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From YouTube: Garden Chores -- February
Description
Keeping up with the seasons in your garden can sometimes be tricky. When do you plant for Spring? When do you harvest your vegetables? How do you keep those critters out of your garden? Learn to improve your green thumb with the answers to those and much more.
Join Master Gardener Linda Blue of the North Carolina Office of Cooperative Extension for need-to-know gardening tips and chores for the month of February. For more information you can call the office of Cooperative Extension at (828) 255-5522.
A
By
the
month
of
February,
a
lot
of
gardeners
are
starting
to
get
a
bit
of
cabin
fever.
Fortunately,
here
in
Western
North
Carolina
in
February,
we
usually
do
get
a
few
nice
weather
days
to
let
us
start
to
get
outside
and
find
some
of
those
gardening
chores
to
catch
up
on
now.
If
you
are
really
itching
to
get
out
the
pruners,
there
are
some
things
you
can
prune
right
now,
if
you
have
grape
vines
or
blueberry
bushes,
go
ahead
and
get
those
taken
care
of.
A
If
you
have
fruit,
trees,
the
mature
apple
trees,
it's
okay
to
go
ahead
and
prune.
However,
if
you
have
young
apple
trees
or
peach
trees,
it's
probably
best
to
wait
until
March
before
you
do
those.
If
you
have
evergreen
shrubs,
you
can
go
ahead
and
do
light
pruning
on
those
types
of
things.
Do
not
prune
your
spring
flowering
shrubs.
Quite
yet,
though,
because
you
will
prune
off
your
flower
buds,
so
wait
until
those
have
finished
finished
blooming.
A
Another
thing
that
you
can
do
some
cutting
on
is,
if
you
have
those
ornamental
grasses
or
the
grass
look-alikes
like
Laroy,
fe
and
mondo
grass.
This
is
a
good
time
to
go
ahead
and
prune
those
back
if
they
need
it
before
any
new
growth
starts
to
come
up
in
the
spring.
You
can
do
a
little
bit
of
fertilizing
this
time
of
year
as
well.
This
is
the
traditional
time
to
fertilize,
for
example,
large
shade
trees.
If
they
do
need
some
fertilizer.
A
The
other
thing
to
think
about
fertilizing
is
the
spring
bulbs
that
have
started
to
come
up
if
you
did
not
fertilize
them
in
November,
which
is
really
preferable.
If
you
want
to
fertilize
them,
you
need
to
do
it
as
soon
as
they
start
to
come
up
once
they
have
started
to
flower,
it's
really
too
late
and
you
can
actually
damage
the
bulb.
The
other
fertilizing
to
think
about
is
your
lawn
I
know.
A
February
does
not
seem
like
spring,
but
if
you
use
a
slow
release,
nitrogen
fertilizer
February
is
actually
the
time
to
get
that
fertilizer
on
the
lawn.
Once
you
get
beyond
about
the
1st
of
March,
then
it's
getting
too
late
to
use
the
slow
release
form
of
the
nitrogen
fertilizer.
Also,
if
you
have
any
of
those
bare
areas
still
in
your
lawn
from
last
summer's
drought,
that
you
did
not
receive
in
the
fall
belt,
late
February
in
the
early
March
is
the
best
time
to
do
that.
Lawn
grass
receding.
A
You
can
also
plant
other
things
this
time
of
year,
for
example,
if
you
want
to
plant
trees
and
shrubs
anytime,
the
ground
is
not
frozen
or
clay.
Soil
is
not
too
wet
to
be
digging
holes
and
working
in
it's
fine
to
go
ahead
and
plant
those
types
of
things.
This
is
also
the
time
that
we
usually
plant
our
fruits
fruit,
trees,
breaks,
blueberries
and
your
raspberries
and
blackberries.
A
By
February,
you
can
also
start
getting
some
things
ready
in
the
vegetable
garden.
One
of
our
biggest
challenges
often
is
getting
the
soil
prepared
this
early
in
the
spring.
If
you've
got
a
lot
of
this
red
clay,
soil
that
tends
to
make
claws
which,
when
you
work
it,
when
it's
wet
it'll,
set
up
like
pieces
of
brick
and
will
stay
with
you
and
cause
you
problems
the
rest
of
the
summer.
