Gardens: Plant garlic cloves this month for a tasty summer harvest

By Jo Whittingham
Published on Sunday 5 February 2012 13:00

It’s rare for me to be feeling spring-like at the beginning of February, but this winter’s mild conditions have burst most of the early flower buds already and made for some pleasant hours working in the garden when things are usually pretty bleak.

So you find my plot uncharacteristically tidy, with barely a weed in sight, the fruit trees and bushes pruned and the beds mulched with a thick layer of deliciously dark compost.

This relatively warm weather makes sowing early vegetables hard to resist. It pays to be cautious in February, though, when the cold can bite quickly and deeply. There are, however, some tough crops that can be started now in soil that isn’t too wet. Plant garlic cloves this month for a tasty summer harvest and plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers where a quick-growing screen is needed. Early broad bean varieties, such as ‘Aquadulce Claudia’, are among the few seeds that will germinate in late winter soil. Hardy lettuces, salad rocket, early peas and even bolt-resistant varieties of beetroot, like ‘Boltardy’, can also be sown now given the protection of a cold greenhouse, coldframe or cloches. Success is not guaranteed, but if the weather stays mild they will provide extra-early crops. Now is also the time to buy early varieties of seed potatoes and “chit” them. This simply means encouraging them to sprout before planting by placing them in eggboxes somewhere cool and light until the stocky shoots reach about 2.5cm (1in) long.

Last month I planted two plum trees to train as fans against a long stretch of fence. I should have fixed wire supports before they were planted – I have no excuse because they were ordered in October – so will have to make it a priority this month before they start into growth. If you are planting new trained fruit trees and bushes, climbing roses, wisterias, Clematis or any other plants that need to be tied-in as they climb, try to put up strong wires or trellis before they go in. Erect or repair supports for plants already in the ground now, while they are dormant and less easily damaged.

My favourite February job by far is pruning wisteria. Where last year’s long, gangly shoots were pruned in late summer, just cut them back further to leave three or four dark brown leaf buds. No summer pruning might mean a bit of a tangle, but the same principle applies. May’s fabulous cascading blooms are already visible as silvery, cashew-sized buds, making it unlikely that they will be accidentally cut off and spring seems tantalisingly close.

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