February Gardening

 Since it's only two more days until February[where did January go?] I thought I would tell you a few things you can do in the garden in February[if you are part Eskimo, maybe]. Yes I know it's been cold, but there will be a few warm days. This is the best time of year to transplant-or plant trees and schrubs, you can cut back all of that ugly looking monkey grass,and plant new roses. Presidents Day- February 15th this year is a good time to prune roses. Try to remember which ones bloom early in the spring and DO NOT cut them back until after they bloom. There will also be lots of sticks and branches from the recent winds that need to be picked up, use them to make a fire in the fire pit to keep warm. All of this gardening talk is making me antsy to get out there, but alas it is snowing here, and I am not that crazy-yet!

Buy seeds and bulbs now

Now is the time to get out and check for new seeds and bulbs to plant this year. You might think it's to early, but if you wait, the best selections will be gone. Oh yeah, if you want poppies like this well it's too late for this year, you should have planted them in November. But you can probably find seeds now so buy them and put in fridge until this November.

Tips: Soil Temps & Weed Control

Soil Temps at 2 inches on Jan. 25 ranged from 55 degrees F near the MS Gulf Coast to about 45 in the far northern part of the MS delta. What a change from frozen soil in the 1st week of Jan! While there are debates about proper times to apply preemergance weed control for crabgrass, most agree that the millioins of seeds in the soil will start to germinate when soil temps approach 60 degrees. Vegetable gardeners using one of the trifluralin products for weed control should be aware of local soil temps. Check temp by sticking a thermometer in the ground at the depth you are going to plant. Another way is to consult the SCAN program at http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/scan/Mississippi/mississippi.html This is a federal network of weather stations (several of which are in MS). Click the dot closest to you and look at the C1TMP column. This gives you the soil temp at 2 inches in centigrade. (FYI: it's easy to remember 10C is 50F and 21C is 70F). These are important in relation to plant growth. Few things grow well below 10C and most everything grows well above 21C.

Hi

Thanks Vickie for sharing gardening news! I look forward to learning how to post my own blogs and pics.

Ornamental Grasses

It's time to cut back your ornamental grasses. As you can see, mine really was shaggy. This only took about fifteen minutes, but now to the other ten or so that need trimming!

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Hello!

Want to see what we've been up to?  Take a look at some pictures from the Christmas Workshops we do to teach Scott Countians to make their own Christmas decorations with materials from their garden!