Indoors…

• First week:
  • Vegetables:
    • artichoke, leeks, sweet onions
  • Herbs:
    • chives, lavender, lemon balm, mint
  • Flowers:
    • Agastache, Antirrhinum (snapdragon), Aquilegia (columbine), Asclepias (butterfly weed), Cheiranthus (wallflower), Cosmos, Dianthus, Digitalis (foxglove), Helenium, Helianthus (sunflower), Iberis (candy tuft), Lathyrus (sweet pea), Limonium (statice), Matthiola (stocks), Oenothera (primrose), Saponaria (soapwort), Scabiosa, Tithonia, Veronica, Viola

• Second week:
  • Vegetables:
    • artichoke, Asparagus, Florence fennel, leeks, sweet onions
  • Herbs:
    • Chives, lavender, Melissa (lemon balm), mint, Monarda (bee balm), Origanum (marjoram / oregano), Petroselinium (parsley), rosemary, sage, thyme, winter savory
  • Flowers:
    • Agastache, Alcea (hollyhocks), Antirrhinum (snapdragon), Aquilegia (columbine), Asclepias (butterfly weed), Cheiranthus (wallflower), Cosmos, Delphinium, Dianthus, Echinacea (coneflower), Gaillardia, Gaura, Helenium, Helianthus (sunflower), Iberis (candy tuft), Lathyrus (sweet pea), Limonium (statice), Lupinus (lupins), Matthiola (stocks), Oenothera (primrose), Saponaria (soapwort), Scabiosa, Tagetes (marigolds), Nemophila, Nicotiana (flowering tobacco), Nigella, Physalis (Chinese lanterns), Ratibida (prairie coneflowers), Tithonia, Veronica, Viola,

• Third week:
  • Vegetables:
    • Asparagus, Florence fennel, leeks, sweet onions
  • Herbs:
    • chives, lavender, Melissa (lemon balm), mint, Monarda (bee balm), Origanum (marjoram / oregano), Petroselinium (parsley), rosemary, sage, thyme, winter savory
  • Flowers:
    • Agastache, Alcea (hollyhocks), Antirrhinum (snapdragon), Aquilegia (columbine), Asclepias (butterfly weed), Cosmos, Delphinium, Echinacea (coneflower), Gaillardia, Gaura, Helenium, Helianthus (sunflower), Iberis (candy tuft), Lathyrus (sweet pea), Limonium (statice), Lupinus (lupins), Matthiola (stocks), Saponaria (soapwort), Rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan), Scabiosa, Tagetes (marigolds), Nemophila, Nicotiana (flowering tobacco), Nigella, Physalis (Chinese lanterns), Ratibida (prairie coneflowers), Tithonia, Veronica, Viola

• Fourth week:
  • Vegetables:
    • Asparagus, Florence fennel, leeks, sweet onions
  • Herbs:
    • chives, lavender, Melissa (lemon balm), mint, Monarda (bee balm), Origanum (marjoram / oregano), Petroselinium (parsley), rosemary, sage, thyme, winter savory
  • Flowers:
    • Agastache, Alcea (hollyhocks), Antirrhinum (snapdragon), Aquilegia (columbine), Asclepias (butterfly weed), Cosmos, Delphinium, Echinacea (coneflower), Gaillardia, Gaura, Helenium, Helianthus (sunflower), Iberis (candy tuft), Lathyrus (sweet pea), Limonium (statice), Lupinus (lupins), Matthiola (stocks), Saponaria (soapwort), Rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan), Scabiosa, Tagetes (marigolds), Nemophila, Nicotiana (flowering tobacco), Nigella, Physalis (Chinese lanterns), Ratibida (prairie coneflowers), Tithonia, Veronica, Viola

Direct sow in the garden…(after the snow melts!)

• All month:
  • Vegetables:
    • Broad beans, Montia (claytonia), mustard, Pac choi / Choi sum (under cover), radish (under cover), spinach (under cover)
  • Flowers:
    • Cynoglossum (Chinese forget-me-not), Papaver (poppy)

Posted on February 1, 2017

by Leslie Cox; Wednesday; February 1, 2017

After tackling a few chores in January, we are now on a roll. Here is another list of what we should be getting done in February.

