This week, as well as thinking about other gardening tasks in February, I'd like to put in a plea for buddleia.
This sprawling purple beauty is a bit of an opportunist squatter in the West Country, some would call it a weed.
At this time of year, if it hasn't been lopped, it is still laden with seed heads, and the bugs that overwinter within them, and can be a really useful feeding stop (and refuge) for small birds when they can't find food elsewhere.
If you have a buddleia in the garden or on the allotment, I would ask that you ignore the advice to prune it back now, and leave it a little longer, so the birds can get maximum benefit.
This will also pay dividends for you, the gardener, because the more small birds you have patrolling the garden or allotment, the fewer caterpillars and other pests you'll have to bother with through the year.
Similarly, on sunnier days this week, we've noticed that blue tits and great tits have been showing strong interest in the bird boxes along our garage wall.
If you want to have birds nesting in your garden and you don't have boxes up, now is a good time to do it so that the birds get used to them being there.
As long as you can protect them from cats, with luck, you'll get birds nesting; a safe home for them, and more free organic pest control for you.
Blue tits with a set of hungry mouths to feed are the most incredibly effective means of clearing your plants and fruit trees of pests I know.
Soil also needs special care during February. For a start, this means not walking on it, in order to avoid compacting it horribly, but ideally will also involve getting a layer of organic fertiliser spread on the top.
Just a light spreading of fertiliser will make a useful difference to the soil and that will show later in the year through in the quality of your fruit and vegetables, so it's one of the most important jobs to be getting on with soon – but not while the ground is frozen, as it will just trap the cold in.
Bear in mind that an organic fertiliser gives a slow-release energy boost, as well as improving the soil, whereas a chemical fertiliser is only a quick fix that does nothing for the long-term quality of the soil.
If you are buying in some fertiliser, it's also a good time to get the seed and other plant composts you'll need during the year, which will save money and time, too.
The often-subsidised shops on allotment sites across the region are a good place to pick these up.
Now's the time to be stocking up, if you haven't already got on with it, before stocks dwindle, and you can't get the range of varieties that you'd like.
No comments:
Post a Comment