February
• Start seeds of onions and leeks at the beginning of the month.
• Near the end of the month, start seeds of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and
brussels sprouts indoors under lights. Use the planting instructions on the seed
packets.
• Bring geraniums out of storage, cut them back by half, water well, and set them
in a bright, cool window.
• Start slow-growing flowers, such as garden verbena, stocks, wallflowers, and
ageratum.
• For early tomatoes start seeds under lights now to be set out in April and
protected with wall of water.
• Rinse houseplants under your shower or place in a tub and use a sprinkling can.
• Force branches of flowering shrubs near months end. Take cuttings of forsythia,
spirea, pussy willow, and Japanese quince.
• Take cuttings of houseplants for summer containers. Consider ferns, begonias,
philodendron, spider plant, or Sansevieria (snake plant) which can be
incorporated into a shade container.
• Sharpen pruning shears.
• Prune fruit trees, brambles, grapevines, and late summer-blooming shrubs.
• Gather egg masses of the tent caterpillar which should be burned.
• In mild weather, press back into place plants that heaved out with the frost.
• Cover exposed crowns and roots of irises, peonies, rock plants, pansies, and
perennials with a non-packing type mulch material.
• Continue to pull winter annual weeds.