In the garden:

• We can still get snow this month, so keep a weathered eye on your trees, shrubs, vines, and evergreen perennials. Knock the snow off, if necessary.
• Prune your fruit trees, grape vines, and cane fruits…raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and currants…if you did not finish this chore last month.
• Once the fruits are pruned, spray with horticultural oil (dormant oil) when there is a dry window of at least 24 hours and temperatures are above freezing. But only treat those fruit plants which had pest or disease problems last year…like forest tent caterpillars or pear trellis rust. (Info about forest tent caterpillars – click here. Info about pear trellis rust – click here.)
• Check to see if any early spring bulbs are poking up…like Galanthus spp. (snowdrops) and Muscari latifolium (grape hyacinth). Remove snow and leaf mulch, if they are buried underneath…provided you can remember where they are!
• Put the bird feeders out again, if more snow is in the forecast.
• Continue whittling away at any projects you managed to start working on last month. Hopefully, you can wrap them up by the time spring arrives…if the weather cooperates.
• Keep up with the weeding. Any days when the thermometer creeps upwards, those weeds will be bursting onto the scene. And do not let up on your war on that pest: Cardamine hirsuta (hairy bittercress). New seedlings will still be popping up and you want to pull them out before the seeds pop.
• Do not walk in the garden beds if the soil is soggy. You will be compacting it and making it difficult for the new shoots to break through. To do a compaction test…take a handful of soil and squeeze. If water dribbles out through your fist, do not venture into your garden beds.

In the vegetable garden:

• Continue harvesting winter and any root vegetables still in the ground under cover.
• Dig and amend vegetable beds as they are emptied.

In the greenhouse:

• Check on the plants you are over-wintering from the elements. Water any that are excessively dry.
• Check for possible insect infestations or diseases.

In the compost pile:

• Keep turning the pile…if it is not buried in snow. Cold as it is, this will build up heat and destroy weed seeds.
• Be sure to cover the pile so rain will not leach out precious nutrients.

In the tool shed:

• Good time to sort and organize things in the shed so everything is ready for spring. Organizing gives you a fresh mental map on where each item is in the shed.

Indoors:

• Keep checking your over-wintered tender perennials. Remove any leaves that are decaying and inspect plants carefully for aphids or other pests or disease.
• Check the soil moisture in the pots. Only water when the soil has started to dry out for a few days.
• If you use wood heat, watch your houseplants do not suffer from too much dry heat. Stick them in the shower for a brief wash-down once a month, or mist them regularly with a spray bottle filled with water.
• Order the seeds on your wish list…if you haven’t already. Wait too long and the seed company may be out of the variety you want.

And please…stay warm! Winter is not quite finished with us.

by Leslie Cox; Sunday; January 1, 2017                         Updated January 2, 2021

Now all the festivities from the holiday season are behind us, we are just itching to get out in the garden…although with trepidation. There is likely to be some damage in our garden from accumulated snowfalls and colder than usual temperatures this winter.

To ease all of us back into gardening shape, here is a list of some chores that can be undertaken this month.

Helleborus x ballardiae ‘Pink Frost’ – early buds

In the garden:

• Check your trees, shrubs, vines, and evergreen perennials after every snowfall. Heavy snow causes a lot of damage to frozen branches.
• Pick up branches and rake leaves off the lawn and garden beds.
• Check hellebores. Remove old and diseased leaves.
• Check to see if your Eranthis hyemalis (winter aconite) plants are up. Remove snow and leaf mulch, if they are buried underneath.
• Keep the bird feeders filled…especially after a snowfall.
• Check ponds periodically. Remove any decaying leaves to prevent hydrogen sulfide and methane gas levels from building up. Try not to worry about your goldfish…they do tend to be okay under the ice.
• Weather permitting, start those projects on your list – an arbour for a climbing vine, repair grape arbour, build a new raised bed…
• Never too early to weed. Keep your eyes peeled for signs of Cardamine hirsuta (hairy bittercress) which will likely be showing itself this month. Pull them before the seeds pop, or you will be sorry.
• Third week of this month, look for a break in the weather to start pruning your fruit trees, grape vines, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and currants.

Eranthis hyemalis (winter aconite)

In the vegetable garden:

• Continue harvesting winter and any root vegetables still in the ground under cover.
• Dig and amend vegetable beds as they are emptied.

In the greenhouse:

• Check on the plants you are over-wintering from the elements. Water any that are excessively dry.
• Check for possible insect infestations or diseases.

In the compost pile:

• Turn the pile. Cold as it is, this will build up heat and destroy weed seeds.
• Be sure to cover the pile so rain will not leach out precious nutrients.

In the tool shed:

• Check over all your gardening equipment, if you haven’t done so already – secateurs, pruners, and hedgers need sharpening.
• Have the lawn mower serviced, if you cannot do it yourself.
• Pots, trays, and inserts should all be washed with a 10 % bleach solution and well rinsed in preparation for sowing seeds and potting up annuals and perennials.

Indoors:

• Check for decay on summer-flowering bulbs you have in storage.
• Check your over-wintered tender perennials regularly. Remove any leaves that are decaying and inspect plants carefully for aphids or other pests or disease.
• Indoor plants do not need as much water during the colder months, so beware of over-watering.
• Start a list of everything you did not get finished last fall such as perennials to be moved or divided, re-seeding the lawn, that last bit of garden clean-up.
• Start another list of garden projects you wish to tackle this year such as a new raised bed, a new arbour, etc. And any repairs that need attention to this list.
• Organize your seed inventory. Make a list of varieties needed.
• Check dates on seed packets and compare to Seed Viability Chart. Throw out old packets.
• Do germination tests on seeds older than 2-3 years.
• Start planning your veggie garden. Make a list of what varieties you want to grow and how many plants of each. Draw up a diagram defining rows or beds of vegetable varieties. Don’t forget to rotate your crops! Consult last year’s plan to see what was planted where in order to move everything one bed or row over.
• Order the new catalogues from your favourite seed companies, or peruse them online. Start another list…your garden wish list.
• Catch up on your garden-related reading material because you will not have much time for reading once the garden starts to wake up from its hibernation.

