🗓️ Sowing in February vegetable garden calendar

In February, we still eat some vegetables from the vegetable garden here and there, but most of our green vitamins come from our pantry and from the store or market.

To ensure that we can harvest plenty of vegetables from our own vegetable garden again this year and build up our winter supplies, we can actually start pre-sowing now.

Because the February sun is still very weak and lacking, we need to use some tools to sow seeds in February. Otherwise, our young plants risk sprouting into lanky, stretched-out plants, which are unfortunately worthless. The most important tools I'm talking about are: a (heated) propagator , grow lights , and a greenhouse or conservatory .

If you don't have any of these tools, I would recommend waiting another 6 weeks until the second half of March to start pre-sowing.

This is a whopper of an article, so sit down and read it. Which of your questions does it answer?

If you're not a reader but rather a watcher, I'd like to share the first installment of our "Grow It Yourself" February series here:

Having a greenhouse or conservatory in your garden is truly a valuable asset. It extends your growing season because the glass effect keeps it warmer during the day. But both at night and during the day, a greenhouse also provides shelter for your crops from all weather conditions, such as wind, rain, snow, or hail.

Only when there is very cold frost (> -5°C) should you protect your vegetables with a protective fleece or with a heater in front of the greenhouse .

I call the crops I sow in the greenhouse my row crops. They're all crops I sow in rows and thin out as needed. Many of these crops can be started on seed tape, which is super easy. You can sow the row crops along a hose if you have an irrigation system. With Plukkers, we developed a system derived from professional horticulture but tailored to the vegetable garden. I'm happy to share my article with you: Install your own irrigation system in 4 simple steps .

I like to divide what you can sow in the greenhouse in February into two groups. You'll soon understand why I do this.

There are several crops that you can sow directly in the open ground of your greenhouse and harvest before the Ice Saints (May 15th). This is convenient, as it frees up space for the greenhouse's showpieces: fruit crops.

So there are cold-loving crops that grow quickly and can be harvested before May 15th. Think of radishes , lettuce , lamb's lettuce , and baby spinach .

You won't see lettuce, Swiss chard, or endive listed here, for example. We'll be harvesting those for the Ice Saints, but we won't be sowing them directly in the open ground in the greenhouse.

I sow crops that are planted individually indoors in a controlled environment. The chance of a single seed not germinating is much greater than in row cultivation. If you sow in rows and some seeds don't germinate due to the cold or less-than-ideal conditions in the cold greenhouse, there are still plenty of seeds that will germinate.

These are also row crops, but the difference from the previous group is that they may remain standing after May 15th. So, when planning your crops, keep in mind that you won't plant tomatoes, cucumbers, or peppers in this location.

I give my examples of these rows of crops: garden peas , snow peas, broad beans , spinach where you harvest 3 times (not just the young leaves) and super early carrots .

I repeat: these crops won't be ready for harvest until mid-May, when you plan to plant out the fruit crops. Keep that in mind.

And then there are four types of vegetables I sow indoors. Curious which ones?

As I mentioned in the section about sowing directly into the ground in a greenhouse or conservatory: I sow plants I grow individually indoors in a controlled environment. Indoors, I can provide my plants with ideal growing conditions. I control the light, heat, and humidity. Not only do I control these conditions, but sowing indoors has several other advantages.

The germination rate of your seeds is much higher. There are inexpensive seeds where it's not a big deal if one doesn't germinate, but there are also more expensive seeds where you still want to minimize the risk of non-germination.

Seeds that don't germinate aren't a problem in seed cubes or a seed tray . We simply skip them. In the open ground, the spots where one or more seeds don't germinate also become empty spots.

Indoors, the growth rate is also higher than outdoors. Not that speed in itself is a goal, because as vegetable gardeners, we have patience. But it's a fact that a seed that germinates quickly and can grow well into a young plant always produces a stronger plant with a better harvest. A plant that germinates poorly and is weakened by a lack of light, warmth, and moisture will never catch up.

As mentioned earlier, two tools are crucial for successful indoor cultivation: a (heated) propagator and grow lights . Germinating seeds requires moisture, and sometimes heat and light (for light germinators). Heat can be room temperature, humidity can be a layer of cling film over a container, but light in February is best achieved with a grow light using the correct light color, 6500 Kelvin.

