The Shift to Spring Begins — Get Your Garden Ready
Rachael Jones
The year began with crisp, frosty days, but it quickly turned, and it certainly brought the rain. Even so, late winter offers a wonderful chance to reconnect with nature. I really love the final weeks of winter. In the UK, that’s usually around February, sometimes stretching into early March, especially in the northern regions. It’s a moment before the real surge of growth begins, yet so much is already happening.
Structural plants stand out beautifully, and there’s still plenty to enjoy. From seasonal flowers to early seed sowing. It’s also the perfect time for essential maintenance and planning ahead. Whether you’re admiring the last of winter’s quiet charm or preparing for a vibrant spring, this season brings a rewarding mix of reflection and renewal.
When choosing what to plant in February, it helps to divide your efforts between preparing the soil for warmer months, planting hardy varieties that can cope with late‑winter conditions (even in no‑dig beds), and starting more delicate seedlings indoors where they’re protected. Every garden has its own microclimate, so you may need to adjust the timing depending on how far north or south you are. Natural light levels and day length are all essential for germination and healthy growth.
Early Sowing Indoors and Outdoors
March is nearly upon us, and that can only mean one thing: “The Great Sow Off.”
By now, your seed stash should be in some kind of order, though if you’re anything like me, it’s never quite enough. I’ll inevitably buy more, and somehow I’ll still manage to squeeze them all in. Generally, sweet peas, cosmos, lavender, dahlia, salvia and busy lizzies. This year I’m pressing every container into service: old pots, leftover bedding trays, anything with a bit of depth. Even the toilet‑roll tubes are being saved for the sweet peas, they love the long root run, and I love feeling thrifty.
Under cover, you’re safe to start broad beans, early peas, leeks, chillies and hardy salads. Outdoors, sow parsnips and spinach if the soil has warmed a little. Prepare your seed beds by covering areas with fleece or clear plastic for a couple of weeks to warm them up a bit. Plant spring-planting shallots and onion sets. Check your supports for peas and beans; replacing them now avoids mid-season surprises. Fruit & Veg Stepovers - are a choice which you will never have to replace.
Feeling brave about direct sowing into the ground? If your soil can stay at around 6°C this time of year, then direct planting can be considered. Though frozen soil and unseasonably mild wet conditions threaten gardeners’ best efforts alike, calculated risks can yield great success! You can help to warm the soil with any covering (whether that’s cloches, frames, bubble wrap or old sheets – whatever you have handy or can repurpose), readying it for hardier plants than can withstand February’s fickle weather.
Muntons Fruit & Veg Stepovers - Comes in different sizes and can be used to create a cage
Fruit Bushes and Pots
It’s that time of year when many of us start thinking about our climbing fruit and vegetables. I’ve been receiving lots of enquiries recently, especially about raspberries, so here’s some seasonal guidance to help you get the best from your plants.
Raspberries: For autumn fruiting varieties, cut all old stems to the ground now, new canes will grow to around 1.5m. For summer fruiting raspberries, cut all old stems to the ground now as well. Keep the new growth, thinning to around 4–5 strong stems per plant. These varieties will reach around 1.8–2m, so make sure they are well supported. If you need Fruit &Veg supports that will last year after year, and at the correct height for your raspberries (including 2m options), we can make bespoke structures tailored to your climbing fruit and veg. Planting summer and autumn raspberries together means you’ll enjoy fruit for most of the year.
Apples, pears and figs: urgently prune these plants now before they start growing, and sap starts rising in spring. Sap can rise before leaves start emerging, so act fast. You can support your bushes and trees with the Bough Stakes, again you will never have to replace them and just move and support where you need.
Plant bare root fruit trees: this really is your last chance to plant bare root young fruit trees, which are cheaper, have a greater variety and are easy to establish. Get ordering!
Gooseberries: prune out dead, diseased, crossing and damaged shoots and thin where necessary to maintain a structure of 4 – 5 main branches.
Strawberries: Make sure plants are well weeded now, to give them space for the coming spring growth period.
