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This video covers the essential jobs to complete before the growing season begins. I share practical preparation tasks such as clearing, organising, soil preparation, and planning so your growing space is ready for planting.
A useful guide to help you stay ahead, avoid early mistakes, and set yourself up for a productive and successful season.
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What jobs to do in the garden and a
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lotment in February in the UK. Welcome
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to Gardening with Ben. Today we're going
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to be talking about what jobs you need
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to do in your garden and a lotment. So,
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make sure you save this video so that
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you can tick them all off as you go
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along. And also, if you've got a
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notepad, feel free to make notes so that
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you know when you've done all these
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jobs. Share it to a friend who's got an
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a lotment or a garden or to any
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gardening group and encourage other
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people to get active and get gardening
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and get in their a lotments. So, let's
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start off with seed sewing and
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propagation. You may have seen my other
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seed videos. Have a look at them. See
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what seeds you can sew this month. But
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yeah, you can obviously start sweet peas
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off undercover. A great addition to an a
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lotment. adds beautiful color and nice
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fragrance and plenty of flowers all
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summer long. You can start off your
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early lettuce and your salad leaves
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under in a nice warm greenhouse or in a
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poly tunnel. I'll be starting mine
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probably in March time because it's a
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lot warmer up north in them months. So
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your hardy annual flowers but under
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protection. So flowers like your
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geraniums, your
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delphiniums, your fox gloves, get them
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sewn and yeah, hopefully add some great
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color to the gardens and a lotments.
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Check on your other seeds, what you may
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have started like your chilies, your
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peppers, your oragans. Pot them on if
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they need potting on, but remember to
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keep them somewhere warm until it's time
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to bring them down to the a lotment. I
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won't be bringing mine down until around
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March, April time. I'll be keeping them
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at home in the sunlight where it's warm
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and plenty of light so that they don't
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go leggy. But yeah, have a look at them
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and see if if they need potting on
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greenhouse and indoor jobs. Check on
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your greenhouse. Make sure your glass is
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all clean. Wash it all down. Get off any
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algae so that it gets plenty of lighting
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in the summertimes. Organize your seed
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trays in your pots. Wash them all down.
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Clean them down cuz March is going to be
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a busy month with sewing all your seeds.
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cuz that's when I saw all my seats in
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March. So, make sure you've got them all
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ready for the sewing next month. Check
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your heaters, heat mats, and
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thermometers. Make sure they're all in
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working order, and make sure they're all
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tidy.
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Improve ventilation on mild days. Yes,
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we do get mild days in February.
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We we've had a mild winter. So, make
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sure there's plenty of ventilation into
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the greenhouse so that it doesn't get
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too stagnant and algae will form and
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moss and um fungi. So, make sure you get
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plenty of ventilation in the greenhouse.
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Water sparing like growth is still slow.
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Don't overwater things during these
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months. You only probably need to water
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them once a week or every couple of
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weeks. So, don't water stuff and let it
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rot the roots on the plant. So be very
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sparingly with watering. Remove any weak
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or leggy seedlings. If you haven't got
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anything growing, remove any leggy ones
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because they won't come to anything. And
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if they all leggy, sew some more now
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because you'll have plenty of chance to
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catch up.
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Any outdoor and a lotment jobs. Prepare
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the beds when the soil is workable. Dig
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it over. Dig any roots out. Get rid of
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any bind weed what's growing in the
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beds. I certainly have plenty of it. I
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dig mine over every couple of weeks down
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at the a lotment so that I'm keeping on
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top of the bine weed and hopefully
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getting rid of it in the long term. Add
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compost and well-rotten manure to your
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beds because you won't be planting out
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come until probably May time when it's
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chance of frost has passed. So it'll rot
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down and dig it into the soil when it's
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ready. Plant any bare root bushes or
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fruit trees. Obviously now it's rainy
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and things are dormant. So get them into
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the ground and they'll take root and
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hopefully get growing this year.
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Plant any shellots and onion sets in
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mild areas. I'm up north so it's not
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mild. I won't be planting mine out till
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the end of March, but if you're in a
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mild area, have a look around in the
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garden centers. You can see bags of them
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already and think about growing some.
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But yeah, I'd hold off till March on
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that one.
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So broad beans outdoors. Now, these need
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to be the winter hardy variety because
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we can still get snow and frost. So,
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make sure you go for an aquedulus
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variety of broadbean and get sewing them
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this month.
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Pruning and maintenance. If you've not
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pruned your fruit trees, get pruning
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them now. However, don't prune plum
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trees or cherries. The way to remember
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it is don't prune anything that's got a
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stone in it. Only prune like your apples
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and your pears. They're the ones that
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need pruning this month. The ones that
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have got stone in them like cherries and
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plums and nectarines, you prune them at
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end of summer as that can affect silver
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leaf on the trees.
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Cut back any autumn fruiting
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raspberries. They can be cut to the
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ground. Summer varieties you prune on
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the ones that had the raspberries last
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year, not the ones that have got them,
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not the new growth which grew that will
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produce the raspberries this year.
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Check your archers. Tie anything to the
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arches what are growing up on. Whether
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it's climbing roses, whether it's
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blackberries, whether it's Loganberries,
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tie them all up, sort them out, cut off
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any dead wood, and give them a good tidy
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up and check and repair any structures
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and netting and get it all tidy and
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ready for this year's growing.
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So yeah, that is all the jobs which you
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can do down at the a lotment this month
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and in the garden. So I hope you've
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enjoyed this video. Make sure you drop
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us a follow to stay up to date with all
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our tips and advice and check out when
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we're going to be sewing all our seeds
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in March. Until next time everyone.
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