Gardening tips for February

Some suggestions on what to do this month:

Cut back vigorous climbers, such as ivy, climbing hydrangea and the larger honeysuckles, from roof-line and gutters. Leave a jagged, natural-looking profile
Cut down clumps of the little daisy Erigeron karvinskianus growing in walls and paving cracks for a fresh start in spring
If your permanent container plants such as box, bay, conifers and maples are getting out-of-scale and pot-bound, find some suitable places to plant them out in the ground now and replace them in the spring
Lift, divide and replant winter aconites and snowdrops when they have finished flowering but are still in leaf
Cut down the stems of autumn-fruiting raspberries to ground level
To force an early crop of fruits, cover a few strawberry plants with cloches
Prune indoor climbers, including plumbagos and passion flowers.

My commiserations if you can't see your soil for snow or the ground is so hard you can't even insert a fork! Work on those indoor plants instead. Have fun burning calories outside or in!