5 important gardening jobs you need to do in February: using these garden hand tools

The short days and cold weather are not conducive to spend time out in the garden digging and pruning. And, why would you during a period of dormancy? But, now is the time of year we need to pull on a wooly jumper and head out doors to tackle of few important jobs that we help our gardens enter spring with much glamour and style. Before you head outdoors, check that have all the garden hand tools and accessories - as well as being clean and fit for purpose! 

February gardening jobs 

Divide snowdrop bulbs once they have finished flowering.

Prune roses

If you didn't get a chance to prune back your roses in autumn, then now is the perfect time to ensure a beautiful display of colour in spring. Prune before new growth starts for healthy, vigorous flowering potential.

There is something quite therapeutic about meticulously pruning a rose plant provided you are armed with a good pair of secateurs.  

After a few years a rose stem will become exhausted and stop producing flowers and so they need to be removed as do any dead, diseased or damaged shoots. Prune about 5mm above a bud and make a clean sloping cut away from an outward facing bud. A new stem will grow from that bud and produce a rose. 

Prune as far back as you can (it feels a bit like tough love cutting away so much of a rose bush but the results are so magnificently rewarding - I have two rose bushes growing in front of our house both of which receive numerous compliments in the summer. It takes a good few hours of careful pruning for a perfect seasonal display). 

Cut-back hardy evergreen hedges

The timing of pruning evergreen shrubs and hedges is critical to their growth and best display of flowers. When to prune evergreen should be marked out on a calendar. In February hardy evergreen that can be pruned include Wisteria,  Buddleia and Hydrangea.

Prepare seed beds for planting and cover with a polythene cloth to warm the soil before planting

Feed your plants 

It is a good time to dig out well matured organic mater from your compost heap and dig it into your flowerbeds for a healthy, nutritional start to the flowering season.

Do a general tidy up

Trim and tidy lawn edges to give an all round neat appearance. Rake-up autumn leaves that have blown into the corners of your patio, across your lawn or around pot plants. Autumnal leaves can be composted to make leaf mulch, which helps soil in flowerbeds retain moisture and is a source of much needed nutrients.

Dig weeds out by their roots in flower beds, plant pots, lawn and paving. If the ground is frozen then leave the job to a warmer day. 

The garden hand tools you will need

• Weed removal tool - Do you look forward to spending time in the garden, but weeding is one job you despise? The Grumpy Gardener knows this so bought an innovative garden hand tool to market to make weeding less of a burden.  The Cultimate weed remover tool is also an all-purpose garden hand tool used to break up hard soil, plant and to create furrows and drills. Use it to effortlessly rake out weeds from the joints in paving and drive edges. It gets right under the weed, pulling it up by the roots. Choose from either a short or long handled Cultimate weeder.

• Serrated edged digging spade - An ingenious multi digging garden tool that every gardener will love! Use it to plant, draw seed troughs and cut through fibrous roots with the serrated blade. It digs through hard ground with ease. It also scoops out twice as much soil or compost than a regular trowel or hand spade. For bulb planting, the curved design with pointed tip and smooth side of the blade cuts effortlessly through the soil to mark out a planting site. The serrated edge readily cuts through troublesome roots, whilst the front of the blade has measurements in mm and inches etched-in for accurate bulb planting and to gauge soil depth.

• Wheelbarrow Booster - designed by a UK landscape gardener to assist with moving garden waste such as leaves, grass, hedge cuttings and bark. It triples the capacity of your wheelbarrow by up to 300%. The wheelbarrow booster saves energy having to make lots of  trips by increasing the height of your wheelbarrow. 

• Swivel ratchet secateurs - has a rotating handle to reduce wrist strain. They are suitable for left or right handed users. It has a 4 ratchet cutting system to make it easier to cut through thicker branches. The safety catch is easily visible and accessible to left and right handed users. The packaging includes user friendly guidelines for the use of the swivel ratchet secateurs in the garden.

These are the four gardening tools you need this Autumn

Gardening Tools by the Grumpy Gardener: New: weed remover tool because you deserve more ti...

Gardening Tools by the Grumpy Gardener: New: weed remover tool because you deserve more ti...: Hours of gardening can bring on many aches and pains to the ageing body.  That is just what Mike, a professional landscaper and gardener sta...

New: weed remover tool because you deserve more time gardening

Hours of gardening can bring on many aches and pains to the ageing body.  That is just what Mike, a professional landscaper and gardener started to feel after years of chopping, digging and planting. Irritated and grumpy with the availability of existing gardening tools he decided to design his own using existing technology which he adapted to make gardening less of a strain on the body.

The Cultimate weed remover tool has an ergonomically designed handle for a comfortable grip. Not only does this uniquely designed tool tackle those nasty invasive plants growing between paving stones but it can also be used to break up hard soil and can be used for planting.

What also got to the Grumpy Gardener was handles on gardening tools cracking and working loose. No more? His weed remover tool has a handle that is tough, durable and moulded around the shaft of the weeder in such a way that the bladed can't work loose.

Why the cobra head-like design? Or the hand of Captain Hook? The curved shaft design means you can get right under the weed pulling out roots and all. It is also able to break through the hardest soils to dig out stubborn roots.

Weeds are just unwelcome plants that will grab any opportunity to invade your beautifully landscaped garden. Weeds compete for moisture and nutrients in the soil chocking out your favourite plants.

It is virtually impossible to prevent weeds growing in lawns and in flower beds but there are steps you can take to prevent an invasion:

• Increase the density of plants in flower beds leaving little space for weeds to invade
• Dig organic matter into your flowerbeds - compost, shredded bark or pine needles
• Remove weeds before they go to seed
• Use a lawn feed and weed control fertiliser

The new weed remover tool gets right under the unwelcome plant to pull out roots and all efficiently. How often have you tried to pull a weed out with your bare hands and got nothing more than a handful of leaves? Or used a traditional weeder and not been able to dig in deep enough to remove the the roots fully? With the Grumpy Gardeners weeder breaks through into even the hardest soils to remove weeds. 

Watch this video about the Grumpy Gardener weed remover tool to see how effective it is at raking weeds out from between paving stones and brick work.  Gardening is such a rewarding way to enjoy time out doors. Don't kill that enthusiasm with hours spent weeding. Put preventative measures in place and when you do see a weed make sure you dig it all out - roots and all - leaving nothing for regrowth.

Want to buy a gardening tool that is more than just a weed remover tool or looking for a novel gift for a keen gardener then visit the Grumpy Gardener website here