilling time they need, so I am still going to plant them as soon as the ground thaws enough and see what comes up in the spring. I’m hopeful they will still put on a show this spring, but if not, there’s always next year.
I’m glad the temperatures are coming up a little bit. It was hard to get up the enthusiasm for getting outside to do much of anything in the bitter cold we were experiencing in January. With the slightly warmer temps, I should be able to get a little bit done outside this month. Of course, there’s plenty to do indoors, as well. Here’s what to do both indoors and out this month:
Outdoors:
On one of our bright, sunny winter days, get out and prune trees and shrubs that need a little taming. Pruning now, when they are dormant, is best for most trees and shrubs — with a few exceptions. Oak trees are best pruned when dormant, to help prevent oak wilt, which is spread by beetles that are attracted to fresh wounds in spring and summer. Flowering trees and shrubs that bloom before June are best pruned just after they have bloomed so that you don’t cut off this year’s blooms, as they produce flowers on last year’s growth. Do prune flowering trees and shrubs that bloom after June 1st now. Pruning those now will help them bloom even more later this year, as they produce flowers on new growth.
I like to wait a little longer to prune my red twig dogwoods, because I like the color pop they provide on dreary winter days. Mine are due for drastic pruning this year. Pruning them down to the ground every two years helps produce the best color and keeps them from getting out of hand. Be sure to sharpen your pruners before you head out. Clean, sharp tools make the best cuts, and dull pruners can cause more damage than good.
Having just told you not to prune early-blooming trees this month, I’m going to give you a reason to prune them a little bit — to force them into bloom in your home. Taking a few branches from cherry, crabapple, flowering dogwood, magnolia, flowering quince, forsythia, honeysuckle, lilac, pussy willow, and red twig dogwood now can give you a little taste of spring while we wait for the real thing.
While the ground is still pretty frozen, add some mulch to trees, shrubs, and perennials to help keep the soil from the thawing-and-refreezing cycle that can potentially cause damage to roots. We are likely to experience a few freeze-thaw cycles through the remainder of the winter, and this can be harmful to plants. A layer of mulch can help protect them.
If you didn’t get outdoors much last month because you didn’t want to go out in that bitter cold, take advantage of the slightly warmer temperatures this month, and take a walk around your yard to see if there are things you want to do in the spring to make your winter landscape more attractive. Adding something that offers a pop of color when everything is brown or gray can make a big difference in the appeal of your yard during winter. Take pictures now so you can remember what things look like when you head out shopping at greenhouses and nurseries in the spring. If you feed birds, watch how they approach your feeders and how they leave when danger appears. This might give you a good idea for where to add a shrub or tree that can offer them shelter from predators or give them a staging area while waiting their turn at your feeders.
Speaking of birds, it’s almost time for the Great Backyard Bird Count. This annual event, taking place February 14th through the 17th this year, is a great family-friendly activity that helps to connect people of all ages to the natural world around them, and it can be done either outdoors or from the comfort of your living room (or any other room with a view to the outdoors). The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Audubon Society, and Birds Canada are offering webinars on February 6th and 12th so that you can find out more about how you can participate.
February is National Bird Feeding Month. Keeping feeders full when it’s cold and snowy out can help birds use less of their energy looking for food, reserving that energy for keeping warm.
Keep bird baths full and thawed all winter long, so that your birds have a good supply of fresh drinking water. A heated birdbath or a deicer in your existing birdbath can make that possible, which can make a huge difference for the birds, when water is so hard to come by.
Indoors:
Start getting things ready for the gardening season this month. Begin by checking to see what seeds you have left over from last year(or prior years). Many seeds are good for a number of years – the germination rate tends to reduce the longer you’ve had the seeds, but you will likely still get enough of them to sprout to make it worth holding on to seeds from one year to the next. Once you’ve figured out what you have, figure out what you need and go get it. There are few things that make me happier in February than going through seed racks!
February is also a good time to get everything else you need for seed-starting, if you are going to start plants indoors this year. Your checklist should include seed starting mix, pots, working lights, heating mats, and fertilizers. If you’re re-using pots from last year, be sure to disinfect them first, using a 1 to 9 ratio of bleach to hot water and a wire brush.
Though most flower, vegetable, and herb plants don’t get started indoors until March or later, rosemary and parsley can be start now, since they take quite a while to germinate and then grow to a suitable size for transplanting outside. Celery, leek, and onion seeds can also be started indoors later this month.
Starting some flowers indoors this month gives them more time to get to transplanting size. It’s also a great way to save money, as seeds and soil generally cost a lot less than perennial plants! Impatiens and pansies can be started from seeds in mid-February.
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