Gardening: Chicken pellets, seaweed and fish bones – the February secret to bigger blooms

There can be three seasons in one day in February and this year is beginning its sluggish metamorphosis from the gothic monochrome light of late winter into the crackle of springtime. 

There will be dry days to get outside and sow seeds in pots and wet days to order what we need and nip out to the garden centre to haul back bales of peat free compost and the odd bag of sharp sand. 

If we do have a dry day, you can guarantee it will be followed at some point by ‘liquid sunshine’. If you want to harness the weather, then when it's dry, get out and spread organic fertiliser across the flower beds.

Chicken pellets, blood, fish and bone or even seaweed if you can get it, will improve the soil and give you bigger blooms for longer. The inevitable rain will help to wash it into the soil.

If you're collecting horse manure from stables, always dig deeper and go for the well-rotted stuff. I've found over the years that bags outside stables labelled ‘well rotted’ sometimes are not. This can lead to prolific weed growth as the seeds haven’t been killed off by the heat exchange that takes place in longer decomposition.

Order summer flowering bulbs now as mail order companies can take their time with deliveries.

Flowers with a longer growing cycle can be sown indoors now or in a greenhouse. Antirrhinums (snapdragons) are a good investment of time this week, they just require a damp seedbed and they’ll look after themselves until it's planting out time in late spring. 

Some bulbs can also be started off in pots indoors. Dahliahs, begonias and geraniums can be planted now. Even nerine bulbs can be put in a pot so that they'll be ready to shine in autumn. 

Don’t let the weeds send roots down in the flower beds, it takes a few minutes to whiz over them with a sharp hoe now rather than dig them out when they're strongly established in a months time. 

On the Plot 

Make sure you have everything ready for sowing more tomatoes at the end of the month. Seed, compost and bamboo stakes are the bare minimum. 

It’s time to give the strawberries some love. Weed through them and fork around them before adding a layer of manure. This will wake them up, so they'll kick start into growth and start to look a lot healthier as soon as we have more sunshine. 

It’s the last opportunity to be poking angled currant stems into the ground for new plants. While you’re in the fruit patch, tie in loganberries to horizontal wires stretched across two posts. This will give them a framework to grow along and produce more of their sweet red fruits while they’re at it. 

If there is a secret to successful vegetable growing, then it's to sow seeds early. Seeds sown now need to be kept safe from late winter frosts in a sheltered position under fleece/cloches or in the greenhouse or indoors. 

Cabbage, early cauliflower, leeks and  Brussels sprouts can be sown under cover now. Broad beans and peas can be sown in the open ground as they are far more resilient. 

Shallots can be planted now and are no more difficult than pushing the little bulbs halfway into the soft ground 8 inches apart in rows. Before planting, give the bed a dusting of potash to start them off with some mineral nutrients. 

With the amount of rain we've had, this will lead to increased numbers of slugs and snails. Putting out the bird table with food and keeping bird baths full will encourage them into the garden to devour grubs, slugs and snails.

You can watch this drama unfold from the warm environment of the kitchen.