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The Master Gardener - February Gardening Tips
Written by Ira Wallace, of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and the Central Virginia Master Gardeners
February is the time to finish planning your garden and start planting in flats. Early in the month check to make sure you have all your seeds ordered and ready to start. Don’t forget to include extra for succession plantings and “summer planting for your fall harvest.” Indoors or in a cold frame, start some lettuce, parsley, early brassicas (such as cabbage and mustard), and broccoli. Early in the month finish sowing any remaining bulb onions from seed and hot peppers like Habanero because they are very slow to grow early on.
Mid month you can start sweet peppers and eggplants. Start more broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, celery, Chinese greens, and lettuce in flats. Later in the month start your first tomato seedlings. You may want to start a cold tolerant Russian variety or an extra early variety like Glacier or Stupice. Since you cannot have too many tomatoes, Mule Team or Eva Purple Ball tomatoes are excellent choices due to their heavy production of top notch fruits. Be sure and plant a new variety or two, along with your usual favorites.
We like pre-sprouting spinach, pea, carrot, and beet seeds on paper towels in an incubator for an extra early start in the spring. These can be planted every two weeks and will give you a bountiful harvest all season long. Plant them out under Reemay® as soon as they send out their first little roots. Incubators or heating mats will speed up germination and get your early seedling flats off to a flying start. When the weather warms up, switch to direct sowing your seeds.
In a cold frame under a garden blanket, you can start some Globe Artichokes. Plants that see temperatures between 35 and 42 when young will often produce well in early summer the same year. Start cool weather greens like spinach, Bok Choi (Chinese cabbage), lettuce, Mizuna (Japanese mustard greens), mustard and early, cool-weather lettuce varieties.
This is also an excellent season to start some Forellenschluss Romaine lettuce. This Heirloom lettuce from Austria is a beautiful variety loved by many for its cold hardiness and crunchy bright green leaves covered with deep red markings. The translation of Forellenschluss is “speckled like a trout,” which explains why it also commonly known as “Flashy Trout Back.” Why not grow some “trout” this year?
Finish weeding your perennials and give them compost, if not done in fall, including strawberries and grapes. February is the month to transplant any remaining bushes, canes, or crowns. Mulch everything. Prune grapes, finish pruning blueberries and raspberries.
It’s time for the 23rd Annual Maymont Flower and Garden Show in Richmond. Join thousands of Virginia gardeners Feb 9-12, 2012 at this harbinger of spring. Learn the latest in horticulture, see lovely display gardens, and shop the Garden Marketplace. Come home inspired to be a better gardener.
There is still time to join the 2012 Central Virginia Master Gardener Class March 1- May 3, 2012. Learn about sustainable gardening, meet other gardeners, and serve your community! For more information, e-mail louisacvmg@gmail.com or call the Louisa County Extension office at 540-967-3422.
In addition to this column, I have launched a New Blog for Mother Earth News about Gardening in the Southeast, featuring heirloom varieties and how to cook from your garden year round. Be sure and check it out!
Don't forget to place your seed orders early to avoid disappointment and to add something new and fun to your garden in 2012.
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