Gardening Tips

February

Prune grapes before sap rises. Don't be afraid to cut back secondary shoots, leaving strong central leaders. This puts more energy into the fruit -- and you will still have lots of new growth to fill in any arbor for shade.

Dormant spray for fruit trees (volic oil and lime sulfur)
Dormant spray on euonymous with scale.
Plant peas around St. Patrick's Day in Ohio. Peas thrive in alkaline Ohio soil with a little compost and full sun. Before planting, soak seeds in water for 24 hours to soften their hard coats. Then gently rub the seeds between two pieces of sandpaper, or nick each seed with file.
Trim back your perennials. You can move clumps of mums, daylilies, split hosta clumps, move over-crowded rudbeckia at this time. Leave all of your gray leaved perennials, such as perovshia, lavender, artemesia, and caryopteris until you see some new buds break -- normally around the end of April, then trim and shape back to new growth. Do not trim back old wood without new buds.

Put out the hummingbird feeder towards the end of the month. Use a 1:3 ratio of sugar to water (ex. 1 cup of sugar to 3 cups of water). Boil for 3 minutes. Cool and serve. Some say to switch to a 1:4 ratio after the first couple of feedings.
Prune your spirea, if you didn't do in the fall.
Ornamental grasses: Cut down the old, dead grass from all of your ornamental grasses. Use hedging shears.
Ornamental grasses: It is natural for the centers to die out, leaving a ring of live grass. If you do nothing, the plant will just keep getting bigger around and you will never see the dead center when the grass gets high enough. If you choose, you can divide the plant to keep the size down.

Buddleia (Butterfly) Bush: Cut the bush almost to the ground and the regrowth will take it back to its normal height.
Now is the time to fertilize shrubs, flowering bushes, and trees. "Holly-tone" by Espoma (from the Gardening Group) gives good results in a week and a half.

Spiderwort: Looking limp due to the weight of the plant? Cut down to the ground and it will quickly sprout fresh new leaves and stand upright again, giving tons of new flowers.