February in the Garden
The month of February can be a tricky period for the vegetable gardener. It will all depend on weather conditions in your particular area. If the ground is partially frozen or your soiled is sticky and waterlogged, then be patient. There’s no point planting seeds at this time. Wait for the soil to warm up around the middle of the month, it will be much easier to prepare your beds and get your crops off to a strong start.
The Kitchen garden
Veg
- Cover the vegetable plot or raised beds with clear plastic to help the soil warm up more quickly. Leave plastic in position for 3 weeks prior to planting seeds.
- Sow seeds of early vegetables after the middle of the month. Prepare plots for spring onion, early carrots, peas and radishes. Try planting some early lettuces, cut-and-come-again varieties will provide delicious early greens.
- Plant out garlic bulbs, they will benefit from a cold spell and be prompted into early growth.
- Order your seed potatoes for chitting, ensuring you have some early varieties, some ‘second earlies’ and some maincrop tubers. This will ensure you have an exciting potato harvest right through the summer months.
- Chit your seed potatoes by standing them in trays or boxes(eggboxes are very suitable) in a cool bright frost-free area. This will encourage strong sprouts to emerge after a few weeks and will ensure the plant gets off to a strong start.
Fruit
- Force rhubarb crowns for an early crop. Choose a crown and cover with a plastic pot, bin or terracotta forcing jar. Hold down container with a weight to prevent wind from blowing it over. The elimination of light plus the sheltering of the crown from harsh wind will encourage the rhubarb into growth, producing beautiful pink stalks for early cropping.
- Prune autumn-fruiting raspberry canes to the ground. This will ensure new fruit on the young emerging canes.
- Plant fruit bushes and fruit trees now, if the threat of frost is not too imminent.
- Finish any winter pruning of fruit trees and apply mulch and feed.
Greenhouse/Polytunnel
- Dig over a bed for early potatoes, applying some well rotted farmyard manure or other organic matter and plant early varieties such as Arran Pilot, Pentland Javelin or Lady Christl. If space is at a premium, try planting your tubers into planter bags to get your crop off to a early start.
- Re-pot strawberry plants that have been left outside for past few months. Provide fresh compost/feed for each plant, removing any dead leaves or debris and move to greenhouse/polytunnel for early growth.
- Sow hardy peas, broad beans, carrots in your polytunnel.
- Delicious early salads can be planted under cover, such as rocket and mizuna. Rainbow chard and radishes will also provide a crunchy, colourful salad bowl in 6 to 8 weeks.
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