California Gardener’s February Checklist
With spring just around the corner, here are 9 ideas for getting a head start on the season
While spring doesn’t officially begin until next month, it already feels like it’s well on its way in much of California. The days grow longer, birds become more active as they scout nest spots and early blooms like sweet-smelling narcissus and yellow forsythia brighten beds. As your garden begins to come alive, here are ideas for what to plant and pick and what garden chores to tackle now to set yourself up for spring.
Not in California? Find your checklist here
Not in California? Find your checklist here
1. Pot up an early-spring container. Brighten a doorstep or add color to dull winter beds with a container full of cool-season favorites like pansies, sweet violets, dianthus, primroses and snapdragons placed in the sunniest spot of your yard. The flowers will provide color from now until early summer, when hotter temperatures cause most cool-season annuals to decline. In coastal California regions, snapdragons and dianthus may continue through mid-summer.
2. Try growing fragrant daphne. Daphne (Daphne odora) can be a finicky garden plant: It’s tricky to find a place where it thrives, and it’s fairly short-lived as evergreen shrubs go. But it’s worth the trouble for the intoxicating fragrance. Clusters of pink buds emerge in February and open to tiny, tubular flowers that smell fresh and citrusy. One cluster in a vase is enough to perfume a room.
For your best chance at success, find a spot in your garden that receives morning sun and afternoon shade or consistent bright, dappled light — such as an area under a tree canopy.
For your best chance at success, find a spot in your garden that receives morning sun and afternoon shade or consistent bright, dappled light — such as an area under a tree canopy.
Daphnes need soil with excellent drainage. Try amending soil with plenty of organic matter and planting daphne on a slight mound to encourage the root ball not to get too soggy. Plant along pathways where you can enjoy a breath of the fresh fragrance as you pass by.
Where it will grow: Hardy to 5 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 15 degrees Celsius (USDA zones 7 to 9; find your zone)
Water requirement: Moderate; keep soil moist but not soggy
Light requirement: Light shade
See how to grow daphne
Where it will grow: Hardy to 5 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 15 degrees Celsius (USDA zones 7 to 9; find your zone)
Water requirement: Moderate; keep soil moist but not soggy
Light requirement: Light shade
See how to grow daphne
3. Bring flowering branches inside. Early-blooming shrubs, like flowering quince (Chaenomeles spp.), make beautiful arrangements indoors and serve as a reminder that spring really is just around the corner. Cut branches when buds are beginning to swell and place in a vase with fresh water. Once indoors and exposed to warm air, the flowers will open quickly. Change water often to extend the flower life indoors.
4. Watch for snails and slugs. Warm, moist weather provides an ideal habitat for garden pests like snails and slugs. Set out bait, like pet-safe Sluggo, as soon as you spot the telltale silvery trails or holes in leaves.
5. Continue planting winter veggies. Planted now, cool-season veggies like kale, Swiss chard, lettuce, broccoli, mizuna, spinach and snap peas will have a quick growth rate thanks to the increased daylight and soil and air temperatures. Plant seedlings now in a bed or container that receives full sun and you’ll soon be enjoying a spring harvest. Plants will thrive until temperatures heat up in early summer, prompting many leafy greens to bolt (begin to flower).
Seeds or Seedlings? How to Get Your Garden Started
Seeds or Seedlings? How to Get Your Garden Started
6. Care for camellias. Prune back camellias after the plants have finished blooming. To encourage a bushy shape and maximum blooms next winter, cut back to just before a knobby section on each branch that marks the end of last year’s growth. Cutting there will encourage branching and more blossoms to form.
Wait to fertilize until all flowers have dropped in spring. Use a fertilizer for azaleas and camellias, following package instructions.
Wait to fertilize until all flowers have dropped in spring. Use a fertilizer for azaleas and camellias, following package instructions.
7. Convert to drip irrigation. Before spring planting, and while beds are relatively bare, it’s a good time to get irrigation systems in place. When laying drip irrigation lines, determine spacing by the amount of water each emitter disperses in a 15-minute period and a 30-minute period. Lay the line, turn the system on and watch the dark circles from the water soak the soil around each emitter. Depending on your soil type, plant needs (low water versus higher moisture) and the spacing of plants (no gaps versus shrubs planted farther apart), you can space the lines to provide consistent moisture where you need it.
Learn more about installing a drip irrigation system
Learn more about installing a drip irrigation system
8. Prune fruit trees and other deciduous trees and shrubs. Pruning can help control the size and shape of trees and shrubs of any kind, but it is particularly important for fruit trees, such as cherries, apricots, peaches, apples and others. Pruning fruit trees helps with healthy fruit production by opening the center of the tree to more sunlight and encouraging vigorous growth on cut branches. Get pruning done before bud break.
If you’re new to pruning fruit trees, it’s best to take a class at a local community center, but to get started, consider a few best practices:
- Make all cuts at a 45-degree angle with clean pruners.
- Remove any dead or diseased branches all the way to the base of the branch.
- Remove any branches that are crossing through the center of the tree — this promotes light to the center of the crown and healthy air circulation.
- Make cuts about one-half inch above a bud in the direction of growth you’d like to encourage (generally outward).
9. Fertilize citrus. Feed citrus trees before spring growth with a nitrogen-heavy fertilizer (check for an N:P:K ratio listed on the package, such as 2-1-1, and for ones sold as “citrus and avocado” fertilizers) according to box instructions, or even less.
Don’t overdo it — adding too much fertilizer too quickly can also put plants in stress and cause the tips of leaves to burn. It’s better to err on the side of lower doses of fertilizer, applied regularly, or invest in slow-release citrus fertilizers (often sold in granular form).
Yellowing leaves on citrus can be an indication of low nutrients in the soil or poor drainage.
See how to keep your citrus trees well fed and healthy
More
Not in California? Find your checklist here
10 Reasons to Start Keeping a Garden Journal
Don’t overdo it — adding too much fertilizer too quickly can also put plants in stress and cause the tips of leaves to burn. It’s better to err on the side of lower doses of fertilizer, applied regularly, or invest in slow-release citrus fertilizers (often sold in granular form).
Yellowing leaves on citrus can be an indication of low nutrients in the soil or poor drainage.
See how to keep your citrus trees well fed and healthy
More
Not in California? Find your checklist here
10 Reasons to Start Keeping a Garden Journal