See your dream garden come alive

GARDEN HINTS

February Hint: Create plans for spring planting. Try a new vegetable variety or a new flower. Plant a new garden in a circle shape or in a raised bed. Change the shape of a border garden for more interest.

WESTERN PACIFIC NORTHWEST

USDA ZONES 8,9 

 

FEBRUARY

• You still have time to plant bare-root roses, shrubs and cane berries
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• Prune fruit trees and hedges
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• Add organic matter or fertilizer to your garden soil
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• Start cool-season vegetable seeds indoors: peas, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce

HIGH DESERT PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

USDA ZONES 3 - 7

 

FEBRUARY

• Check dahlia tubers, cut out bad spots and dust with sulfur
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• Force bloom branches of quince, forsythia and flowering cherry
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• Wash empty flower and vegetable containers with a light mixture of bleach and water
• Wash houseplant leaves and trim yellow foliage

 

 MAKE 2012 YOUR BEST

The beginning of the year means setting New Year’s Resolutions. Have you set a few for your garden? Try it and you will be pleased that you accomplished more in your garden than you have in previous years.  I set five garden goals this year and I’m looking forward to achieving all five.

To start, visualize your garden. What do you want to change in your landscape, flower beds or vegetable garden? Maybe you want to establish a new flower bed in a raised bed.

Last year you may have seen many full blooming hanging baskets on your city’s Main Street. Do you want to improve the planting of your hanging basket?

These are just a few ideas to think about and maybe they will trigger a goal or two. Or maybe you can fit one or two into your garden plans too.

Spend more time in the garden. At least twice a week walk around your yard. Every day is better. Look for what is beginning to grow, what is blooming and what plants need attention. Set aside a certain time to work in your garden. You might find a morning during the weekend or an hour daily in the afternoon. You will learn from your garden and you might catch a problem before it gets out of hand.

  

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GARDEN YEAR EVER

Add a new variety of colorful annuals and perennials. Add a few you haven’t tried before. I decided to add a couple peonies to my cutting garden and add an ornamental grass to each hanging basket.

Keep your garden journal up to date. I write in mine at least once a week. This year I’m going to organize the clippings from magazines and web sites that I stored in my copy of Weekend Gardener Organizer, A Three Year Planner.

Visit a new or different nursery. Go to one you have not visited before. Locate one close to your home or find one on the Internet. Find out what they carry and purchase a new variety of your favorite perennial or vegetable.

Visit a public garden. Take your camera and take notes. You will see landscape and flower bed ideas you may be able to use in your garden. You might see plants or landscape designs you had not thought about using.

Now write your own goals in present tense. Place them where you will see them in your garden journal and enjoy your year.

For help with writing goals, go to Chapter Two in Weekend Gardener Organizer, A Three Year Planner.