Gardening Checklist for February and March

It’s time to start getting serious about your spring garden! You’ve probably tilled or spaded your garden by now. If not, it’s time to do it. Add organic matter if you have it. Those leaves you raked up and saved last fall would be great. For those of you that neglected to sharpen and oil your gardening tools at the end of the fall season, now is the time, before spring gardening gets under way. An hour or two doing this chore will be time well spent. It’s amazing how great some of these tools work when they are properly cared for.

The middle of February is usually the time to prune roses in Austin. It is also the time when potatoes should be planted in your vegetable garden. Other crops that can be planted now include garden peas, lettuce, Swiss chard, beets, spinach, collards, kale and mustard greens. It is almost too late to set out onions, but if you really want some you might give it a try anyway. Why don’t you plan to grow at least one new vegetable that you have never grown before? It may turn out to be one of your favorites. Some of the new dwarf varieties can be grown quite nicely in pots if space is a problem.

If you just can’t wait to plant some caladiums, then go ahead and do it, but it is far too early to plant them directly into the ground. Chances are they would rot or, at least, not grow well. Instead, plant them in pots and keep the pots in a warm location (about 70 degrees or more). Then you can replant them (or simply bury the entire pot) in the soil when the soil is warm enough (usually about the middle of April).

Fertilize and prune fruit and nut trees by late February. Other tree and shrub pruning can continue in February too, as needed. Have a reason to prune; don’t just whack away. If you are pruning oak trees, use a tree wound dressing/sealer to reduce the possible spread of oak wilt fungus.

Inspect your lawnmower and be sure it is in good working order. A good sharpening job now might last the entire season. Replace the spark plug and clean the air filter as needed. When your lawn needs mowing, lower the blade a notch or two, and then gradually raise it during the next two or three months so it is in its highest position by June.

Wait to fertilize your lawn until after you have mowed it a couple times (usually mid-March to early April). Fertilizing before then encourages weed growth rather than lawn growth.

Get some hanging baskets started. Suitable hanging basket plants include petunias, portulaca, ivy, geraniums, airplane (spider) plants, bougainvillea, impatiens, begonias, ferns, and a host of others. Plan to enter them in our show in June, donate them for our plant sale in conjunction with the show, or bring them to our April meeting plant auction.