Landscape & Garden Tips for February
This information is provided by Oregon State University Extension Service (http://extension.oregonstate.edu). Reminders of key garden chores, such as fertilizing, pest control, planting, and maintenance for this month. Recommendations are not necessarily applicable to all areas of Oregon.
Planning
- Tune up lawn mower and garden equipment before the busy season begins.
- Have soil test performed on garden plot to determine nutrient needs. Contact your local Grays or Garden center for moren information.
- Plant an herb bed, for cooking and for interest in the landscape. Among the choices are parsley, sage, chives, and lavender. Choose a sunny spot for the herb bed, and plant seeds or transplants after danger of frost has passed (late April-early May in the Willamette Valley and Central Coast; June-July in Eastern and Central Oregon).
- Plan to add herbaceous perennial flowers to your flowering landscape this spring. Examples include candytuft, peony, penstemon, coneflower.
Maintenance and Clean Up
- Prune back any winter damage to trees and shrubs.
- Fertilize rhubarb with manure or a complete fertilizer.
- Incorporate cover crops or other organic matter into soil.
- Prune and train grapes; make cuttings.
- Prune fruit trees and blueberries.
- Eastern Oregon: Prune and train summer-bearing and fall-bearing raspberries.
- Western Oregon: Prune deciduous summer-blooming shrubs and trees; wait until April in high elevations of eastern and central Oregon.
- Western Oregon: Prune and train trailing blackberries (if not done prior late August); prune black raspberries.
- Western Oregon: Prune fall-bearing raspberries (late in Feb or early March).
- Western Oregon: Prune clematis, Virginia creeper, and other vining ornamentals.
Planting/Propagation
- Plan to add herbaceous perennial flowers to your flowering landscape this spring: astilbe, candytuft, peony, and anemone.
- Good time to plant fruit trees and deciduous shrubs. Replace varieties of ornamental plants that are susceptible to disease with resistant cultivars.
- Plant asparagus if the ground is warm enough.
- Plant seed flats of cole crops (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts), indoors or in greenhouse.
- Western Oregon: Where soil is dry enough and workable, plant garden peas and sweet peas. Suggested varieties of garden peas include: Corvallis, Dark Green Perfection, Green Arrow, Oregon Sugar Pod, Snappy, Knight, Sugar Snap, Oregon Trail, and Oregon Sugar Pod II.
- Western Oregon: Good time to plant new roses.
Pest Monitoring and Management
- Monitor landscape plants for problems. Don’t treat unless a problem is identified.
- Use delayed-dormant sprays of lime sulfur for fruit and deciduous trees and shrubs.
- Remove cankered limbs from fruit and nut trees for control of diseases such as apple anthracnose, bacterial canker of stone fruit and eastern filbert blight. Sterilize tools before each new cut.
- Control moles and gophers with traps.
- Western Oregon: Elm leaf beetles and box-elder bugs are emerging from hibernation and may be seen indoors. They are not harmful, but can be a nuisance. Remove them with a vacuum or broom and dustpan.
- Western Oregon: Monitor for European crane fly and treat lawns if damage has been verified.
- Identify problems before acting, and opt for the least toxic approach. Cultural, physical and biological controls are the cornerstones of a sustainable pest management program. Use chemical controls only after you identify a pest problem and carefully read the pesticide label. Least-toxic choices are insecticidal soaps, horticultural oils, botanical insecticides and organic and synthetic pesticides. These recommendations might not apply to all areas of Oregon.
Houseplants and Indoor Gardening
- Pasteurize soil for starting seedlings in pots or flats, or use clean, sterile commercial mixes.
- Central Oregon: Gather branches of quince, forsythia, and flowering cherries; bring indoors to force early bloom.