February Greenhouse Ramblings
While it is still a titch early to be doing much out in the yard, in the greenhouse everything is slowly starting to come alive. Days are longer, warmer, and brighter, encouraging plants to put on new growth.
The February to-do list is not yet very long, mainly preparation for the busy times ahead. Just enough to do to keep your green thumb from itching.
Clean up...
Never the most interesting nor exciting part of growing, a clean greenhouse is a necessity for a healthy start to the new growing season. Best to remove all pests and diseases before you fill the greenhouse with tender new seedlings.
If you did not do it in the fall, maybe you were too pooped out, or maybe you were stuffing it full of plants to over winter, this month is a great time to get everything spic and span. Wash the walls inside and out to allow in more sunshine, clean up tracks, corners, anywhere bugs may be hiding.
Start with clean, sterile plant pots and equipment. Wash with soapy water and rinse in a 10% bleach solution. Inventory your stash to make sure you have what you need when the seeds and plants start rolling in.
Wash tables, racks, and shelves, as well as, floors.
Bugs...
Check for bugs, aphids will begin to show up any time now. Yellow sticky strips are very helpful, they monitor pest levels and help you see exactly what pests you are dealing with; aphids, white flies, and fungus gnats are the most common greenhouse pests.
If you find evidence of pests, spray down all plants to a drip with Safer's Soap or Trounce. Be sure to get the under sides of leaves and stems, too. Spray once a week, for three weeks in a row, to catch them all as they mature from egg or larva to flying pest.
Plant Care...
Pinch back/cut back your hardy annuals. Take the geraniums down really low now for bushy plants with lots of blooms in summer. Cut back begonias, fuchsias, geraniums, lantana, scented-geraniums, etc.. Give topiaries a good haircut now, too. Remove and dead branches from lantana, citrus trees, roses.... Cut back mini roses by a third.
All of these plants are going to slowly come back to life this month, putting on new leaves and branches. Begin watering more often now, still keeping them on the dry side, but as the days get brighter and longer, the plants will gradually use more water.
More growth and foliage means it is time to start feeding them with a mild fertiliser solution. I use Reindeer Liquid Seaweed to both water in foliar feed, but you can use any fertiliser that you have on hand. Dilute chemical fertilisers to half strength and water in. Foliar feed only if using an organic product, like manure tea, seaweed, fish fert, or kelp. Spray all over the foliage every 2 weeks.
Do not use a high nitrogen fertiliser at this time, or you will have too much soft growth before they go outside. All those soft new shoots bring on more pests and you will soon have a huge battle on your hands. Nitrogen is the first number on the fertiliser bottle, stick to an all purpose one (like a 10-10-10) at this time.
Seed Starting...
It is truly too early to be starting most anything until March or April. Our days are still so short, gloomy and grey, so starting plants now just makes for stretched-out, unhappy plants well before they can actually go outside.
To know when to start your seeds, you first need to know when the last frost date is in your region. Here in the Nanaimo area is April 28th. Some of the newer sources will say April 10th, but I have found our past several springs to be really cold and always use the later date.
On the back of each seed package, they give you all sorts of seeding information ... how deep to sow, spacing, and when to sow. These peppers are to be started 8 to 10 weeks before the last frost, so count back from your last frost date to know when to get started. Going from our date of April 28th, we need to sow between mid February and early March.
What veggies to start indoors in February... the list is still quite small, most are started in March.
- Broad Beans
- Brassica family, towards end of the month
- Leeks, Onions, Chives
- Peas/Sweet Peas
- Peppers, mostly the hots. Sweets can easily be left for a few more weeks yet.
Flowers to start now... many can be started indoors now or the seeds simply tossed into the garden beds.
Listed here are a few of the common ones to start now, the companion flowers for your organic veggie beds..
- Ammi (looks like Queen Anne's Lace)
- Alyssum
- Calendula
- Cosmos
- Marigolds
- Snapdragons
The February to-do list is not yet very long, mainly preparation for the busy times ahead. Just enough to do to keep your green thumb from itching.
Clean up...
Never the most interesting nor exciting part of growing, a clean greenhouse is a necessity for a healthy start to the new growing season. Best to remove all pests and diseases before you fill the greenhouse with tender new seedlings.
