Pima County Gardening Seasonal Reminder - February

• Prune any dormant deciduous trees and shrubs you missed in January. Although no pruning is necessary for citrus trees, dead
  and diseased wood as well as crisscrossing limbs should be removed if the danger of frost has passed.
• Watch for cold temperatures – both night and day - and protect plants as needed.
• Leave frost damage on plants until the danger of freezing has completely passed. Pruning too early means that vulnerable plants
  are exposed unnecessarily; new growth may appear which is even more frost sensitive.
• Check your irrigation system for leaks due to freezing temperatures and repair them.
• If you did not prune established roses earlier, do so early in the month. Discard all potentially diseased, dropped leaves and
  cuttings - do not leave them under the plants or compost them. Healthy leaves are OK to compost.
• Cut back native grasses such as muhlenbergia species (Muhly grass) to about 4-6 inches high before new growth starts. Cutting
  to this height allows you to clean out dead and brown blades of grass and allows for new green growth. Native grasses have the
  added benefit of not needing to amend the soil or use fertilizer.
• Plan and prepare your summer garden layout and rotate the location of certain vegetables if needed. It’s a good idea to keep a
  garden journal to keep track of these details.
• Successful vegetable and annual flower gardens require amending the soil each planting cycle. The goal is to have loose, fertile,
  well-drained soil for these specialty gardens.
  • Prepare garden soils for spring planting of vegetables and annual flowers. Improving soil structure creates favorable
    conditions for seed germination and root growth.
  • The recommended amendments include compost, composted manure, and worm castings. These add essential
    nutrients and are teeming with biological life that helps to build good soil. Adding amendments such as perlite and
    vermiculite increase aeration and drainage.
  • Do not add wood ash, crushed eggshells or gypsum to the soil. Wood ash raises soil alkalinity, crushed eggshells are
    unnecessary, and gypsum is not recommended for our gardening conditions. 
• Winter rains bring weeds, so begin scouting for and manually removing weeds as soon as you notice them.
• Look for aphids – they like cooler temps and new growth. They may appear on other plants besides roses.
• Now is a good time to consider planning or installing active or passive rainwater harvesting.

• Harvest cabbage and cauliflower. Monitor lettuce for signs of bolting. If they do bolt, consider letting them set seeds that you
  can save for next year or donate to the Pima County Seed Library.
• Sow annual seeds outdoors or plant starts for black-eyed Susan, fleabane, gaillardia, gloriosa daisy, Mexican sunflower,
  nasturtium, primrose and sunflower.
• Plant perennials such as autumn sage, butterfly weed, chuparosa, damianita, desert mallow, desert milkweed, lavender, moss
  verbena, and pineleaf milkweed.
• Plant bare-root roses near the end of the month.
• Continue to harvest most varieties of oranges and citrus.

• Continue with mild fertilizing of winter vegetables.
• Fertilize citrus (1st of 3 annual feedings). For oranges, tangerines, and grapefruit, apply 1/3 of the total in January-February, 1/3
  in March-April, and 1/3 in May-June. For lemons and limes, the first two applications are the same, but the last 1/3 isn’t until
  August-September.
• Over-seeded Bermuda grass lawns need applications of a nitrogen fertilizer once per month.
• Other uses of fertilizer are not advised. Fertilizers stimulate new growth that will be frost-sensitive.

• February rainfall is normally about an inch. If your yard receives significant rain, adjust the amount of water you are supplying
  your plants. Change only the frequency – not the duration.
• Test your irrigation system for leaks and problems.
• No irrigation for cacti, agave, yucca and desert trees and shrubs through the end of the month.

Pruning Deciduous Shade Trees

Pruning Citrus

Protecting a Citrus Tree from Cold

Diagnosing Rose Problems

Ten Steps to a Successful Vegetable Garden

Fertilizing Home Gardens in Arizona

Diagnosing Rose Problems

Landscape management practices for passive water harvesting

Harvesting rainwater

Pima County Seed Library

Flower Planting Guide for the Low Desert

Rose Selection and Planting in the Low Desert

Oranges for Southern Arizona

Grapefruit and Pummelo for Southern Arizona

Diagnosing Home Citrus Problems

Citrus Fertilization chart for Arizona

For more information on any of these topics, search our database of Extension publications going back more than 100 years housed in the University of Arizona Campus Repository.