What To Do In February

Plant vegetable seeds: Beets, broccoli, carrot, chard, collards, endive, kale, kohlrabi, leek, lettuce, mustard, parsnip, peas, seed potatoes, radishes, rutabaga, spinach, shallot, turnips.

Start tomato & pepper seeds indoors.

Plant vegetable plants: Artichoke and asparagus crowns, Asian greens, broccoli, cabbage, chard, collards, lettuce, mustard greens, onion sets, spinach.

Plant herbs: All hardy perennial herbs, such as chives, oregano, and thyme; and cool-season annuals or biennials such as dill, fennel, and parsley. Be sure dill and fennel are watered and protected before any freezes.

Plant flower/ornamental seeds: Coreopsis, cosmos, echinacea, salvia. We are "in between seasons" right now. It is a little late for planting cool-season ornamentals, and too early for the warm-weather annuals such as marigolds and zinnias.

Plant annual flower/ornamental plants: African daisy, alyssum, balloon flower, calendula, English daisy, dianthus, dusty miller, forget-me-not, Iceland poppy, larkspur, lobelia, ornamental cabbage and kale, pansy, snapdragon, stock.

Plant perennial plants: All of them! Consider the ferny, evergreen, hardy nature of flowering yarrow, along with other stand-bys such as purple wandering jew, ruellias, and turk's cap for shady areas. (Yarrow can take sun or shade!) Try also Hymenoxys, Salvia greggii, Skeleton Leaf Golden Eye, and Zexmenia.

Plant ground covers and borders.

Plant strawberries.

Plant bareroot (or containerized) fruit trees, berries, and grapes.

Transplant, as needed, perennials and other landscape plants.

Fertilize cool-season annuals with an organic fertilizer: Use Lady Bug brand Flower Power and or John's Recipe.

Prepare garden beds for the spring! Work in compost and organic fertilizer to vegetable and flower beds in advance of planting time. Add a mineral source, such as greensand or Volcanite, if you haven't done so recently. Greensand can be added every year, or Volcanite every five to ten years. Go ahead and mix some organic fertilizer into the vegetable or annual flower beds before planting.

Prune roses ‚ on or around Valentine's Day.

Apply corn gluten as a pre-emergent weed killer in early February: At all costs, avoid the chemical pre-emergents. They are among the most toxic substances you can buy, for you, your children, your pets, your neighbors, and our drinking water! Corn gluten is a natural pre-emergent which should be broadcast at a rate of 20 pounds per 1000 square feet. A drop spreader works better for this than a whirlybird type. It adds nitrogen, too! The suppression of seed sprouting lasts about three weeks. Remember also that using exclusively organic fertilizers and enhancing the overall health of your soil can prevent and/or eliminate most weed problems. This is a long-term solution to weeds and many other lawn problems.

Spray apple, peach, pear, and plum trees with either Actinovate or Serenade fungicide when you see the buds begin to swell. Rarely, if ever, in organic gardening do we recommend spraying pesticides or fungicides as a preventative measure, except in the case of these fruit trees.

Water: Be sure to water deeply before the soil becomes dry, especially before freezes. Dry plants are more likely to suffer freeze damage than well-watered ones. Avoid overwatering in the winter.

Continue to protect tender plants, especially new seedlings, before a freeze.

Have a soil test done. At our nursery, we recommend Texas Plant and Soil Lab in Edinburg, TX. They can be reached at (956) 383-0739 or link to their web site.

Recycle your old phone books: Look for the phone book recycling dumpsters at your local grocery store, such as H.E.B.

(Thanks to Howard Garrett's Texas Organic Gardening Book, the Travis County Master Gardener Association's Garden Guide for Austin and Vicinity, and the staff of the Natural Gardener for some of this month's tips.)

See our February Growing Tips

See our February Articles: Reflections on Life and Organic Gardening

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