If you did not do it in the fall, maybe you were too pooped out, or maybe you were stuffing it full of plants to over winter, this month is a great time to get everything spic and span. Wash the walls inside and out to allow in more sunshine, clean up tracks, corners, anywhere bugs may be hiding.
Start with clean, sterile plant pots and equipment. Wash with soapy water and rinse in a 10% bleach solution. Inventory your stash to make sure you have what you need when the seeds and plants start rolling in.
Wash tables, racks, and shelves, as well as, floors.
Bugs...
Check for bugs, aphids will begin to show up any time now. Yellow sticky strips are very helpful, they monitor pest levels and help you see exactly what pests you are dealing with; aphids, white flies, and fungus gnats are the most common greenhouse pests.
If you find evidence of pests, spray down all plants to a drip with Safer's Soap or Trounce. Be sure to get the under sides of leaves and stems, too. Spray once a week, for three weeks in a row, to catch them all as they mature from egg or larva to flying pest.
Geraniums have all been pinched back hard
Plant Care...
Remove all spent blossoms, yellowing leaves, and any plant debris on top of the soil or they will start to grow fuzzy with mould.
Pinch back/cut back your hardy annuals. Take the geraniums down really low now for bushy plants with lots of blooms in summer. Cut back begonias, fuchsias, geraniums, lantana, scented-geraniums, etc.. Give topiaries a good haircut now, too. Remove and dead branches from lantana, citrus trees, roses.... Cut back mini roses by a third.
If you did not re-pot in the fall, give them fresh new potting soil now. If they are in super large pots, like some roses, hibiscus standards, citrus trees, etc... they will not need to be repotted annually, just top dress with manure or compost.
All of these plants are going to slowly come back to life this month, putting on new leaves and branches. Begin watering more often now, still keeping them on the dry side, but as the days get brighter and longer, the plants will gradually use more water.
More growth and foliage means it is time to start feeding them with a mild fertiliser solution. I use Reindeer Liquid Seaweed to both water in foliar feed, but you can use any fertiliser that you have on hand. Dilute chemical fertilisers to half strength and water in. Foliar feed only if using an organic product, like manure tea, seaweed, fish fert, or kelp. Spray all over the foliage every 2 weeks.
Do not use a high nitrogen fertiliser at this time, or you will have too much soft growth before they go outside. All those soft new shoots bring on more pests and you will soon have a huge battle on your hands. Nitrogen is the first number on the fertiliser bottle, stick to an all purpose one (like a 10-10-10) at this time.
Seed Starting...
It is truly too early to be starting most anything until March or April. Our days are still so short, gloomy and grey, so starting plants now just makes for stretched-out, unhappy plants well before they can actually go outside.
To know when to start your seeds, you first need to know when the last frost date is in your region. Here in the Nanaimo area is April 28th. Some of the newer sources will say April 10th, but I have found our past several springs to be really cold and always use the later date.
On the back of each seed package, they give you all sorts of seeding information ... how deep to sow, spacing, and when to sow. These peppers are to be started 8 to 10 weeks before the last frost, so count back from your last frost date to know when to get started. Going from our date of April 28th, we need to sow between mid February and early March.
What veggies to start indoors in February... the list is still quite small, most are started in March.
- Broad Beans
- Brassica family, towards end of the month
- Leeks, Onions, Chives
- Peas/Sweet Peas
- Peppers, mostly the hots. Sweets can easily be left for a few more weeks yet.
Flowers to start now... many can be started indoors now or the seeds simply tossed into the garden beds.
Listed here are a few of the common ones to start now, the companion flowers for your organic veggie beds..
- Ammi (looks like Queen Anne's Lace)
- Alyssum
- Calendula
- Cosmos
- Marigolds
- Snapdragons
Citrus fruits are in their prime at this time of year, flowering and fruiting like mad.
Feed your lemons and other citrus fruit trees at this time. I use an organic granular kind that is scattered on top of the soil every 6 to 8 weeks, starting in February and finishing in October.
Check for scale on the under side of the leaves, and check blossoms for aphids.
Baby olives on my Spanish Olive tree
Happy greenhouse-ing!
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