February Landscape Maintenance

It is February, and the potential of gardening is edging forward. I am anxious as my seeds have come in for my spring vegetable garden, my fruit trees are in the ground, and chickens are ordered.

Here are some landscape maintenance tips:

Last chance to some pruning of your trees and shrubs.

Winter is the best time to trim your hardwood trees and shrubs without showy flowers: prune in the dormant season to easily visualize the structure of the tree, to maximize wound closure in the growing season after pruning, to reduce the chance of transmitting disease, and to discourage excessive sap flow from wounds.

The main reasons for pruning ornamental and shade trees include safety, health, and aesthetics. In addition, pruning can be used to stimulate fruit production and increase the value of timber.

If you still want to plant some annual flowers, they will last a couple more months as long as the temperatures stay mild and cool: snapdragons, calendula, alyssum, dianthus, ornamental kale and cabbage, pansy, phlox, stock.

There is a chance to plant some late season veggies as well: asparagus crowns, carrots, most winter veggies in 6" pots have a chance to produce before the changeover, mustard, dill, fennel, chives, mint. Fruit trees, pecan trees, grape and berry bushes.

For your lawn: keep the water and mow schedule the same. If you have ST. Augustine, and have a history of Brown Patch, at the end of the month apply a fungicide. It is not likely to come back this year with the dry weather, but it is a precaution.

Also, at the end of February, I like to put down cornmeal as a pre-emergent weed killer, and a fertilizer in my lawn. You can buy it in bulk from a nursery.

If you do not have a vegetable garden set up yet, now is the time, and order seeds. Barton Springs Nursery has some you can buy in their store.

Good Luck!