EP313 What To Sow In February: How To Sow Edibles In February For Continuous Harvests

Blue skies today, sleet tomorrow—February keeps growers guessing. We lean into that reality with a grounded sowing plan for edibles that starts slow, protects seedlings, and builds momentum toward a season of steady harvests. I break down what to sow, when to start, and how to adapt your timing to your garden’s microclimate so you avoid redoing work when the weather snaps back cold.

We begin with reliable early wins: spring onions on a steady rotation, seed-grown onions to reduce bolting, and small batches of hardy salads like spinach, mizuna, and mixed leaves that shrug off a chill under cover. Multi-sowing gets a spotlight too—grouping leeks, beetroot, and spring onions in modules makes transplanting faster and keeps trays tidy. If your household is lukewarm on early brassicas, keep volumes tight and save space for what you’ll actually eat. For a quick flavour lift, start peas for shoots on a windowsill and keep radish on repeat.

Heat lovers demand discipline. Peppers, chilies, aubergines, and tomatoes can start mid‑month if—and only if—you can keep temperatures warm and steady. I share why chilies and aubergines need the longest runway, and when it’s smarter to skip them than fight a cool tunnel. We also tackle early tunnel carrots for sweet, small roots, and we unpack the great potato question: chitting helps, but warm soil helps more. Aim for heated ground and simple frost protection rather than chasing a calendar date.

There’s more you can do before spring surges: plant bare‑root fruit trees and bushes, set rhubarb and asparagus crowns, and build no‑dig beds while growth is slow. Throughout, I focus on practical sequencing—successional sowing for continuous salads, strategic timings for longer‑hold crops like chard, and a simple framework for deciding what to start now versus what to delay. Subscribe for more monthly sowing guides, share this with a friend who’s itching to start seeds, and leave a review to tell me what you’re sowing first this month.

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Chapters

• 0:13 Season Setup And Why Split Edibles
• 3:08 Weather Swings And Local Microclimates
• 5:14 When To Start Sowing In February
• 6:42 Succession Strategy And Timing
• 9:02 Early Staples: Onions And Brassicas
• 11:24 Hardy Salads And Indoor Starts
• 14:40 Multi‑Sowing Beetroot, Leeks, And Herbs
• 17:05 Heat Lovers: Peppers, Chilies, Tomatoes
• 19:21 Tunnel Carrots And Potato Soil Warmth

