February gardening tasks: 12 jobs for late winter

February is when the gardening year starts to move. The days are getting longer, and the first seeds go under lights. It is also the best time to prune fruit trees, while they are still dormant.

These tasks fit cold-winter gardens in zones 3 to 7. In milder zones, you can move most of them a few weeks earlier. Not sure of your zone? Here is how to find your growing zone.

Start seeds

1. Start onions and leeks

Onions and leeks need 10 to 12 weeks indoors before they go outside. In many cold-winter gardens, February is the month to sow them. Trim the tops back to 4 to 5 inches (10 to 13 cm) as they grow, so the seedlings stay sturdy.

• How to grow onions from seeds, sets, or transplants
• How to grow leeks

2. Start peppers in warmer zones

Pepper seedlings grow at a slow pace and need 8 to 10 weeks indoors. If your last frost comes in April, start them in February. In colder zones, wait until March. Here is how to grow peppers from seed to harvest.

For more ideas, see these lists of vegetable seeds to plant in February and flower seeds to plant in February.

3. Keep winter sowing

February is a good month for winter sowing hardy seeds in milk jugs outside. Cold-hardy greens, peas, sweet peas, and many perennials all work.

• Winter sowing
• Winter sowing peas
• Winter sowing sweet peas

Prune

4. Sharpen your pruners first

Clean, sharp tools make clean cuts that heal fast. Sharpen pruners and loppers before you start, and wipe the blades with rubbing alcohol between trees. Here is how to sharpen pruning shears.

5. Prune apple and pear trees

Late winter is the classic time to prune apple and pear trees. The trees are dormant, and you can see the branch structure with no leaves in the way. Pick a dry day above freezing.

• Cut out dead, broken, and diseased wood first.
• Remove branches that cross or rub.
• Cut off water sprouts, the straight, fast shoots that grow up from branches.
• Thin crowded branches so light reaches the center of the tree.

Hold off on cherry, plum, and apricot trees. Many growers prune stone fruit trees in summer, when the cuts are less likely to get infected.

6. Prune grapes and raspberries

Grapes are pruned while dormant, before the buds swell. Here is more on growing Concord grapes.

Summer-bearing raspberries need the old canes that fruited last year cut out, if you did not do it in fall. Here is how to prune raspberries.

Wait on roses until March or April. Here is my post on pruning roses in March.

Check

7. Check perennials for frost heave

Freeze and thaw cycles can push perennials and young plants up out of the soil. That leaves their roots exposed to cold, dry air. Walk your beds on a mild day. Press heaved plants back into the soil and add a layer of mulch around them.

8. Get a cold frame ready

A cold frame or a sheet of clear plastic over a bed warms the soil weeks early. Set it up now, and you can sow spinach, lettuce, and radishes there as soon as the soil thaws.

• How to grow spinach
• How to grow radishes

9. Put up birdhouses

Many birds start looking for nest sites in late winter. Clean out old nest boxes and put up new ones before spring. Birds that nest in your yard eat many garden pests while feeding their young.

Order and plan

10. Order seed potatoes and onion sets

Seed potatoes, onion sets, and shallots sell out fast in spring. Order them now for spring delivery. Here is how to grow potatoes.

11. Bring spring indoors

Cut a few branches of forsythia, pussy willow, or flowering quince on a mild day. Put them in a vase of water in a cool room. Change the water every few days. In a few weeks, the buds open into early flowers.

12. Wake up your houseplants

As the days get longer, houseplants start growing again. Watch for new leaves. Once you see them, start watering a little more often. Plan to repot and start feeding in spring.

• How to care for a jade plant
• How to care for a spider plant

Looking for last month’s list? See my January gardening tasks.