Fruit & Veg Stepovers & Tree Stakes - are a choice which you will never have to replace.
Dahlias - From Bud to Bloom — Pure Dahlia Magic
I used to think dahlias were too big and blowsy for the herbaceous border, but there are so many varieties and colour combinations to choose from that there is a plant for every situation.
Have a look at The Dahlia Diaries, Rachel Golding, The Tetbury Flower Co, who are passionate about all things Dahlias. They also run workshops and tours with lots of suggestions for how to combine different varieties. Later this month, I will be sowing my own Dahlia seeds and Cosmos on my windowsills. I haven't decided on others as yet. Depending on how you grow them, as soon as they are ready to go into the ground, I will be planning my supports. Whether as single plants or as rows in a cutting garden, they do need some support. A one-ring grid will give all the support a plant needs, or use stakes in threes or fives with twine around them to hold big clumps upright. Don't forget to mulch 2-3 cm will do it, they love it!
Dahlia 'Cornel'
Prune shrubs and climbers
This month is a good pruning month for many shrubs. Cut back late-flowering clematis to about 30–45cm from the ground. Prune dogwoods and willows used for winter stems, taking them down hard to encourage vibrant new growth. Tidy hydrangeas by removing spent flowerheads just above healthy buds. Take care with the unpredictable weather, though, if you are longing to prune buddleias, move plants around and to put in one or two shrubs, make sure you are confident the frosts have passed – waiting never hurts, and plants will catch up very fast. Obelisks are an ideal choice, and come in all heights
Obelisks make a strong statement on their own or along a border or vegetable garden
Key Rose & Shrub Pruning in Late Winter
Ahhh yes, the rose prune - the annual ritual of courage. Hard pruning feels counterintuitive. You spend all year coaxing these plants along, and then March arrives, and you’re meant to take off what looks like most of the plant. It feels like betrayal. But roses genuinely thrive on that tough love. Cutting them back stimulates strong, upright new growth, improves airflow (fewer fungal headaches later), encourages bigger, better bloom, and resets the plant’s shape so it doesn’t become a thorny octopus.
In many ways, rose pruning is not dissimilar to pruning apples because it’s all about creating a structure with side shoots for flowers (or fruit in the case of apples). Always cut at an outward facing bud at an angle, with the highest point of the angle at the bud side (i.e. sloping away from the bud). In all cases, start by removing dead, diseased, damaged or crossing stems. Obelisks, Trellis or Umbrella Supports look pleasing in their shape and look sculptural in a garden setting
Pruning Roses - Essential for Spring, Summer, Autumn blooms - Place them singly or in pairs to create a focal point for the garden.
Late Winter/Early Spring Lawn Care
Lawns may be too wet with all the continuous rainfall to start attending. Wait a while longer if this is the case! If not, carefully rake out worm casts and gently edge borders, but avoid mowing until growth restarts. Repair raised paving or wobbly sleepers while vegetation is still low. Adding edging strips to pathways and borders keeps borders, lawns, walkways and driveways neatly defined. Edging Rings add support for new trees and shrubs to retain mulch and protect from rotting.
Garden Edging & Garden Edging Rings - 
Late-Winter Wildlife Support - Don't forget to feed the birds!
Wildlife is definitely lively now, and I have been feeding our little friends throughout. It's a warm welcome to see them! You can also put up new nest boxes and clean any existing ones with hot soapy water, followed by a solution of disinfectant and leave them to dry thoroughly. Continue feeding birds, especially during cold snaps. Leave early dandelions and other “weeds” where practical; they provide crucial nectar for emerging pollinators.
Spring really is on the way!
By month’s end, momentum builds. Finalise seed orders, sketch planting layouts and get tools ready. February is the bridge to spring: short, still chilly, yet bursting with potential. The care you invest now smooths the busy weeks ahead.
We’re back at RHS Chelsea, May 19th-23rd, on stand PW 206 – do come and talk to us about your gardening successes … and failures!
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