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:13

How's going everybody and welcome to episode 313 of Master My Garden Podcast? Now, this week's episode marks the first of our sewing guides. And as I mentioned last week, it's um I've got to add in the edibles in one episode and then follow on with a second one that looks after ornamentals. Because it's kind of hard to marry them together. Slight tweak on it in that I'll add the I'll add the ornamentals on a separate one. And the reason for separating them is I suppose even though in the garden we'll try and combine them a little bit, you know combine them very much together in in the same spaces. But you know, when it comes to sewing, there's a slightly different approach to both. So we'll we'll we'll divide them from that point of view. I'm also a little bit conscious that some people are all about their edibles and their vegetables, and others are very much about their flowers, while they might do a little bit of both, or people might cross over from one to the other. Typically, people lean towards one or the other. Um but a good to have the combination of both is always good. Um so this episode is for the edibles, and as I said, at the start of every month I'll kind of take into account what's happening weather-wise. And this is very much, as I said last week, this is very much your starting point. This is where we start sewing. And from here, the list will develop and get bigger, more things will be added as we go through the next couple of months, and then as we come out, May being probably the biggest month where we have the most variety of stuff to sew. And then as we come out of May, we'll go into June, and the list will start to decrease again and the cycle continues. And the big thing, I suppose, at this stage is to remember at this point of the year that as we go through the year, the the sewing of the various crops on a continual regular basis, it's what's going to give you that continuity of supply, you know, of your various crops and so on. So it's really important to you know to continue even if your space feels full at certain times, because coming down the tracks, you're going to have harvests, you're going to have things coming out of a space, and then that gives you opportunity to capture more crops as it goes along. As I mentioned last week, when we enter February, um today is a prime example. As I look out now, sun is shining here, but we've just had you know uh a storm over the last few days, severe flooding in certain areas. We've had you know the whole month of January's typical rainfall fall within 24 hours in certain places. Uh one area where they said that the the whole month's worth of rainfall fell in four hours, and obviously that that has had knock-on effects in terms of flooding and damage. There was also storm with storm winds, wasn't too bad around here actually, in terms of the winds, there were loads of rain. But yeah, it's been you know, it's been a a tricky few days, and now as I look outside, the sun is shining and it's quite mild. So you can see at this stage of the year, you can get this variances, and you know, there's there's where you think, you know, sun is shining, blue sky, let's go, the gardening season is up and running. Um, but then the next day you could be back to cold temperatures or snow, or you know, that's just the nature of February and March. So we we tread carefully, we ease into it. You something I mention all the time is that you really need to get to know your area because you know, certain areas you know can be a month ahead of other areas within the country, and that's it it's vital that you kind of get to know your area. It can have also little microclimates in various places. So the more you understand your area, the more you get to know your area, the more that you'll sort of be able to tweak these sewing guides to suit your area particularly. Um, so yeah, that's just a kind of a something to set the tone before we start getting into the individual crops that we can sew. Um this list is relatively big for February. I don't do any sewing before the middle of the month, so at least for the next 10 days, I won't be doing any sewing. But from there on I'll do quite a big sewing and yeah, I'll go through now what it is that we can sew. Uh, first thing on the list, and it's going to be on the list pretty much all the way to the end of our sewing guides, which will be you know September, October, and that's spring onions. Uh, I'll sew them every month. This is one where you'll have you know, you'll you'll do sewings on these on a continued continued basis in order to have crops all the time all the time. For anyone that's new to this, that's known as successional sewing. So it means that you're successionally sewing every month or every couple of weeks in order to ensure your crops coming down the tracks. The other thing just to be aware of from a sowing perspective is that the timings or the length of time it takes to germinate, the length of time it takes from sowing seed to a plug plant that's available to plant out, that speeds up as the weather gets better, as the temperatures rise, as growth levels increase. So at this stage of the year, you know, you could sow seeds today, and in two weeks' time you could sow the exact same seed. And if you went a month down the line, you would barely be able to tell the difference between which was sowed on which date. Um because you know, growth weights, germination rates are that bit slower at this stage of the year. But when you get further on, two-week gap will be huge. You know, you'll get you'll get a lot of growth in two weeks once we get further down the track. So that's where you're again you get used to your own your own sewing rates, your own area, the amount that you're consuming, and the speed at which you're able to have sp have space ready for for more crops. So the the list is spring onion, as I said, that'll be on every list from now to the end. Uh initially I'll be multi-sowing that, so that means several seeds in a single module, and they'll be ended up being the first batch will end up being planted out into the polytunnel. Um the other one is onions, red onions, uh, white onions, shallots, they can all be sowed from seed now. Uh