With the days getting longer and the first spring bulbs in bloom, there is a real sense of awakening in the garden in February. There are plenty of jobs to do, if you can brave the cold.

By the end of the month the snowdrops will have finished flowering and it will be a great time to dig them up, divide them and replant them elsewhere around your garden. It’s good to do it now while they still have their foliage, which will give you more of an idea where they would be best suited for. Come next year you can enjoy an even better display of these pretty perennials.

Move plants while they are still dormant

While you’re in the digging and transplanting kind of mood, this time of year is ideal to move other plants while they are still dormant and before the soil warms up. Any shrub that you find growing in the wrong place can be dug up and moved, provided it is small enough to do so without harming too much of the root structure.

With the worst of winter hopefully behind us and the growing season set to kick off soon, February is a perfect time to prune your roses. Hybrid tea and floribunda roses flower on the new year’s growth, so can be pruned quite hard and be better off for it. Always cut just above a new bud – I usually start with removing any damaged, dead or diseased stems and then tackle the crossing branches.

Shrub roses require a little less finesse

The end result should aim to roughly resemble the shape of a hollow goblet or a well-balanced ball of stems. Shrub roses require a little less finesse, and trimming these with a hedge cutter or a sharp pair of garden shears can prove effective and efficient.

Any bare root roses or fruit trees need to be planted by the end of the month too, before they start waking up and wanting to grow.

Tomatoes and chillies can be sown in a heated propagator in your greenhouse or on a warm windowsill this month. You can also do this with sweet peas, so you can get a head start on the growing season and have some stronger plants to put out when the weather provides.

Leave areas of your garden wild and untidy

It is still really important to leave areas of your garden –especially your flower beds – wild and untidy for a little longer. The insects and bees you so greatly appreciate in the summer months are still in hibernation in the hollow stems of plants and amongst the fallen leaves and debris. If you look after them now, you won’t have to look too far for them in the summer when everything is in bloom.