What to Do in the Garden in February
Chiogga Beets, February 2021
The February Garden
Most years, winter in Austin is not brutal. Far from it. It’s much more difficult to endure the sneezing fits and sinus headaches caused by continued pollen blasts to the face from Ashe Juniper trees than the occasional temperature plunge. More often, our daytime temps are in the 60º range and the bok choy looks like it might want to bolt. Spring feels like it’s right around the corner. February is the time to plant fruit and roses. It’s the homestretch month for summer crops started inside before making their garden debut. Many gardeners in other parts of the country take February off and hunker down under blankets but here in most of Texas, we take off August and thrive in February. These days of gentle sun and a cool but not cold breeze, are some of the nicest days of gardening in Central Texas. We also remember the 2021 freeze though as much as we try to forget. So be prepared, but get stoked because your spring garden is about to begin!
What’s the current status of your garden? It probably depends on how hot it was in December.
Best scenario: a chilly December:
2023 was the hottest year in Austin history. Most of us barely had anything green make it through the summer. But fall brought quite a few actually chilly days. December had not only frost but some very brief deep freezes. Hopefully, you scattered some wildflower and nigella seeds in the fall, because they are now taking off and your fall crops are thriving
Worst scenario: a warm December
Your happy plants get thrashed by frost because they haven’t hardened off. The new normal way winter weather trends in central Texas is that we frequently have a very mild December followed by a few intense and sudden freezes. Your garden is probably a lush jungle when the first freeze finally arrives. Normally, it wouldn’t be a big deal— it was barely a hard freeze— but it was devastating to a lot of crops that had never really known the cold. So maybe you’re a little sad and feeling disconnected from your now barren, dirt patch. Go take another look. You may be surprised to find seeds you sowed in fall are now starting to sprout. Now they aren’t shaded or crowded out by bigger plants and the cool temps are just what they’ve been waiting for to finally emerge. New life!
Arugula sprouts emerge from the cold, wet ground.
Anytime “volunteers” start emerging it means conditions are ideal for that particular plant to germinate. Take the assist. This is a perfect month to direct sow lettuce, carrots, radishes, turnips, beets, Asian greens, and get in one more round of cilantro. The cool season classics like peas love a Texas February. So do kale, chard, and kolhrabi. Direct sowing will pay off more than it did last fall. You can also still plant borage, chives, pansies, nasturtiums, and calendula to add some edible flowers to the landscape. By April, you’ll be amazed at the bounty.
Plant chitted potatoes
If you picked up seed potatoes last month and put them on a windowsill to sprout (a process called “chitting”), now is the time to plant them. I love a 20 gallon grow bag for this. Barrels also work great (make sure they have holes in the bottom). Read more about this in last month’s gardening advice.
Finally, you can prune everything!
Don’t go nuts on day 1 of the month. But by mid-month, it’s time to get out some clean secateurs and start shaping those dormant perennials like rock rose or butterfly bush so that once they wake up and start growing, they do so in a more compact, bushy, and lovely shape. If there are any dry, old sticks poking up from those sleeping beauties, cut them all the way back to the ground. They won’t grow again. Green inside the woody stem and it’s still alive, not old growth. Cut back your oregano and thyme by as much as 1/3 and your asters and mums into shapely mounds. Cut most ornamental grass back into those flat, low pedestals that look so harsh at first. Do not do that to your crepe myrtles. If you still have perennials to move, you can do it. Seriously, do it now while they are still asleep. This is also the time to prune your roses. Fertilize everything you prune to give it the energy to burst forth in spring. Do this by adding compost to your beds and/or granular fertilizer. By now, you know my fave.
Start some windowsill seeds
Tea Hibiscus popping off in my trusty HEB strawberry container + takeout container lid setup.
Start perennials and other flower seeds indoors. Some flower seeds do fine started indoors (zinnias). Others prefer to wait to be direct sown on the other side of the last frost date (cosmos, sunflowers). I start the trickier perennial seeds like bee balm and rudbeckia in my trusty recycled fruit containers. The seeds are so tiny that it makes it easier as these little containers are so perfect as tiny greenhouses. The same vents that allow the fruit to breathe also allow for air circulation and for you to water them from the bottom rather than flooding the soil surface. You may find as I did that they fit perfectly into the lid of a take-out container.
Are you prepared for the April Eclipse?
Direct sow lettuce seeds this month and your beds will be bursting by spring.
If you planted ranunculus in the fall, they should be bushy little mounds of celery-esque leaves now. Keep them well-watered and protect from frost.
Prep for Garden Expansion. My Joy Max Suggestion: Grow flowers this year.
Are you growing a cut flower garden alongside your vegetables this year? If you hadn’t considered such a thing, just know that you can do it with very little prep work. Cosmos and several other flowers prefer poor soil. Planting them in your raised beds is a bad idea. Their stems will get beefy and thick and they may not produce flowers at all. Instead, cover that unsightly bit of yard (providing it has full sun) with a few layers of newspaper and then just put a few bags of topsoil right on top. Cover with some dead leaves and keep it wet so the newspaper starts to break down. You can direct sow seeds there and voila! a month later, you have a beautiful row of flowers. That’s like a half-hour of work and $6 of topsoil. Joy max is also lazy max.
Sunflowers want more than that but it’s still easy. Grab a few bags of manure with that topsoil and make your mound of dirt a little taller. Flowers are so forgiving. They really don’t need much and they give so much back in pure joy.
What to Plant in February
ZONE 8B-9A
Veggies and herbs to grow this month:
SEEDS
Beets
Carrots
Corn (late)
Peas
Chitted potatoes
Radish
SEEDS OR TRANSPLANTS
Alyssum
Asian Greens
Calendula
Kale
Kohlrabi
Lettuce
Marigolds
Mustard
Nasturtium
Spinach
Swiss Chard
TRANSPLANTS
Artichoke
Asparagus
Leeks
Onions
Shallots
Tomatoes*
FLOWER TRANSPLANTS
Bluebonnet
Delphinium/Larkspur
Roses
Snapdragons
Stock
Violas
Pansies
FRUIT YOU CAN PLANT THIS MONTH:
Apple
Blackberry
Fig
Grape
Olive
Peach
Pear
Pomagranite
Persimmon
Raspberry
Strawberry
Did you start tomato or pepper seeds back in December or January? If so, keep reading:
True leaves emerge on tomato seedlings sown mid-January.
At the beginning of the month, your seedlings will probably still be tiny. Maybe a few have their true leaves. By the end of the month, or possibly sooner if you started your seeds in December, they will be getting near time to begin the hardening off process. Don’t skip it. If you decided to move them to the garden before our last frost date has passed (in central Texas it’s March 1), you must protect them from the chill. Don’t even think about doing this until at least February 17th. I don’t recommend planting out peppers early at all. Tomato and pepper seedlings are both incredibly sensitive to temperatures in the 40ºs. They may survive a frost but may be forever stunted by it. If you’ve been puzzled in the past by a pepper plant that just didn’t grow at all, early cold exposure could be the culprit. My guide on growing tomatoes from seed is here. You can start gently brushing your seedlings with your hand as they get bigger. This helps them get stronger to face windy days and is also incredibly soothing. Use a little fan to keep air circulating around your seedlings or if they are in a room that has one, turn the ceiling fan on sometimes high enough to make them sway a little. Remember to turn your grow lights off at night so your seedlings can get some rest. They need to recover their strength after a long day growing. Seedlings! They’re just like us!
