Oooh, my first seedlings of 2026 have appeared! Exciting – Here we go! Now January is finally over, the pace of gardening tasks definitely picks up round here – I shall be pruning many of my summer shrubs, sowing my sweet peas, and starting off some bulbs….
Early spring pruning
Do you have some shrubs in your
By the way, if you live in a particularly cold area, you may want to leave this pruning until March, because new shoots that develop from your cutting might get frosted. Some summer-flowering shrubs such as Choisya are a tad tenderer than most, and I’d advise leaving the pruning of those for a month or so too.
The technique is roughly the same for all these plants:
- Assemble your tools – sharp secateurs and a small pruning saw for thicker branches will usually cover it.
2. Take a long hard look at the shrub in question and start by taking out any dead, diseased or dying shoots.
3. Next take out any congested, rubbing or thin shoots – they will be too weak to contribute to the summer display.
4. Now cut your shrub back to a strong basic woody framework, from which the new stems will emerge to carry the foliage and flowers.
Job done. And by the way, those healthy woody shoots you’ve cut off make easy hardwood cuttings! Bung ’em in a little trench outside, or in a large pot as in today’s feature pic) and leave them alone. It’s crazy-simple and what have you got to lose, because you were only going to throw them out anyway, weren’t you? I’ve got lots of my beloved ornamental elder and they all came from one plant. If you want to know the details of how to do this, click on the link below to an earlier blog where I explain the nitty-gritty.
One more thing – STEP AWAY from your spring-flowering shrubs. Chop them now and you’ll lose all the blooms for this year, which would be rather a blow 😳. You’ll tidy those up just AFTER they’ve flowered. Mahonias are a case in point – cutting off the top rosette of leaves after the flowers are over, will encourage it to branch out lower down and become bushier.
Growing gorgeous sweet peas
It’s sweet pea time! Sweet peas hold such a special place in the hearts of so many people. And with good reason. They are easy to grow, have a wide range of colours, look perfect scrambling up supports and trellises, and most of all, they pump out that swooningly delicious perfume.
February is the month to sow the seeds if you want these lovely annual climbers to grace your
Gardening shorts
- You can buy dahlia tubers, cannas, lily bulbs or gladioli corms now, and plant them in pots of compost in a frost-free greenhouse. By watering and feeding them and then planting them outside when the danger of frost is over in your area, you will enjoy the flowers up to a month earlier than normal.
- Blackcurrants, gooseberries and redcurrants can be pruned now, cutting away old stems to leave a goblet-framework of new ones. And wisteria should have all its sideshoots cut down to three or four buds.
- I was talking to a pal the other day and he had just spent the whole day prepping his allotment for the growing season ahead. He was weeding, digging in rotted compost, raking, neatening and planning what he was going to grow where. Lovely job – what we should all be doing as soon as we can!
Are you lucky enough to have some autumn-fruiting raspberries? If you are, cut them down to the ground now and then add a mulch of rotted manure or rich compost in late spring.
In this video, Laura gives you chapter and verse about how to grow sweet peas
Here’s my blog about how to take hardwood cuttings
Louise reminds us that it’s not all about snowdrops in February – there are other early bulbs poised to bring a shot of welcome colour. This is one of her favourites and therefore her Great Plant this Month.
Interested to see this week’s offers from suppliers and our recommendations for plants that flower for ages? Just click here
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