February Zone 3

What to do in the garden in February in zone 3

You still can’t actually do a lot IN the garden, but there are gardening related activities you can do.

• Plan  Relax with a stack of garden catalogs and plan for the next season.  Plot your garden or property on graph paper.
• Plant flowers  Force bulbs
• Order seeds  Order seeds early, some sell out quickly.
• Start seeds  By the end of February you can start the slow growing plants such as parsley, thyme, tarragon, geraniums and sage.  Also start the early cool season vegetables such as chives, onion and leeks.  By the end March you can start seeds for tomatoes, peppers, annuals and perennials.
• Feed the birds
• Sort tubers  Sort through stored tubers, roots and bulbs for dahlias, cannas, glads and begonias.  Dispose of anything that has shriveled or decayed.
• Garden Journal  Work on, or start, your garden journal.  Keep track of plants you want to try, record garden results, keep track of what you plant where and how many for a shopping list next spring.
• Attend seminars  Find seminars, clinics and meetings hosted by master gardeners and university extension services.
• Re-apply anti-desiccant  If you get a nice day above freezing, re-apply anti-desiccant spray to evergreens.

• Build a cold frame  With a cold frame you can plant cool season crops such as radishes, spinach, and lettuce in March or April.
• Build garden structures  By end of the month it may be warm enough out in the garage to start building window boxes, arbors and garden benches.
• Plant tubers  Buy tubers for begonias and plant them in pots indoors now, they will be ready for your window box or planters by spring.  You will save a lot of money versus buying potted plants at the garden center.
• Leave snow on the evergreens alone  Do not try to remove wet heavy snow from evergreens, you could do more harm than good.  Evergreen limbs remain supple through winter and will bend under the weight, but hopefully will not crack.