What to Plant in February for a Longer, Healthier Vegetable Harvest

What a cold month is February! Not the best time to work outside in your vegetable garden, is it? But it’s the ideal period to work indoors, prepare for the good season to come and start your crops! The sooner you get your vegetables growing, the stronger they will be when days get longer and warmer, and the sooner you will harvest them. Actually, your crops will not only be longer, but bigger as well, because if you sow now, your seedlings will be strong enough to face their new life in the open air like real champions.

So, don’t waste time, and don’t waste money on seedlings when spring starts; you can grow your own from seed now, starting in February. It’s a lot of fun, a much more satisfactory experience and it is quite easy as well.

Do you wish to know how to start your vegetable garden in February, and which crops you should sow now? Off we go then!

Why You Should Start Growing Your Vegetable Seedlings as Early as February

When you go to a nursery to buy seedlings, do you ever ask yourself how long they have worked to get them ready for you to transplant? Take peppers for example, considering they take up to 14 days to germinate, then they have to grow for 4 to 6 weeks before they are ready for transplanting, it adds up to 8 weeks. That’s 2 months! Count back from April, and you’ll find out that they are sowing them now!

So, why shouldn’t you beat them at their own game?

But there’s another reason why you should start your seedlings you sow yourself; they often get transported from nurseries to retailers or other stores, and this gives them stress. So, what may look like a healthy young plant to you, could actually be weaker than you think.

What’s more, when you buy seedlings, you only have a limited option of varieties, while with seeds, the world’s your oyster (and they are much cheaper).

Finally, if you grow your own seedlings, you can be 100% sure that they are fully organic!

Don’t Get These Wrong: The Key Rules to Grow Veggie Seedlings Indoors and the “February Problem”

Of course, you need to grow your seeds in the right (optimal) conditions, so you can get bumper crops later on, when the season warms up. And here are your key rules:

• Use good quality, organically rich and well drained soil, ideally compost or loam based.
• Give each seed enough space to grow; don’t cram them into your sowing trays or pots, and if you have too many, choose the stronger ones and uproot the others.
• Place the trays or pots in bright but filtered light; you can use grow lights if you wish, they are cheap and very effective indeed!
• Water from below, and keep the soil humid but never wet all the time.
• Place the trays where there’s good ventilation.

And finally… They will need the right temperature, and this can be an issue in February, especially if you don’t have a greenhouse. It may be too warm in your house and too cold in your shed…

So, remember:

• Cold season crops (like lettuce, cabbage, spinach etc.) usually need air temperatures between 55° and 70°F (13° to 21°C).
• Warm season crops (like peppers, tomatoes, eggplant) usually need air temperatures between 65° and 75°C (18° to 24°C).

These are fairly easy to achieve, but it may be harder to keep soil temperatures steady in February, because the pots and trays are small:

• Cold season crops usually need soil temperatures between 55° and 75°F (13° to 24°C).
• Hot season crops usually need soil temperatures between 75° and 85°F (24° to 29°C).

These are general groupings; if there are exceptions in our list, I will give the temperatures in the “growing tips”.

So, in case the soil temperatures are borderline and they risk to drop; wrap the trays or pots up in something warm (cloth, or straw etc.). Use a soil thermometer to check them. Ideally, however, if you want to invest a few bucks, you should use polystyrene sowing trays this month. I know, they are not eco-friendly, but they are cheap and they insulate very well.

Finally, are there any veggies that you cannot start indoors? Yes, there are: root vegetables – they can’t stand transplanting!

How to Calculate When to Sow Your Veggies Indoors and When to Transplant Them Outdoors

How can you make sure that your veggies spend the right time indoors before you can transplant healthy seedlings outdoors?

To start with, make sure you check the time from sowing to transplanting; this way you can calculate exactly when you can start them indoors, according to your climate and USDA hardiness zone.

Then, check the soil temperatures they need for transplanting outdoors:

• For cold season vegetables, it is usually between 45° and 50°F (7° and 10°C).
• For summer vegetables, it is usually between 60° and 65°F (15° to 18°C), with a few exceptions.

