February

Sow early and long-season seeds. 

Imbolc, at the beginning of February, is the traditional time to sow seeds in the northern hemisphere. Now’s the time to sow seeds for any early crops: lettuce, kale, broccoli, and other brassicas. It’s also the time to sow seeds of crops that need a long growing season, including leeks, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, ground cherries, or roselle. 

Prune most fruit trees & some flowering shrubs. 

February is the time to prune apples, pears, peaches, and most fruit trees. However, winter is not the time to prune cherries or plums; only prune those trees in summer. Buddleia is a flowering shrub that prunes on new wood (this season’s growth), so prune it back to shape now. It will send out new growth in spring that will be covered in flowers. If you grow cornus shrubs, prune a third of the bush right back to the ground as soon as it begins to sprout leaves. It will send up new stems that will have brilliant color for next winter. 

Turn your compost pile. 

Unless it’s frozen, turn your compost pile whenever you can, to help ensure the compost is well-rotted and ready for planting in spring. 

Tap your maple trees. 

Our winters are generally too warm to have a good maple-tapping season, but if you live in a cooler climate than me, February is usually the optimal time to tap maple trees for syrup. Fun and delicious! 

Maintain bird feeders & bird baths, and clean bird houses. 

Keep bird feeders well-stocked, and replace the water in bird baths if it freezes solid. Thoroughly clean out bird houses (unless they’re currently occupied) in advance of nesting season. Put out new bird houses if any are damaged. 

Make any final garden updates before spring. 

When the weather cooperates, winter is the optimal time to complete larger garden projects, especially anything involving infrastructure. Ideally, these projects are completed before the truly bad weather hits in January and February, but if you’re like me, there’s always a straggler project. Now is the time to finish garden infrastructure projects, layout updates, and other big-ticket items before the mad rush of spring.

Care for livestock. 

Keep water tanks free of ice. Allow animals to roam and graze whenever the weather is nice, and ensure they’re as protected as they need to be from winter weather (some animals tolerate it better than others). Give animals fresh or green food often to balance their largely hay-based diet, and make sure they’re receiving access to micronutrients they need (calcium or salt, for instance).

Plant grass and wildflower seed. 

Early spring (around here, late February and early March) and early fall are the best times to plant grass and wildflower seed. If you didn’t do it September, do it around your first warm days, when the ground is wet and cool.