I know, February – it’s so cold and grey.
There appears to be mud and bare branches every where. But don’t despair. Below are 20 plants you can sow from seed in February that will make you feel like Spring is here now.
February is actually a really good month to begin setting your garden, patio, and balcony up ready for the new growing season. So ignore the wind, the rain and snow (what snow!), and instead gather your tools.
February is a month when all seeds bought/saved need to be sown indoors only.
It’s not warm enough outside to leave the little seeds fighting for warmth when there isn’t a lot going around. Instead you can start your garden off indoors and once the plants have germinated and grown they can be moved and planted outside.
By sowing a month early (assuming you take March to be the month to sow everything), it means you’re getting the plants into action without having to wait on water logged, or frozen ground in your cultivation space.
Plus it’s nice and warm inside, so what more excuse do you need not to sow 😉
You’ll need:
- Pots, either a tray with cells, or individual 7cm pots, or just a potting tray. Simple pots can be made stright from the cardboard tube of toilet rolls which work really well.
- Dibber (an old plastic pen, without the ink nip will suffice)
- Potting compost – or potting
- Heated propagator (if you want to grow chillies in February)
- A well lit area in a room that is free from draughts. Window sill is excellent.
- Newspaper to catch all the soil!
Buy your packet(s) of seed and away you go with the instructions on the back of the packet!
It takes more time choosing your potting soil and your pots than it does to actually sow the seeds, trust me – I know!
Enjoy yourself!
Seeds to be sown in February
10 Veggies
- Broad bean
- Cabbage
- Carrot
- Chillies (require extra heat)
- Cucumber
- Herbs
- Leek
- Peas
- Peppers (require extra heat)
- Tomatoes (require extra heat)
10 Flowers
- Begonia
- Black Eyed Susan
- Cosmea
- Delphinium
- Geranium
- Inpatients
- Marigold
- Nasturtium
- Pansy
- Sweet Pea
Pretty much anything that comes in a packet for the flower side of the garden!
The thing with flowers is they can be grown in succession. They have a smaller flowering time than veggies to produce their bounty, so by sowing a few flower seeds now, and again every month to August, it gives you a complete supply of bedding, patio and hanging flowers all the year through.
There are big bonuses of sowing flowers and veggies over buying plug plants, or buying a tray of plants from your local garden centre because:
- You can decide exactly how many plants you need for any area,
- It’s cheaper than buying full plants,
- You can control the amounts of feed they get, and more importantly –
- Seed companies found on the internet mean you can get super specialised varieties of plants you really want to grow in your garden, rather than always having the bog standard colours/types you see normally in a DIY/Garden superstore.
So, this weekend – get sowing and start to grow those plants you’ve always enjoyed looking at in other people’s gardens/parks. Now is the time to make them yours!
If you’ve already started sowing – please share and let me know below, also what country you’re from.
Perhaps we can create a ’round the world list’ of what’s being sown where 🙂
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Cover Photo courtesy of Brianna Privett
lovely post Sophie I do not have a heated propagator but I put mine in the airing cupboard and they seem to work well first time I did I managed to get 3 artichoke’s to germinate have a lovely weekend and stay safe
I’d forgotten about the airing cupboard – what a great idea! Thank you for sharing that tip. Have a good week Linda.
your welcome Sophie and you as well stay save and warm
Thank you so much for sharing your recommendations. Great job!
Kind of you to say and thanks for stopping by the blog 🙂
Reblogged this on Old School Garden.
Thank you for the re-blog. Much appreciated. 🙂
you’re very welcome!
It is all go on the veg plot now. As long as this bad weather stops!
Yes this weather is causing real issues. Last yr it was cold but dry. This year it’s nothing but rain. Still, the sowing prep can be done now and will hopefully save time later on. It’s the digging that’s the real problem. Good luck on your veg plot 🙂
Reblogged this on Marlee Roundhouse and commented:
Better get organised and look out my seed trays!
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Great post. Inspiring to get started. I inherited and old heated propagator so have started chillies, padron peppers, and four types of tomatoes! (We eat a lot of tomatoes!) marmonde, black cherry, sungold, and Alaska. I have also started delphiniums, sweet peas and my dahlias. It’s all very exciting.
Thanks Michelle, good to hear it’s useful.
There is nothing more exciting, I don’t think, than watching seedlings germinate and grow into plants that then feed you :-p
Let me know how you get on.
This was very useful. Some will now be March planting though : )
Thank you for your kind comment.
I know what you mean – March will be a very busy gardening month!
It certainly will!