This January we were (and still are) picking collards (1), sage (2), mesclun (3), and (not pictured) green onions, parsley and rosemary from LAST Spring's plants. This is also when I order/buy new seeds, add way too much to my Amazon garden wishlist, and plan my garden and start the year's planner... who am I kidding!?! I do these last few things ALL year.
February 1st, we started seeds for tomatoes, peppers and herbs indoors. We are in zone 7b. Technically I could have started them about a week or so earlier, but we plant often, so it doesn't really hurt.
February is a busier garden month for us than one might think.
We work on cleaning up our garden beds from the last season (if we didn't get finished before it got too cold outside. We defy nature every year (hope I don't ruin it for this year by saying that)... we have harvest much later than most everyone I know. I "think" that is due to three reasons.
One, we are out there early most every single day from about 5/1 to when the harvest stops producing finally.
Two, we plant everything in rotation about every 2-4 weeks. So we plant tomatoes, peppers, etc all season long. Our July/august plants may not last as long as our earlier starts, but they last way later into the season than they would have if we only went with our February plants. Last year every single person we know had run out of tomatoes in June or early July. We were harvesting in NOVEMBER.
Three, we go out first thing in the morning almost every single day (before it gets too hot); we water, prune, weed, thin, transplant, seed, feed/fertilize, compost, mulch, whatever needs to be done.... And by doing it this way, we don't have to work all day long in the hot sun
This is a picture of part of our garden last year. This was probably May. Our garden is a work in progress all season long. And we stretch our season from early February to at least mid-November. Remember we're still eating from plants started a year ago or nearly so.
EVERYONE in the family participates (except the dogs... they get too excited, except my baby girl (beagle).... she hunts down voles). So even our fat girl helps.... she eats remains of last years plants, any weeds that may have popped up, and also eats the grass between the beds so we NEVER have to weedeat between them.
We start to see sprouts in February. My middle child (still at home) had the first sprout this year. Solar Power Sunflower. She started these seeds from a pack bought 2-3 years ago. I was surprised they germinated at all.
We installed pickets in the sides of one of our beds (so far) to train our tomatoes this year, because cages don't do as well as I'd like in raised beds. (They may meet your needs, I just prefer this way). And also pickets are cheaper. I don't want to buy 200 cages.
We have maybe 20 cages and we really do plant about 200ish a year.
We love our varieties.
Although, I must say that German Johnson, Centennial (a plant I received from Lowe's for Mother's Day last year), and Purple Cherokee are probably my top 3 favorites. And cherry/grape tomatoes. Any variety. Seriously, they sometimes don't even make it to the house. Dirt? God made dirt; dirt don't hurt. Anyway, here's my pickets. So far. I will definitely be adding more.
We are also started getting tomato sprouts in February (less than a week after starting). These were our first sprouts.
So to recap, February was busy spent starting seeds, cleaning up the garden, filling beds with compost on top of the soil, gazing in awe at the new sprouts and dreaming of mater sandwiches, pico, fresh salads and many more delicious concoctions.
As time progresses, we will add manure too (we picked up a truckload of free horse manure today aged since last year... ). Seriously, if you live in the country, and/or near any farms, please don't pay for poop. Someone will give it to you for free. You may also check your local high school or community college to see if they have an agricultural department. They may give you free poop too.
So far in March, we have started more seeds, enjoyed more sprouts, seen our bulbs start sprouting, thinned our bulbs, ordered more seeds and tools/new gadgets, ordered more bulbs, and probably a million other things I've forgotten to mention.
Here are a few pics of my bulbs from the last few days... oh I also transplanted my succulents. You'll see them in these pictures as well. I also had to trim my muscari (grape hyacinth), the "leaves" were getting too long.
I also forgot that even though it's technically still winter, and was shady, I still will burn the first few times I'm in the sun if I don't use sunscreen.
The other day, while propogating my parsley (from last year), we started an experiment to see which will root quicker, water or soil. Youngest's hypothesis is that soil will root faster. I'll have to keep you updated on that.
We moved our seedlings to bigger starter pots. There are many more, I just took a picture of a few of the sprouts. We did lose one to wind though yesterday. 😢😢
This is the bed I cleaned up today. I couldn't finish it, because it was getting cold.
I weeded half of it because it had become inundated. And I mixed soil, manure and compost together. I need to finish mixing it and add more, but I was ready for heat. The other half has an unplanned, already blooming, strawberry plant and last spring's mesclun. The only strawberries I planted last year were in a bed about 10 yards from this one, so looks like a little birdie helped me out... or my compost had some seeds in it. I like the birdie theory better. And look at the "trunk" on my mesclun. I "believe" that has come from only cutting leaves off, instead of harvesting the whole head. It also lead to almost a year of mesclun from ONE head, rather than a one and done.
I know most people (myself included) will tell you don't take your starts and/our sprouts outside unless you only take them out in the sun in 60°+ weather until after the last frost.... but I have run out of space in the houses for more starts, and I don't have a greenhouse. Yet. I'm working on it. So this is what I do....
I take them outside as soon as temps are consistently 60°+ during the day. I put them where they get the sun they require. I put the seed trays on top of the (at this point, only half full) beds, to help give a little wind protection.
At night when it's 50° or less, and when there will be rain, I cover my plants. I just drape tarps over the beds. The plants are tall enough to go over the top of the beds yet, and when they are I'll make hoops over the beds to support the tarps. I put landscape or "river" rocks outside the corners of the beds to keep the tarps from blowing up or collapsing under rain.
I also use coolers for the sprouts that are in their bigger but solo start pots and our parsley experiment. This keeps them warm and insulated when it's cool or wet, and in the morning if it's going to be sunny and warm, I just pop the tops off the coolers.
Again, this works for me, but is technically a big "no no;" I just consider the covered beds and coolers my greenhouse or hot boxes if you will, until I actually get my greenhouse.
I'm working on this as my first greenhouse right now, because its affordable and will suit my current needs. I also have two 4-5 tier good sized plant stands that I am going to try to convert into makeshift greenhouses when I can get the supplies to do so.
At the end of the season, I'm hoping since my seed/bulb/tool/gadget spending won't be so high, so I can get a BIG greenhouse.
This is maybe the one I'm thinking about getting. It's big enough I could garden year round even plants that need spring/summer... especially if I have the other greenhouse and methods.
Well, I'm off to get ready for tomorrow. I have tons more work to do before the "start" of the season 😍