A February thaw always gives a false feeling of spring. Some gardeners are likely to be fooled and start a premature spring clean-up. It is too early to remove protective coverings from gardens and clean up the yard.

Very cold and stormy weather can and usually does follow a late winter thaw and plants still need protection. As a matter of fact, injury to plants is more likely at this time of year than earlier in the winter. Much of the so-called winter killing and winter injury occurs during mild periods in late winter and early spring. Protective mulches stabilize soil temperatures and protect plants from sudden severe changes.

Also, don’t let those mild spells mislead you into starting seeds and bulbs. February is too early to sow seeds indoors, even if you have the best of facilities for germination and growth of seedlings. Germination is not the problem; it is providing a suitable place for the seedlings to grow while they must be indoors.

Young plants will grow weak and spindly under the unfavorable light conditions of the house at this time of the year. They will not grow sturdy and steadily without setback as they would if started later on. Even if a greenhouse is available, few kinds started now will grow satisfactorily. Only petunias, pansies and perhaps delphiniums could be started in a greenhouse in February. The correct timing of other sowings would be the first of March.

The same should be said for the starting of tuberous begonias. Sturdy plants will develop from tubers started in March rather than in February.

This is a good time to test germination of leftover seed. It is important to know if old seed is alive before using it, not from the economic point of view, but from the time standpoint. If old seed is planted according to the correct sowing schedule and it fails to germinate, precious time is lost. Sometimes another sowing would be entirely too late. Since most gardeners are reluctant to discard seed, a germination test should be made long before seed sowing time arrives. A given number of seeds, say ten, should be sown on moist blotting paper or actually planted in sand or vermiculite which is kept moist. If five of these germinate, then the expected rate of germination of the seeds in the packet is about 50 per cent.

By now the new seed catalogs have been examined websites search and some mental decisions have been made with respect to selections and plantings for this coming season. But probably no real down-to-earth planning on paper has been done. Very few gardeners plan on paper but all of them should, because it is only through careful, thoughtful “on paper” planning that truly beautiful gardens are obtained.

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