What to sow and grow in February.

Like last month if the weather allows it and you've not done it yet, you could still get some Garlics and Broad Beans in the ground. I've also sown some hardy Peas at this time of the year before and had very good results. Growing Peas for shoots can be done as well, you could start them off indoors in plug trays and then pop them out once they have their true leaves.

For indoor sowing, mid February is usually the earliest to sow non hardy varieties of vegetables, but come the 14th you could try Spring Onions, Lettuce, Spinach, Calabrese (Green Sprouting Broccoli) and Cauliflowers. You could also try some Parsley and Coriander, all cool loving crops.

Starting them off in small seed trays with some good all purpose potting compost, you can pop them on a sunny south facing windowsill.

If you don't have any sunny windowsills or space for seed trays then it would be wise to wait another month or two until the ground warms up outside and then you can sow things direct into the soil.

Friend or Foe? 

We all know that slugs and snails are not our friends in the vegetable patch, but what about the frantic centipede with it's shiny brown segmented body? I have to say I've often wondered myself. This little two minute video will tell you.

Onions - Seeds or sets

Fancy growing some Onions? Well now is the time. There are three ways to grow them. You can start them from seed or from sets and in some countries you can get nursery-grown transplants. I've never seen transplants for sale here in the UK so I'll just talk about seeds and sets.

The easiest and simplest way is to buy onions sets. These are part grown onions from seed that are pulled up and kept in dormancy to be sold the following year. The pros of growing sets is that they are widely available and they are ready to plant out. The cons of growing sets is that they are more likely to bolt, go to seed, because they are in their second year of growing.

GROWING TIP: Plant the smallest bulb sets rather than the biggest ones as the bigger ones are more likely to bolt.

Growing Onions from seed takes a bit more effort, but you've got more chance of getting bigger and better harvests. Over the years this has been my experience and for many other gardeners too. The pros for growing from seed is that you get a much wider range of varieties to choose from, therefore having Onions that best suit you garden and your needs and tastes.

Text Link

Members Questions

Rashadee asked if the Potatoes she had saved would be okay to plant. They were looking very wrinkled and had very long chits (shoots)

I advised the best thing to do was to break off the chits and then put the potatoes in a cool, bright place and wait a few weeks for new strong short chits to grow. Then to plant them between March and April.

If you've bought yourself some seed Potatoes this year, now's the time to start chitting them somewhere bright and cool.