Foggy February
Is the sun ever going to come out?
Ah, February. The month that cannot make up its mind!
Cold? Tomorrow it is sunny and almost warm. Still cold at night though. Wet? Is it rain, really or just fog residue? A few sunny days and your plants try to bloom only to get shut down by a late frost or a sudden cold sweep again.
This month your plants will think it is time to bloom and leaf out. And they are probably more attuned to the weather than we are, but here are a few things to keep in mind to have a happy landscape.
Watering. You DO need to water in the winter, just not as often as you would during the active growing season. Once a week for a decent soak is plenty, maybe every other week if your soil holds water well. The fog and overcast skies will make the soil look wet, but down about 6-8 inches may be dry. (I use my lawn as a means of measure, since the cool-season Fescue will take on a gray color when it is dry, so I run through a cycle of my sprinklers and everyone is happy again.) You might need to give a soak when we have a few warm and sunny days also.
Keep in mind that blooms and new growth have a lot of water in them, and they can be damaged with late frosts or rains. Apricot and Cherry trees come to mind in that they are early bloomers and when they decide to open the blossoms is often when we get the last frost or an early rain. Protecting new growth on citrus and avocados with frost cloth is always an easy means to protect your fruit investments!
Your weeds will be taking advantage of the snippets of better weather, so get them under control with the first application of pre-emergent which will stop them from starting in the first place. We recommend February, June and September 15th as the three “biggie” dates to control the majority of our pesky friends in the lawn and landscape.
Now is a good time to start your vegetables from seed so they are ready to transplant when the weather is better. Young plants can also be kept warm after transplanting with either hot caps (to cover individual plants) or the floating row cover (frost cloth, just long sections over the rows of small starts) which is just enough to give them a few degrees’ comfort.
Your landscape is optimistic, singing like Annie, “The sun’ll come out, tomorrow!”
