February

​Weather 
It’s about 10 degrees warmer on average than it was last month. February temperatures are in the high 20’s at night to mid-50’s during the day. Actual temperature variations may be extreme this month. There’s almost as much snow as in January, and it’s mostly sunny. 
Gardening activities accelerate this month. As day time temperatures warm up it feels like spring is just around the corner. Unfortunately, February is just a tease and belies the March-through-May winds that invariably come later. Take advantage of this brief respite to prepare your garden for spring planting. 
What’s Blooming 
Crocus, snowdrops (Galanthus), pussy willow, Iris reticulata, Mahonia, and winter jasmine (J. nudiflorum) begin blooming this month. In south-facing beds, you will see daffodils beginning to open and the earliest forsythia. Apricot trees begin blooming later in the month. 

Xeric Blooms 
Prostrate rosemary (Rosmarinus o cinalis “prostrate”) is covered with tiny blue flowers if it is in a protected sunny spot. Tiny tulips, daffodils, and Crocus — species bulbs, not their giant cousins— make a colorful display now through March. 
Garden Activities 
Observe what is happening in your garden on warm days. Pay attention to protected areas of the yard. Is there an enclosed patio or south-facing area of your yard that enjoys milder temperatures? Could you grow more tender, Zone 8 or 9 plants here, or get earlier blooms from spring bulbs? Check under leaf piles for hidden signs of spring – new growth, an undetected bloom. 
Cut a few branches of Forsythia and other early- flowering shrubs to bring indoors. Put them in a vase of water and they will soon flower for you. 
Many plants begin to show some signs of activity this month. If you go looking, you’ll find some early swelling buds on trees and shrubs, and new green growth pushing up from roots and bulbs. Your children will enjoy this activity; they can be taught to keep looking for first signs of spring and to follow the development of plants growing around them.
Go by the Albuquerque Garden Center and check out the courtyard to see a warm microclimate and early blooming plants. While you’re there, take a look in the library, do a little research or catalog browsing, and look at the many garden books in the gift shop. 
To Do List 

• Outdoors, the ground is so softening, and you can begin to dig. Cautiously start cleaning out any perennial beds that are showing signs of life. You may want to leave a little mulch in place for frost protection. Add organic matter to soil where you want to transplant later in the spring or early summer -- then solarize. 
• Try solarizing where you expect annual weeds or unwanted reseeding to be a problem. See “Soil Solarization for Weed Control” in the “Garden Talk” section of this book. 
• Be alert and quickly remove any green plants in the mustard family as they appear. They will begin appearing by mid-February. Not only will this reduce your weed problem later in the year but mustards harbor unwanted viruses, e.g. curly top, and insects, e.g. leaf hoppers. This is a good example of “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.” 
• Your evergreens would appreciate a strong spray from the hose to clean off soot and insects. 
• Container-grown plants that have been kept indoors can be set out any time the ground is not frozen. 
• Continue shopping for seeds at nurseries and in catalogs and among seed-saving friends. 
• On nice days remove the frost protective cover on your cool season vegetables that you planted last fall. Raise the lid slightly on your cold frame. 
• Apply dormant oil spray to deciduous trees and shrubs to kill over-wintering insects, eggs, and larvae. Check the label for appropriate temperatures to apply. 
• If you have shrubs or small trees that you want removed from your yard, tell a friend who needs plants that now is the time to come and dig. New gardeners and homeowners on bare earth lots are eager for plants! 
• Persian and French lilac often propagate by producing sprouts from the soil around the shrub. These new sprouts have a much greater chance of growing than the large shrub when it is moved. To maximize transplanting success, prepare the soil by adding compost and rototilling it in. Dig the sprouts with as large a root system as possible, and plant in the center of this prepared “flower bed”. Thoroughly water. Mulch. Water every 2 - 4 weeks to maintain moisture at a depth of about 3 inches. When growth resumes, water weekly for the first year. 
• Begin fertilizing vegetables, irises, bulbs and tubers with superphosphate or a slow release fertilizer. (Only add superphosphate once or twice a year.) More organic choices include: bone meal, manure compost, and liquid organic fertilizers like fish emulsion and seaweed extract. Feed fruit and nut trees with a granular fertilizer or organic fertilizers like manure, bone meal, blood meal or fish meal, work into the soil and water thoroughly. 

