February: Month By Month In Our Scottish Gardens

February: Month By Month In Our Scottish Gardens

The Food Forest, The Raised Bed Garden & The Kitchen Courtyard

Our Scottish Garden in February

February carries a subtle shift in energy. The garden is still firmly in Winter’s grip, yet something has changed. The light lingers a little longer each afternoon, birdsong grows more confident and there are moments, between frosty mornings when the air feels softer. It is not yet Spring, but it is no longer the deep stillness of January. February is a month of quiet preparation and the first gentle stirrings of growth.

Spring flowers moved from pots to this area, emerging on the entrance to the growing gardens

The Food Forest

In the food forest, structure still dominates the landscape. Bare branches stretch against pale skies. and the mulch laid in Autumn continues to protect the soil below. On clearer days, we take time to check tree ties, inspect young trunks for damage and ensure newly planted bare root trees and bushes remain firm in the ground after Winter winds.

This is an ideal month for pruning while trees remain dormant. Apples and pears receive careful shaping, removing crossing branches and encouraging an open structure for airflow and future fruiting. Soft fruit bushes, currants and gooseberries are lightly pruned to maintain health and productivity. Each cut feels intentional, shaping the harvest months before it arrives.

Beneath the surface, life is quietly active. Worms continue their work under the leaf mulch, and bulbs planted earlier wild garlic especially are beginning to push tentative green tips through the soil. February reminds us that even when the garden appears asleep, it is quietly preparing for renewal.

Spring flower bulbs starting to emerge slowly through the mulch and chive clumps pushing through around the food forest.

Last year we made the decision to put our entire garden budget into proper fencing. We enclosed the full food area, both the food forest and the raised bed section with high deer fencing. It wasn’t the most exciting investment. No new plants, no new beds, no expansion. Just infrastructure. But it changed everything. Which means this year we can plant all the way up to the EDGES!! which is exciting.

Raised beds have been added to the back line and are slowing getting filled up with the last of the leaf mulch we have, and compost on top ready to fill this with the hollyhocks we are growing, whipping this with be a wonderful edible, bee friendly backdrop for the food forest for years to come.

The Raised Bed Garden

The raised beds are beginning to wake. While most remain covered with cardboard and leaves, protecting and feeding the soil, we start preparing small sections for early sowing. On milder days, we gently pull back mulch, allowing the soil to warm slightly and checking its structure.

The Kitchen Courtyard & Indoors

Microgreens continue to thrive inside, providing quick harvests and keeping the rhythm of growing alive even when outdoor progress feels slow. February is a bridge month one foot still in Winter, the other stepping cautiously toward Spring.

Closer to the house, the kitchen courtyard begins to show subtle signs of life returning. Hardy herbs like rosemary and thyme remain steady, while chives are often the first to show fresh green shoots pushing through cold soil. Pots are checked for drainage after heavy rain and any waterlogged plants are moved to more sheltered positions.

Inside, windowsills are busy. Seedlings demand turning toward the light, careful watering, and occasional thinning. The scent of damp compost and emerging herbs fills the kitchen, bringing reassurance that the growing season is quietly underway.

There is comfort in these small daily tasks, checking trays, misting seedlings, noting the first true leaves forming. February’s gardening is attentive rather than abundant, patient rather than productive.

Check what we are sowing here: What Can I Plant In The Winter Months In Scotland? and take a look at our new monthly series: Month By Month In Our Scottish Gardens

The vegepod bags need a good hose down to remove the green growing before we plant again

Front of the house, road facing the line of daffodils, sprinkled with crocus and snowdrops are emerging

The Season’s Mood

The Season’s Mood

February holds a quiet anticipation. The heavy stillness of midwinter begins to lift, replaced with a gentle forward pull. The garden asks for observation and small, steady actions, pruning, sowing, protecting rather than large undertakings.

There is beauty now in contrast: frost silvered mornings followed by brighter afternoons, bare branches tipped with swelling buds and birds gathering nesting material from hedgerows. The garden is not yet green, but it is no longer dormant.

As the month closes, we feel it that subtle quickening. The promise that beneath cold soil and pale skies, Spring is assembling itself piece by piece. February teaches patience, reminding us that growth begins quietly, long before it becomes visible.

Happy Gardening!

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Katrina & Clayton and family live in East Ayrshire and share their daily life in the garden on instagram. They practice permaculture principles in the garden, reducing & repurposing waste whenever they can. Katrina shows how home educating in nature has helped Clayton thrive. 

Clayton Completed The 2 Grow and Learn Courses with the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society. He is Autistic, Non Verbal & has been Home Educated since 2018. Katrina & Peter hold their PDC & PDC PRO Permaculture Design Course from Oregon State University. 

They featured on BBC Beechgrove Gardens Ep23 2022 and returned in 2023 for an update, Katrina & Clayton are also columnists for ScotlandGrows Magazine, Guest Blog for Caledonian Horticulture as well as working with Gardeners’ World Magazine and many other brands. 

They are also Author of the new Children’s Book Series: Clayton’s Garden Journey: Stories of Autism and Gardening. Topics on Growing, Harvesting, Sowing & Composting and 108 Page Weather and Seasons Weekly Gardening Record Book available on Amazon and Kindle.

Listen in on their Guest Podcasts to learn more about them.

Our Children’s Book Series

Author of the new children’s book series: Clayton’s Garden Journey: Stories of Autism and Gardening and Sowing, Growing, Weather and Seasons Weekly Gardening Record Book available on Amazon and Kindle. Our latest book in the series OUT NOW Vol 5 : Clayton’s Garden Visitors: A Story of Autism and Feeding The Birds

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