Give Your Garden Some Love! February Gardening Tips

Prune your roses. If you haven't already, cut back a third to half of their total height. Additionally, remove dead parts including old leaves on the bush and ground to improve overall plant health. Watch this video for more detail on how to prune roses. 

Fertilize your citrus trees. Most mature citrus require regular fertilization with nitrogen. Typically, most other nutrients are available in sufficient amounts in the soil. Nitrogen should be applied in January or February just prior to bloom. The second application can be applied in May and perhaps a third in June. Information about fertilizing citrus can be found on the UC Integrated Pest Management website.  

Plant these trees, shrubs, and perennials.

•  Bare root deciduous shrubs and trees 
•  Roses, grapes, blackberries, raspberries, rhubarb, strawberries, asparagus, chives, onions, green onions.  

Plant cool-season crops like ... lettuce, spinach, and broccoli. These vegetables thrive in cooler temperatures and can be planted directly in the ground or started indoors for transplanting later.  

Start seeds indoors. Get a head start on your vegetable garden and consider starting seeds indoors in February. This will give your plants a jump start on the growing season and allow you to get a head start on your harvest. Here are a few seeds you can start now: 

•  Garlic
•  Shallots
•  Peas
•  Peppers
•  Sweet peas 
•  Tomatoes 

Protect your garden from snails and slugs. As the month progresses, you may start to see more snails in your garden. Make sure to remove them by hand-picking, baiting, or putting up barriers to keep snails and slugs out of your garden. Learn about snails and slug management from UC IPM.