Gardening

Gerry Daly brings us delightful daffodils for February.

February Gold
While the main display of daffodils comes in March, around St Patrick’s Day in fact, and continues into April, it is a good idea to plant some early kinds that extend the daffodil season from early spring.

The daffodil variety ‘February Gold’ is aptly named because it is a lovely golden yellow and it does actually flower in February. Sometimes it even flowers as early as January and it is one of the earlier daffodils to flower. But, apart from its appealing name, this variety is also one of the best and most beautiful of the early kinds.

There is a very similar kind called ‘February Silver’ with creamy white petals and a pale yellow trumpet. This is about the same size as ‘February Gold’, 30 centimetres tall, and it flowers early too. It looks great with some purple crocuses that flower around the same time.

The variety ‘Tête-à-Tête’ is another little beauty that is well named as it carries one to three small daffodils flowers on each stem, head-to-head so to speak, as the name implies. It is yellow with slightly reflexed petals like ‘February Gold’ and a hint of orange in the short trumpets. The tazetta daffodil has a bunch of up to twenty small daffodil flowers in late winter and early spring, and it sometimes even flowers in late autumn. It is sweetly scented.

The tiny miniature daffodil, Narcissus minor, is just ten to fifteen centimetres tall, a real gem. The flowers are perfect miniatures of the larger daffodils that follow a few weeks later. This looks great on a rockery or in containers along with crocuses and bedding plants such as pansies and polyanthus. It looks well with some winter heathers nearby too.

In fact, all of these small early narcissus are great in containers, bringing an early start to the spring display. When the containers need to be emptied, the plants can be moved into the open soil and in most cases they will survive to flower for future years. There are other small early daffodils such as ‘Tracey’ and ‘Beryl’. But whatever ones are chosen, they can add a little sparkle at a time when the garden needs as much sparkle as it can muster.

Care for the environment: Use prunings for plant supports

Instead of shredding shrub prunings, which uses energy, or piling them in a corner to rot down, why not turn them into supports for flower plants? Many shrubs have bushy branches that make fine supports for the more floppy types of perennial flowers, such as oriental poppies or coreopsis. The shrub twigs can be pushed into the ground and the perennial flowers will grow up through them. These can be removed at the end of the year or the end of the flowering period and they will have already begun the process of decaying.

Using Garden Tools

Fertiliser Distributor
If you have a lawn that is more than about 100 square metres, it is convenient and more accurate to use a small fertiliser distributor. For smaller lawns, it is possible to spread by hand, but this is not as accurate as a properly set distributor.

These small distributors are relatively cheap and they save on lawn fertiliser by spreading less, but more evenly, over the area. Make sure to set the outlet to match the flow rate of the fertiliser or too much can be spread — err on the side of caution. After use, wash out the distributor thoroughly as the fertiliser is very corrosive and can damage metal parts.

This month in your Garden

• continue to plant bare-rooted trees and shrubs in good weather
• sow bedding annual flowers in a heated propagator start dahlia tubers in trays or pots in February
• prune conservatory and greenhouse climbers
• sow first early peas outdoors or in pots for later planting out
• in mild areas, plant earliest potato varieties after sprouting them
• complete all remaining apple and pear pruning
• clean greenhouse glass, if not done already
• ventilate the greenhouse during fine weather
• complete any remaining digging for vegetables