Garden jobs for February: we're starting to get more daylight so there's more time to get outside.......

Apply organic-based fertilisers, so that the nutrients they contain will be available to plants just when they need it - as they start into growth.

Continue planting trees, shrubs and fruit trees and bushes. Providing the soil isn't too frozen, or so wet that it sticks to your boots, plants put in this month get off to a really good start.

Firm newly-planted trees and shrubs if they've been lifted by the frost

Start dahlia tubers into growth

Divide and plant snowdrops

Repot or top-dress shrubs in containers

Bring in the last of spring bulbs being forced

Prepare seedbeds for vegetables

Protect gooseberry buses from bird damage

Prick out or pot up seedlings sown last month

Don't be in too much of a hurry to sow a lot of summer bedding plants yet. Better to start them off next month to reduce greenhouse heating costs. If sowings are made too early, the plants will become leggy due to poorer light conditions. Later sowings will produce much better quality plants for planting out at the end of May

Lots of pruning, and I promise it's not that complicated. Birds will soon be looking for nesting sites, so you should attempt to get pruning out of the way this month in order to avoid disturbing them later.

Prune  or trim winter-flowering shrubs that have finished flowering, including winter-flowering heathers.

Prune summer-flowering shrubs that flower on new wood

Prune hardy evergreen trees and shrubs, provided that they are completely hardy.

Prune jasmines and late-summer flowering clematis towards the end of the month

Prune off old stems of herbaceous perennials

Overgrown or misshapen hedges can be pruned now to improve their health and shape.

....and then recycle the prunings. If shredded, they can be added to the compost heap or used as a mulch, but don't lay it now; wait until next month, when the soil has warmed up a little, then you'll lock in some of that warmth under the mulch blanket.

Kitchen garden

This is a good time to sow some early vegetables for planting out under cloches next month: lettuce, radish, beetroot, salad onions and broad beans. The easiest way of doing this is to sow the seeds in plastic modules (large trays divided into individual cells). These seeds don't need heat, but they do need the lightest spot you can give them.

For inspiration in seed-buying, you simply must visit http://www.otterfarmshop.co.uk/  As well as being a great website to look at in terms of imagery and detail, the seed/plant  selection is fabulous, and I haven't found anywhere else like it - a jolly good read!