What to do in the garden in February: this month brings good news for lazy London gardeners

With the days getting longer, it’s tempting to give the garden a pre-spring blitz. But resist the urge, says George Hudson — lazy gardeners are at an advantage in February.
Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd
George Hudson11 February 2022

By the end of February, the sun will rise before 7am for the first time this year and we will have gained more than an hour of morning light.

It’s not just us who benefit from the extra dose of sunshine — our plants do, too. The longer days are joined by a gradual rise in temperature that means London often experiences spring a month earlier than other parts of the country.

It’s tempting to do a big garden clean-up about now but lazy gardeners will be gratified to hear that a total blitz isn’t actually the best approach.

It’s the time to start cutting back any of last year’s remaining foliage from herbaceous perennials (plants and grasses that die back and then re-grow each year) before their new growth starts to emerge.

Cut the old stems back as close to ground level as possible. If you find you’re cutting through green woody stems, stop. Chances are it’s not a herbaceous perennial at all, and requires a different approach.

A clean garden is a dead garden

It might look good after you have cleared away all the leaves and dead stems that appear in a garden over winter but by doing this you’re also removing much of the hidden life of the space.

By removing material from the garden you are also breaking the natural cycle of growth and decay that keeps the soil healthy and locks in carbon.

Leaving leaves to decompose, or having a small compost bin and mulching with home-made compost can really benefit your plants and reduce the need to buy fertiliser. For once, resist the urge to clean, or learn to accept your laziness.

When you are cutting down grasses and other perennials, pile the material in a corner of the garden if you have the room.

Many of the hollow stems, dried seed pods and curled-up leaves make an excellent place for insects such as ladybirds to hibernate through winter.

For inspiration on how to garden for insects in an urban environment, pop in to the Guildhall in the City, where winter-flowering plants such as the fragrant Lonicera fragrantissima provide nectar, and disease-resistant elm trees support the white-letter hairstreak butterfly.

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