You
want
to
be
careful
about
not
working
in
that
kind
of
soil,
while
it's
actually
too
wet.
So
you
may
need
to
wait
a
bit.
A
However,
if
you've
got
those
raised
beds
that
you've
been
working
on
the
organic
content
in
for
a
couple
of
years,
your
soil,
probably
even
the
day
after
some
rain,
is
probably
going
to
be
in
pretty
good
shape,
where
you
can
actually
get
out
and
be
working
it
and
get
ready
to
plant
some
of
those
very
early
plantings.
The
things
you
can
start
to
plant
by
late
February
include
things
like
your
English
or
edible
pod
peas
and
some
things
like
spinach,
kale
and
even
onions.
A
So,
even
this
time
of
year,
if
you've
got
garden,
soil
like
this,
that
you
can
go
ahead
and
get
planted,
I
usually
try
to
aim
for
about
the
last
week
of
February
when
I'm
getting
out
and
actually
getting
those
edible,
pod,
peas
planted
or
perhaps
the
spinach.
Also,
while
you
are
of
working
outdoors
if
you've
wanted
to
attract
blue
birds
to
your
yard.
February
is
the
time
that
the
male
bluebirds
start
to
search
out
their
territories
and
look
for
nesting
sites
and
actually
select
their
nest
sites.
A
So
you
want
to
have
blue
bird
boxes
ready
for
them
actually
right
now.
So
this
is
the
time
to
go
ahead
and
be
putting
out
new
nest
boxes
or
cleaning
out
the
old
ones.
One
more
thing
to
think
about.
If
you
have
been
using
de-icing
salt
this
winter,
a
lot
of
de-icing
salt
will
eventually
a
wash
off
of
your
driveway
or
sidewalk,
and
if
it
washes
into
surrounding
a
plant
bed
areas
or
into
lawn
areas,
it
can
be
damaging
to
your
plants.
A
So,
besides
not
using
any
more
salt
than
you
really
need
to
it's
a
very
good
plan.
As
soon
as
the
ice
is
melted
and
that
salt
has
kind
of
dried,
if
you
can
get
out
there
with
the
broom
and
get
that
swept
up
as
much
as
you
can,
so
that
the
salt
does
not
wash
off
of
these
hard
surface
areas,
of
course,
the
weather
doesn't
always
cooperate,
and
there
are
some
indoor
things
we
can
be
doing
now
as
well.
A
By
February,
it's
time
to
give
your
houseplants
a
little
extra
care
as
well
start
by
looking
them
over
carefully
for
any
signs
that
some
of
those
small
little
insects
that
can
become
a
problem
during
the
winter
months,
but
also
some
of
those
houseplants
may
have
become
kind
of
scraggly
and
leggy
during
the
winter.
So
this
is
actually
a
good
time
to
start
pruning
things
back.
A
This
is
also
the
time
to
be
wrapping
up
those
seed
and
plant
orders
if
you
are
shopping
from
the
garden
catalogues
or
the
online
catalogs
go
ahead
and
finish
up
those
orders
now
so
that
your
plants
will
arrive
on
time
also
be
thinking
about
checking
the
garden
shed
for
any
repairs.
You
need
to
your
garden
tools.
If
you
want
things
to
be
ready
to
go
when
you
need
them
in
the
spring,
this
is
a
good
time
to
be
checking
your
pruners
to
see
if
they
don't
need
some
cleaning
or
sharpening
don't
forget.
A
Also
about
the
lawn
mower
right.
Now
is
a
real
good
time
to
get
that
lawn
mower
in
the
shop
and
get
it
tuned
up
and
get
the
blade
sharpened.
So
it
will
be
ready
when
you
need
it
in
the
spring.
By
that
time,
the
shops
will
probably
be
pretty
busy
and
your
grants
will
be
growing
while
you're
waiting
to
get
that
lawn
mower
out
of
the
shop.
If
you'd,
like
information
on
gardening
in
Vulcan,
County
feel
free
to
contact
us
at
Buncombe,
County,
Cooperative,
Extension,.