Watering 
Increase watering to 2 or 3 times a month as temperatures go above 50 degrees. Be sure to water irises from now until they finish blooming. 
Pruning 
Continue pruning. Some shrubs need to be pruned hard: Butterfly bush, Russian sage, and ornamental grasses (except blue fescue) need to be pruned almost to the ground. Many shrubs should not be pruned at this me. If you know the names of your plants, you can find out what sort of pruning each requires. Pruning references include: The Master Gardener Hotline, Sunset Western Garden Book, or Enchanted Gardening. Consult the “Information Sources” section in this book. Some shrubs must be pruned immediately after blooming in order to not cut off the next year’s blooms. 


Planting 

• Continue planting seeds indoors; start tomatoes and other frost sensitive plants at the end of the month. 
• Mid to late February is the me to start planting sweet peas and garden peas, and roots of asparagus and rhubarb in the warmer areas. If you didn’t plant in the late fall, late February is the me to plant lettuce, radishes, carrots, beets, turnips, and cabbage.
  
  TIP!!! Intersperse onion sets to mark your rows. They’ll come up quickly. “Top multiplier” heritage onion sets work especially well for this and will provide green onions for your table in about 4 weeks. As you remove these “scallions” they aerate and loosen the soil. 

• This is the ideal time for setting out bare root trees, shrubs, and vines while they are dormant. Plants may come from catalog orders, local nurseries, Plant Exchange contacts, and friends’ yards. Keep the bare roots moist and covered; don’t expose them to drying winds and sun. Roses can be moved now, but cover with mulch for another month after moving. Start selecting landscape plants for purchase later in the spring. 
• In the warmer areas of Albuquerque, you can begin setting out bachelor buttons, calendulas, cyclamens, primroses, snapdragons, stock, and wall flowers. 
  
  

Garden Tip!!! Dig up and divide summer and fall-blooming perennials: daylilies, asters, chrysanthemums, etc. now through March. Here is an easy way to remember when to divide: If it blooms in the fall, divide or move in the spring. If it blooms in the spring, divide or move in the fall. 
Troubleshooting 
Pests & Problems. Look for early aphids on pine trees. Scale on Euonymus is a widespread problem. When the new hatchlings, called “crawlers,” emerge, they are most susceptible to control. In warm spots, this can be as early as February. The crawlers appear as tiny yellowish dust moving about. Early treatment of pests and problems keeps them from becoming big problems. Both of the above conditions have a non-poisonous treatment: Horticultural oil spray for scale and a strong blast of water for aphids. Conversely, knowing that euonymus is subject to scale, consider replacing these plants with better suited alternatives. 
Crown Gall. As you transplant roses or other dormant plants, look for unusual swellings along the stems which may indicate crown gall. If found, either cut away the stem or remove the plant and choose not to plant that plant again. There is no treatment for the bacterial infection which causes crown gall – prevention is the best alternative. Prevention can be done by avoiding wounding susceptible plants at or near the soil line and sterilizing your pruning tools between cuts using rubbing alcohol in a closed spray bottle. 
Plant identification. Are you not sure what plants you have in your yard? Take the time now to begin identifying them with the help of plant books and information from other gardeners. If there are plants you can’t identify, take a sample and/or a photo to the Garden Center or the County Extension Office. Master Gardeners or the county extension agent can help, sometimes with a home visit. You may have to wait for some plants to leaf out before taking a sample. Once you learn what you have, become an expert on that plant. 
Spring weeds. If you had a lot of annual weeds last year, now is the time to solarize your soil to eliminate them this year. Do not solarize the soil where you planted bulbs and perennials, as the heat build-up may harm them. Solarization will also help eliminate nematodes and other harmful organisms. (See “Soil Solarization for Weed Control” in the Garden Talk Section of this book.) 
Start monitoring for Piñon needle scale during mild winters (see March checklist). The egg masses appear as whitish cottony material in bark crevices on the trunk and major branches. Hose this material off with a strong jet of water to eliminate most of the eggs. Use a stiff brush or broom to help remove the eggs. If removed in this way, most will not hatch and those that survive will hatch far from their host. You may want to leave a few to monitor for hatching – when rubbed into the palm of your hand, unhatched eggs leave a yellow smear. 
Weekly Check Walk - Continue your weekly check walk. Take care of any broken branches and obvious insect infestations. Watch out for signs of disease. Check soil moisture. Make notes about plants to move to a new location, new plants you’d like to try, and something to fill up that obvious gap that you just noticed. 
Houseplants 
Celebrate Valentine’s Day! Buy flowering house plants or pansies for your Valentines and take one home for yourself. Spending time in a greenhouse is a time-tested cure for the midwinter blues. If you re-pot your purchases, you can get your hands dirty, too!

​​This is an excerpt from the calendar published by the Albuquerque Master Gardeners. 
www.abqmastergardeners.org  Visit their website for a schedule of classes and events!
 

---