My colleague Ruud made a video about pre-sowing using a propagator, heat mats, and grow lights:

This is clear. The plants like it warm and need to grow for a long time to produce a harvest. There are a few like that, but with the ideal growing conditions I provide my seedlings, I limit myself to two crops in February: peppers and bell peppers .

I only sow the Capsicum annuum varieties. These are the common chili peppers, bell peppers, and pointed peppers we know. If you want to grow hotter peppers like the Habanero, Madame Jeannette, or Carolina Reaper, it's best to sow them in December or January. Personally, I find regular chili peppers more than spicy enough.

These are leafy greens that I'm currently pre-sowing in press pots or trays for harvest in April and early May. Crisp lettuce at the first barbecue in April. My favorite is Wonder of the Four Seasons . Those young, crisp heads are especially heavenly. Of course, there's also endive , Swiss chard , and winter purslane that you can pre-sow indoors now for a super-early harvest. As you've read before, you can also sow row crops directly in the open ground of your greenhouse or conservatory.

If you have a large enough greenhouse, you can sow vegetables indoors in February to eat early in the season. Earlier than if you were to plant them in the open ground. This includes various types of cabbage, such as pointed cabbage , kohlrabi , broccoli , cauliflower , and even Brussels sprouts . I don't sow Brussels sprouts because they sprout in late August or early September, and I don't want to eat them then.

Note: if you choose these crops, the location will be occupied and you won't be able to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, peppers, bell peppers, gherkins, etc. there. So choose a spot you can spare in the greenhouse until summer. Also, with cabbages, be sure to follow the crop rotation and only plant in the same spot every six years. So, half a greenhouse of cabbages each year won't work in the long run.

For many crops, there's still plenty of time in February. Many have a growing season of 60 to 120 days. That's 2 to 4 months. But there are exceptions that take a really long time, like leeks and celeriac. Therefore, it's best to sow a summer crop of leeks and regular celeriac indoors.

If you don't have grow lights , it's best to wait six weeks before sowing indoors. You can make it nice and warm indoors, but even in a south-facing window, the sun's rays are too weak to provide your plants with sufficient light. And with too little light, your plants will stretch and become worthless.

In principle, all seeds, bulbs, or tubers will germinate if you provide them with moisture and warmth. However, it's still a good idea to wait with some crops, even if you have beautiful vegetable beds ready to go or a nice, shiny propagator and grow lights.

One reason I don't sow many fruit crops indoors yet is because I sow indoors under optimal conditions. And I don't want plants 60-80 cm tall in early May. Plants of that size need to be able to grow in the ground, and they won't thrive in a small pot indoors. By not sowing too early, I also save valuable space in my propagator for crops that are well-timed.

There are quite a few sowings I won't be doing until next March. These are outdoor crops that can't be planted until mid-April, such as summer cabbage, leafy vegetables, flowers, or annual herbs (cilantro, basil, chervil, etc.). But also spring onions, fennel, celery, and so on.

It's still too early for potatoes. I'll be germinating potatoes next month for planting out in April. Other outdoor crops that I sow directly, like peas and snow peas, are also scheduled for next month.

You can check everything at your leisure in our vegetable garden sowing calendar .

There's not a whole lot to sow in February , especially if you don't have access to tools like a greenhouse , propagator , or grow lights . But there's a chore you can do now that will benefit you for the rest of the vegetable gardening season. It'll put you in a figurative armchair for the upcoming sowing or planting.

In March, April, and May, you'll be sowing, prickling out, hardening off, and caring for so many plants that you'll be delighted with your ready-to-sow and plant vegetable beds. I'll explain how to go about it.

If you don't have a vegetable garden yet and still need to start building your beds, I recommend watching Merel's video about creating a vegetable garden bed first:

Our raised beds are available in various materials. Personally, I'm a fan of plastic beds made from recycled plastic, but as you can see, Ruud & Merel prefer wooden raised beds, also known as pallet collars.

The first thing we're going to remove from the beds are the weeds and any plant debris from last year. Thanks to the mulch layer, you shouldn't have many weeds. And if you do have any, they should be very easy to remove. Mulch is a common thread throughout your vegetable garden. In cold weather, it provides a warm blanket for your soil life, and in warm weather, it suppresses weeds and retains water.

If there are two things that have increased my enjoyment and yield of my vegetable garden over the years, it's mulching and installing an irrigation system. Before that, I sometimes felt like a slave to my vegetable garden. Now I'm thoroughly enjoying it.