again, I have most success from I do both, I do um sets at the back end of the year, and I also do sowing from seed, and I just find the sowing from seed is a little bit better, uh, just less prone to any dry dry you know, when you get a dry spell followed by a wet spell, less prone to bolting and so on. So onions I'll be sewing as well. Then a couple of the brassicas will be sewn, early cabbage, early calabries, early cauliflower, early varieties of all of those. I don't sew a lot of those. The you know, here in the house they're a little bit hit and miss. Sometimes people like them, other times they're they're not pushed on them. So I don't always sew these, but I will be sewing them in the month of February. Uh then there's kind of a batch of salads that we'll continue to sew, spinach being one. Uh winter salads, that's that's on the, you know, that that does be on the last list of the year. But again, I'll do another sewing of that because it's quite hardy. It will you will get a crop out of it fairly quickly. If you do get any you know really harsh weather over the next two months, which we can do as you know, then these will still be hardy and still be able to harvest these. So winter salads that do one more sewing of those. Um, they're things like mazunas and so on. Then you can sew lettuce, pretty much any type of lettuce at this stage. They'll need to be, you know, any of the sewing that we're doing now, you'll need to have them in a poly tunnel or in your windowsill, or somewhere where they can be kept sort of consistently warm. Um so that's really important. So lettuce is another one. Radish is another one, that's going to be one of your quicker uh maturing crops, and that's you know, that's one we can sew now. Uh leeks is another one, again, multi-sew into a module tray. Uh broad beans, that's another one. Um, any of you that have been listening for a while, broad beans I could take or leave them. I do sew them. Don't love them, so I'll do one sewing of those. And uh I don't love them and I don't, I just they're a bit little bit meh. I might and I might not, but I I will definitely do one sewing and do it in the next couple of weeks. Um what else have we on the list? So we have beetroot. Again, my first sewing of beetroot will be done into module trails, and again I will do a I will do a multi-sew of that. Even though it is a cluster seed and you will have a couple of seedlings coming from a singular seed, I will still do a multi-sew on that. I find they mature quite well and they grow quite well together. Uh when it comes to herbs, then we can sew parsley, dill, chard, uh parsley dill, coriander, um, rosemary. You can sew pretty much all your herbs now except for the really heat-liking basil and so on. Um chard is another one that I'll sew. That'll be bright lights, is the variety I grow, so it's multicoloured chards. Uh, it's not a herb, it's uh more along the lines of a spinach. Really good crop, but I don't need a lot of those. So one sewing, maybe three to four plants is all I'll do of those, because as I say, I don't need a lot of them. Uh and you'll harvest off them for a really long time. So while they'll be on the sewing guides every month, you don't need to sew them every month. So there's certain crops like that where you'll be able to do one good sewing that should get you through most of the year. For me, then I'll do a second sewing of chard later in the year to plant into the polytunnel, and with doing that, you'll get you know, you'll be heading for 12 months supply of chard from just kind of two sewings. So you can do clever little things like that. Um, other things that we can be growing peas for shoots at this stage of the year, a little bit early for planting output for shoots or as a microgreen, you can definitely sow most microgreens you can sew now once you have the the temperatures that germinate them and so on. So, yeah, there's there's a lot there. Then when it comes to things that are gonna need good heat and sustained heat, you're looking at things like peppers, chilies, aubergines, uh tomatoes, they'll they can all be sown now uh or from the middle of the month onwards. Definitely gonna need either you know germinate them inside in the heat of your house, you're gonna need somewhere to protect them afterwards when you do have to move them out because it's early, uh, or you're gonna need a heated propagator or a warm greenhouse, whatever the case may be, but you're gonna need warm temperatures and you're gonna need consistent temperatures in order to germinate these. Definitely for aubergine and chilies, you want to be kind of getting going early with these because of the length of time that it takes. Now, I personally don't grow aubergines, I have grown them in the past for two reasons. Number one, I don't love them. Uh number two, I find that my tunnel is a little bit cold for them still, and they're take a long time and they like a lot of heat. So I just don't get the temperatures for long enough to really develop them. Now I have m matured them before, um, but I don't love to taste them, so I don't bother with them personally myself. I do have seed for them, so but I won't I won't sow them this year. Other things that you can do if you have a polytunnel, you can sow some carrots indoor towards the end of the month, or even if it's if it's quite warm, you can do it you know even earlier around the middle of the month, and that'll give you your first harvest, and that's gonna be something like the sugar snack or the you know the smaller, sweeter carrots, that's what you're looking for. So you're not gonna look to develop them into big, big carrots, but something that'll give you that first harvest of a nice sweet carrot. Uh, that can be done, as I say, from the middle of the month. Potatoes, again, in some places you can get them into your tunnel now. Alternatively, if you're looking to plant them outside, you can be still chitting your potatoes. Um, I've mentioned this before, still stand by it. Everybody talks about chitting your potatoes and how important it is. I think a lot more important is the ground temperatures when it's going in. If the ground temperatures are cold, you can do all the chitting you want, they'll still sit there. What's really beneficial is