If your seedlings spend a bit longer indoors, don’t worry; they’ll be a bit stronger when you transplant them. In most areas (temperate and mild), you will be able to move cold vegetables outdoors by March, and summer veggies by the end of the month or early April.

Now you know why and how you should start your vegetable garden in February, let’s see which varieties you should not miss out on!

1: Pepper (Capsicum annuum)

Bell or jalapeno peppers are a symbol of summer, but you should start them earlier, of course, so the stems harden up enough to face their life outdoors. And they do take a long time to produce their colorful and flavorful fruits, and even longer to ripen them. In many areas, you’ll have to settle down for green peppers, in fact, which are not as sweet, but in USDA zones 8 and above, they will at least reach yellow.

Peppers will also take a long time to be ready for transplanting, so, hurry up!

• Indoor soil temperatures: 75 to 85°F (21° to 24°C)
• Indoor air temperatures: 70° to 80°F (21° to 27°C)
• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 12 as annuals, 9 to 12 as perennials.
• Outdoor light: full Sun.
• Sowing depth: ¼ inch (0.5 cm)
• Sowing distance:  2 inches (5.0 cm)
• Weeks from sowing to transplanting: 8 to 10.
• Minimum outdoor soil temperatures to transplant: 65°F (18°C)

2: Celery (Apium graveolens)

If you want to eat celery this year, you shouldn’t waste any time, because it’s a slow growing vegetable, and it can take up to 10 weeks to get it ready for transplanting! So, even if you live in a cold region, you should sow it right now, or you’ll end up having to buy it from the stores. Your foreword planning and preparation will pay you back when you harvest it and use it to add its unique flavor to your dishes.

• Indoor soil temperatures: 70° to 75°F (21° to 24°C)
• Indoor air temperatures: 65° to 70°F (18° to 21°C)
• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9.
• Outdoor light: full Sun or partial shade.
• Sowing depth: ¼ inch (0.5 cm)
• Sowing distance: 2 inches (5.0 cm)
• Weeks from sowing to transplanting: 10 to 12 weeks.
• Minimum outdoor soil temperatures to transplant: 50°F (10°C)

3: Parsley (Petroselinum crispum)

You cannot cook without parley, and once it was very affordable in store, but nowadays, a bunch that then yellows in the fridge before you can use it will set you back at least a buck! So, if you have a kitchen garden, your best option is to grow your own. Then you can cut it back, and it will grow back – so you will always have it fresh, which is its main quality. The problem is that it will take a long time to be ready to go into your outdoor vegetable beds. You can sow it in situ, of course, but you will have a late crop. That’s why I strongly suggest you start it now indoors…

• Indoor soil temperatures: 65° to 75°F (18° to 24°C)
• Indoor air temperatures: 60° to 70°F (15° to 21°C)
• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 9.
• Outdoor light: full Sun or partial shade.
• Sowing depth: ½ inch (1.0 cm)
• Sowing distance: 2 inches (5.0 cm)
• Weeks from sowing to transplanting: 8 to 10 weeks
• Minimum outdoor soil temperatures to transplant: 50°F (10°C)

4: Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)

Is there anyone with a back yard who doesn’t grow tomatoes? I don’t think so! But what do many people do? Go out and buy seedlings. Instead, buy or keep the seeds from your best tomatoes, because you are never sure that you will find them again next year – fashion changes fast with this much loved vegetable. But this means that you will have to start it indoors, which, in a way, will warm up the last of your winter days with the expectation for their its summery juicy fruits…

• Indoor soil temperatures: 75° to 85°F (24° to 29°C)
• Indoor air temperatures: 70° to 80°F (21° to 27°C)
• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 11.
• Outdoor light: full Sun.
• Sowing depth: ¼ inch (0.5 cm)
• Sowing distance: 2 to 3 inches (5.0 to 7.5 cm)
• Weeks from sowing to transplanting: 6 to 8.
• Outdoor soil temperatures to transplant: 60°F (15°C)

5: Eggplant (Solanum melongena)

Eggplant is the summer fruit vegetable par excellence, really, more than tomatoes, because they need even more sunlight and heat to ripen. But it’s so eclectic in the kitchen, so delicious, and… in many places, quite pricey as well. Grow a few plants in your garden instead; they are quite productive, but they do take a long time to give you a harvest. And you know what I am going to say – yes, of course, sow them now indoors, because they can take up to 10 weeks to become seedlings ready for transplanting!

