February Gardening Guide

If I had £1 for every time I got chewed up in a group chat over tomato seeds… I would have £1 - which is still way too much to have for that scenario, right? I mean, tomatoes?!

I swear I don’t think I’m made for group chats as they can be so brutal, at least for Sensitive Sally’s such as myself. One of the worst things for me is being able to see the list of people who have ‘Read’ your message and then swiftly ignored it. How come no one feels bad about that kind of thing? Even if my response is simply ‘I’m sorry I don’t know, hopefully someone else will be able to answer’, I feel better that the person has had at least one response for putting themselves out there.

Where was I going with this? Ah yes… the tomato of it all.

Our story starts in the utopia that is the allotment group chat. After seeing mention of the ‘Black Russian’ tomato in a taste test yet again, following Sarah Raven saying many times that they’re one of her favourites, and Jessie at Plot 37 growing them last year and recommending them; I decided 2025 is the year I’ve got to see what all the fuss is about.

There were only two tomato varieties I set out to buy – ‘Black Russian’ and ‘Black Moon’ – and every time I found one on a website, they didn’t stock the other and vice versa so I thought I’d chance it and ask the *mostly* helpful allotment group chat. The message was sent, the minutes went by, and I watched name after name be added to the ‘Read’ list and had not one response. I get it, most of them probably didn’t have either tomato variety or couldn’t spare a few of either. It’s fine. ‘It’s so fine’ I think….as we’re up to over a dozen people who have read and flat out ignored me.

Another 20 minutes go by and my phone vibrates. Ah lovely! Someone has replied, even if just to say ‘no sorry’, I at least had been acknowledged. That was sadly, not the message I received. It was actually a double message, completely taking the piss out of the request, a bit of a ‘what the hell are you on about’ even with some swears in it, pretty shocking in such a civilised space. And as if the first message hadn’t been enough, they went in with a second message to drive the communique home. It was meant in jest I believe, however, as I’d never met this man before I felt a little butt-hurt by his aggressive style of humour.

I took it well and did what all millennials do, by responding with the use of a people-pleasing self-deprecating joke along with a few emojis. Of course, it had been completely my fault for asking such a ridiculous question in the first place. The only option to recover, right?

Following this, a lovely lady came to my rescue and responded in a kind manner about how she hadn’t grown either before but would love for me to tell her how I get on if I do grow them this year. Phew. I wouldn’t have to solely visit the allotment in the dead of night for shame, after all.

I went ahead and purchased the seeds online and to add insult to injury, nine days later a guy messaged the allotment group chat offering a handful of tomato seed varieties they had leftovers of, two of which were the very varieties I’d initially asked for  – where was this guy when ‘Dave’ was openly laughing at me in front of everyone?!

Anyway, as you can tell, I’m super over the encounter.

What I’m now looking forward to now, is growing these bloomin tomatoes! On my plot, there’s a greenhouse left behind from the previous tenants and is filled with in-ground strawberry plants. Last year being the first summer I had my plot, I’d left them in and had looked forward to harvesting the juicy strawberries grown on my very own allotment plot. However I was sadly disappointed by the most bland fruits I’ve possibly ever tasted. So the plan this year is to take all of those out, refresh the soil with a good layer of compost and grow the tomatoes in there.

 I’ll be kicking off my 2025 growing season by starting my tomato seeds in March. I’ll be sowing them in moist compost on a warm windowsill inside, as they need to be around 20 degrees to germinate.

In the meantime, before the seed sowing commences, here are a few other things I’ll be getting on with in the garden in the coming weeks…

Cut back deciduous grasses

Around now is a good time to start cutting back a few bits in the garden. Please don’t go crazy as there’s still lots of wildlife using your old seed heads for cover as well as plants needing last years growth as their own bit of protection for the frosts that are still ahead. With deciduous grasses, however, it makes life easier for you so that you’ve already cut them back when this years growth starts coming up.

Warm up your compost

It can be tempting to get a lot of seeds going now the nights are drawing out. Just bear in mind, depending on the specific seeds, it may be best not to plant them in almost-frozen compost. If you’ve got somewhere like an insulated garage, just to take the chill off, they’ll thank you for it.

Prune hedges before the birds need them

If you’ve got some hedges that you keep meaning to prune, do it sooner rather than later. Birds will start nesting in the coming weeks and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to ruin their hard work.

Give your lawn a trim

If there isn’t frost forecast and it’s not too wet, you can give your grass a trim to tidy it up. It’s best not to go too short if it’s the first cut in a while, so lift the blades on your lawn mower if you can.

Divide perennials such as geraniums

If you’ve got some established geraniums that have been in situ for a few years, it’s a good idea to split them. It often gives them a new lease of life as they’ll have a bit more space to grow in full again this year, and you’ll also have an extra plant for free that you can pop elsewhere in your garden. Repetition in your garden borders is a really good garden design tip to help create a cohesive planting scheme.

Check for shrivelled fruits

If you have any fruit trees in your garden, it’s a good time to check for any of last years fruits that need to be removed. I have a fig tree that has some small fruits that didn’t ripen last year that I’ll be removing this weekend, along with a few shrivelled pears on the pear tree that didn’t fall in the autumn.

As always, make sure you steal a few minutes in your garden on a day the sun is shining. And if you don’t have anywhere in your garden to sit with a coffee in the sunshine, maybe a garden consultation session with me could be a good idea so we can identify the opportunity within your outdoor space.