Seed sowing schedule:
(If you do not have a proper seed starting set-up with overhead grow lights, hold back on starting any of the following seeds by two to four weeks.)

• First / second week:
  • If you like to grow yams, start sprouting your tubers this week, or next, to harvest in summer.

• Third week / fourth week:
  • Vegetables: artichoke, leek, onion
  • Herbs: basil, chives, lavender, lemon balm, mint, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, winter savory
  • Flowers: agastache, alyssum, asclepiad, columbine, dianthus, digitalis, helenium, iberis, nicotiana, oenothera, scabiosa, snapdragons, statice, stocks, veronica, viola, wallflower

Vegetable garden:

• Keep harvesting. If you have kept up with your watering in the vegetable garden, the beans, peas, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini will still be producing almost up until frost. (Check out my Gardening Tip on what to do with the last of the zucchinis here.)

• Keep an eye on the thermometer. Overnight temperatures this month may have some serious dips into low, single digital range. If this is in the forecast, cover the lettuce row, pick the beans, and if you cannot give good insulated protection to your tomatoes and peppers, harvest them to ripen in a cool, dark place that will not dip below freezing. 

• Amend and cover crop the bare rows, or beds. You do not want the winter rains washing your valuable soil away. And you definitely want to put nutrients back into the soil for next year’s veggie growing. It is unfortunate few of us are blessed with the absolutely best soil in our gardens. This means we have to an added chore or two each year to bring our soil up to snuff. And it can be done! One chore is amending the soil with compost or manure to improve its structure and water retention. Another chore is sowing a cover crop on any bare beds because…whatever you grew in those spots has depleted the nutrient content in the soil and it must be replaced in order to grow healthy crops next season. 

• Time to plant garlic for next year! September, into early October are ideal times for sowing garlic. Check out your nurseries or the farmer’s markets for healthy, flavourful bulbs.

Perennial garden:

• Fall is an excellent time to plant. With seasonal rains typically in the September forecast, this is a great month to plant those nursery acquisitions which are still in their pots. Good time to plant the odd tree or two, as well. Why? The rain will seriously cut down on your watering bill…and your time. But watch for any heat gaps. We do get wonderful Indian summers here in the Comox Valley.

• Divide and move. Spring is usually the season when gardeners are revved up and excited to make changes in their landscape design. But seriously, fall is an even better time of year. One reason, the plant has grown to full size, and oops!, it is now demanding a larger chunk of real estate. Another reason is again, the watering issue. Why not let Mother Nature be your helper? And if those hostas, grasses, black-eyed susans (Rudbeckia ), masterworts (Astrantia spp.), etc need dividing into smaller clumps…think about sharing them with a friend, or support any of your local organizations who are hosting a fund-raising fall plant sale.

• Think ahead to the spring display. Now is the time to plant those spring-flowering bulbs. Check out your local nurseries and seed catalogues for some lovely additions for your garden. No room for bulbs in your garden landscape? No problem! Fill a planter with an assortment of bulbs, starting with the tallest stemmed varieties in the lower lever, and working up the pot to the shortest stemmed flowers in the top layer, like Chionodoxa , or glory-in-the-snow, as they are also called. Once planted up, tuck your pot out of the weather until spring, but give it a bit of water once a month.

• Garden clean-up. Now is the time to prune those black-looking peony and ugly rose leaves. Botrytris (peony) and black spot (roses) are spore fungi which live in the soil. Virtually impossible to get rid of but manageable if you clean up all those nasty-looking leaves and send them to the garbage. Do not put them in your compost!

• Cutting back some of the perennials now will save some time in the spring. However, keep in mind, some perennials are over-wintering habitat for insects. Hollow-stemmed plants like fennel are hidey-holes for swallowtail butterflies. Female bumblebees love a mouse nest to sleep in through the winter, but will make do if you provide them with a heap of assorted leaves, small sticks, and other soft materials.

• Keep some seeds for the birds. If you save seeds from your favourite annuals, be sure to leave a few for the birds. The species which hang around all winter will appreciate the meals you have saved for them.

• Gather up the tender perennials. It is time to bring those houseplants back indoors. Be sure to give them a close scrutiny for pests before moving them inside. A thorough dousing of soapy water will catch the pests you cannot see. Repeat the treatment 7 to 10 days later to catch any hatching eggs. Doesn’t hurt to keep a sharp eye on the plants for a couple of weeks after you bring them inside, just to be sure.