getting them into warm soil. So in a polytunnel, if you're able to have black polytene or something down that gives an extra few degrees heat in the ground before you plant them, and then you're able to keep them a little bit warmer by covering with you know frost fleece or something for for the first few weeks, that will really help it. But anything that can keep the ground temperatures warm, and that's when you know when we go to plant outside, people you know kind of rigidly stick to St. Patrick's Day to plant potatoes. I'm more concerned about what the ground temperature is. If the ground temperature is warm enough, then they'll just hit the ground and go, and your date doesn't really matter. Uh whereas if you put them in on a set date and the ground temperature is really low, they will sit there and they won't do anything until the ground temperature comes up. And when the ground temperature comes up, they'll get up and running again. So there's no mad benefit in getting airily airily into the ground unless the the ground temperatures. So in relation to chitting, very helpful. And if you have chitted potatoes going into warm soil and unchitted potatoes going into warm soil, the chitted potatoes give you that extra little bit of of speed in terms of giving you an extra few days, you know, they'll they'll push ahead a little bit quicker. But the bigger factor of that is the heat of the ground. So yeah, that's the big thing. Watch out for that as opposed to the chitting or non-chitting. But if you do have them, you should definitely be chitting them at this stage. Uh so just to run quickly over that list again. Uh we have spring onion, cabbage, calabries, cauliflower, onions and spinach, uh, parsley, dill, coriander, rosemary, all your herbs basically, except for the really hot loving ones. Then you have charred, winter salads, beetroot lettuce, turnip, radish, broad beans, leeks, and then the heated ones, peppers, chilies, tomatoes, and aubergines. So there's quite a good bit there. There's enough for you to be getting started with. Next month's list will expand out even further as a few more varieties can be sown, or a few more crops can be sown. Uh, but that gives you a good starting point. Again, for me, not till the middle of the month, but once the middle of the month comes, away we'll go. Uh, and then continuity of sown, successional sewing uh month by month after that. As I mentioned with chard, there are certain varieties where I don't need to sew every month, just twice a year will do. Other things that fall into that category are carrots. Obviously, you don't need to be sewing them all the time, just do like two or three strategic plantings or sewings of carrots throughout the season will give you carrots basically for 12 months of the year or more or less for 12 months of the year. So sometimes, you know, they that's an important factor is to get strategic plantings or sowings at certain times uh to extend out and to give you more options. Obviously, with things like spinach and you know spring onions and that, they they kind of run the seed or they they push on and get too mature. So then you have to do a lot more sewings with them. But for certain things they'll hold, or you can harvest them in a certain way and extend out the the length of time between sewings and reduce the number of sewings that you need to do. Because I suppose like like everything, the sewing is it's a you know, it's a it's something to add on, it's another job to add on, and you just want to be efficient, really, really efficient with your sewing, and mean that you're not all the time sewing. So, yeah, I hope that helps. That's kind of your edibles sewing guide. And in terms of other things within the edible garden, you can still plant all your fruit trees from bare roots, all your fruit bushes, your rhubarb stools, you can get asparagus stools or crowns, uh asparagus crowns, all that sort of thing. At this stage of the year, you still have another kind of month to six weeks of that. Um you can still create your no-dig beds. Um still, you know, the ground nothing is growing really yet, apart from grass, which does seem to be growing, but generally speaking, there's no growth yet. So, you know, really good time to start your no-digs beds from scratch. Um for anyone that hasn't booked on yet, that's interested in going to the either the two workshops on the 21st of February or the 21st of March. The 21st of February is almost sold out yet. The 21st of March, there is probably half the slots gone. But definitely if you're thinking of coming, if you're thinking of coming in with friends, definitely be booking those in. Again, I'll put the link in the show notes. And uh yeah, they'll they're there's a lot of people coming to them and it's it's good. I'm delighted to be getting back at them. Um have lots of work to do in preparation for them, which has been hindered by my accident uh a week or two ago and this horrible wet weather. But yeah, we'll be all set up and good to go, uh good to go for the first of 21st of February. Um for anyone that's wondering what happens at those. So individually we look at what it is that you're doing in your garden, what you're struggling with, what you want to improve, what has been a fail, what you know, what you'd like to get better at, um challenges, and we troubleshoot anything that will help you be successful with the crops that you want to grow in the coming year. We look at all the principles that we need to we need to look at in order to grow successfully, and there's hands-on seed sowing, hands-on creation of a no-dig bed, hands-on planting of you know bare root fruit trees, and so on. So it's uh yeah, it's very hands-on, but also troubleshooting and helping you for the specific things that you need help with in your garden. So 21st of February, 21st of March, 21st of February is nearly gone. And I'll put the link in the show notes, you can just book through there. And uh yeah, that's been this week's What to Sew in February edibles. And yeah, hope that helps. I know these, as I said, these proved very, very popular every month. So yeah, the ornamentals one I'll do on a separate piece. And that's been this week's episode. Thanks for listening, and I'll tell the next time. Happy garden.