The temperature outside was 28 degrees when I left my house this morning, but there are several gardening jobs that can be accomplished later in the day after the sun comes up and the temperature rises.
Here is a list of several gardening jobs that can be done over the next few weeks:
Now is an ideal time to transplant trees and shrubs. This should be done before the plants break dormancy. After the new leaves come out, plant survivability is greatly reduced.
If you are planning to plant Irish potatoes, now is the time to get the seed potatoes in the ground. Don’t forget to add lettuce, turnips, mustards, collards, cabbage, kale, radishes, English peas and other cool season veggies to your garden spot.
Now let’s look at the fruit garden. Most nurseries will be stocked in February with a good selection of small and large fruit producing plants. In the small fruit category, try blueberries, figs, pomegranates, blackberries and muscadines. In the large fruit category, try pears, plums, peaches, and apples.
Even though they are not a fruit, pecan trees can also be planted now. Make sure that the trees that you buy are grafted trees. All pecan trees grown from seed are seedling trees. That means that a pecan that falls from a Stuart pecan tree and is planted, the new tree will not be a Stuart. It will be an unknown pecan tree that could produce great seedling pecans or the tiny seedlings that are so hard to pick up.
Reputable pecan tree nurserymen plant pecans, grow the seedling trees for a year and then graft a bud or stem of a known variety to the seedling. Over the next couple of years they grow the grafted tree to marketable size. The graft is always made above ground and is usually 4 to 8 inches above ground leaving a slight to moderate curve in the trunk.
As for the lawn, the only thing to do right now is to control those pesky winter weeds. It is not too late to apply a pre-emergent herbicide to your warm season turfgrasses. You need to do it before the end of February. If you see weeds already up in the lawn, spray them now with a post-emergent herbicide that is labeled for your type of grass.
You may want to add new shrubs and trees to your landscape. Now is one of the best times to do this.
February is the ideal time to prune roses.
And finally, don’t forget to take soil samples. Soil sampling tells a farmer or gardener how much residual fertilizer is in the soil and helps identify the fertility needs for garden crops and landscape plants.
For more information on these and other topics of interest, call the Emanuel County Extension Office at 237-1226 or drop by the office at 129 North Anderson Drive in Swainsboro.
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