• Indoor soil temperatures: 75° to 85°F (24° to 29°C)
• Indoor air temperatures: 70° to 80°F (21° to 27°C)
• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 12.
• Outdoor light: full Sun.
• Sowing depth: ¼ inch (0.5 cm)
• Sowing distance: 2 to 3 inches (5.0 to 7.5 cm)
• Weeks from sowing to transplanting: 8 to 10.
• Minimum outdoor soil temperatures to transplant: 70°F (21°C)

6: Okra (Ambelmoschus esculentus)

If you don’t like okra, it’s because you don’t know how to cook it. But if you have tried it properly done, maybe in an Asian restaurant, you will love this pointy green vegetable. In many places it is even difficult to find, so, you can take the bull by the horns (pun intended) and grow your own in your kitchen garden. I would suggest you start it now only if you live in a warm climate, because it doesn’t take too long to be ready for transplanting, and it needs warm soil temperatures. But in case, here’s all you need to know!

• Indoor soil temperatures: 75° to 85°F (24° to 29°C)
• Indoor air temperatures: 70° to 80°F (21° to 27°C)
• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 12.
• Outdoor light: full Sun.
• Sowing depth: ½ to 1.0 inches (1.0 to 2.5 cm)
• Sowing distance: 2 to 3 inches (5.0 to 7.5 cm)
• Weeks from sowing to transplanting: 4 to 6.
• Outdoor soil temperatures to transplant: 65°F (18°C)

7: Basil (Ocimum basilicum)

Why should you buy those pots of basil, with crammed seedlings, from the stores when the season gets warm? Most of them die, anyway, and they are always far too big to transplant by then (they spend time travelling on motorways and in storage)… Start your own basil indoors, and you can have proper seedlings, each in a cell, not spindly, and ready to face life in your kitchen garden instead!

• Indoor soil temperatures: 70° to 75°F (21° to 24°C)
• Indoor air temperatures: 65° to 70° (18° to 21°)
• Hardiness: USDA zones 2 to 11 (annual)
• Outdoor light: full Sun or partial shade
• Sowing depth: ¼ inch (0.5 cm)
• Sowing distance: 2 inches (5.0 cm)
• Weeks from sowing to transplanting: 6 to 8 weeks
• Minimum outdoor soil temperatures to transplant: 65°F (18°C)

8: Zucchini (Cucurbita pepo)

Zucchini is one of the most productive vegetables you can ever grow in your garden. Ok, it takes up a bit of space and it’s still cheap in the stores, but the joy of picking its fruits every morning and eating them fresh is very tempting indeed… It won’t take too long to be ready for transplanting, less than a month, so, if you live in a mild climate (about USDA zones 8 or 9 and above), you can sow it indoors now in February; otherwise, I would wait for March.

• Indoor soil temperatures: 70° to 85°F (21° to 29°C)
• Indoor air temperatures: 65° to 75°F (18° to 24°)
• Hardiness: USDA zones 3 to 10
• Outdoor light: full Sun
• Sowing depth: 1 inch (2.5 cm)
• Sowing distance: 4 inches (10 cm)
• Weeks from sowing to transplanting: 3 to 4 weeks.
• Minimum outdoor soil temperatures to transplant: 60° (15°C)

Starting Your Veggies in February Is the Key to Bumper Crops Later on in the Year

Here are some I really recommend; there are many more, but now you also know how to start your crops early, why and what to look for. Others, like cold crops, well, you can easily sow them directly in your kitchen garden in most regions, even in February. But if you want bumper crops later on in the year, and you don’t want to dash to a nursery hoping to find what you are looking for, you know what to do: start them now indoors.