Are you anxious to get your garden started? Me too! I love gardening, so by the time February comes around I am ready to get my garden started. Gardening in February can be tricky, but fortunately, there are a few ways that you can get started even in zones 3 &4!
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What is my Garden Zone?
Not sure what your garden zone is? Follow this link to find out!
Not in zones 3 or 4? Check out our posts on each zone to help know what to plant in February?
Here’s a YouTube video I just filmed on this same topic:
Gardening in February-Planning
The first thing that you can start doing in February, regardless of how experienced of a gardener you are, is planning for this year’s garden. Planning is important because it will help you stay on track and make sure you get the best harvest you can!
Here are 3 ideas of things you can start working on now to have a better-organized garden:
1. Succession Planting
Succession planting is simply figuring out a planting schedule that will allow the most use of your garden space. As one crop matures you should plan for another to take its place. This way you aren’t left with empty beds and can make the most out of the space you have!
2. Plan planting times
I highly recommend that you make a schedule and plan out when you are going to plant specific plants each year! Choose a date and put it on your calendar, so that you won’t forget!
3. Tool Care/DIY Projects
One important aspect of gardening is taking care of your garden tools such as pruners, shovels, and mower blades! It helps to get these tasks out of the way now so that you don’t have to worry about them later on! I also like to work on DIY garden projects now because then I don’t have to worry about them when I’m busier later on!
Here are some ideas:
- Learn how to sharpen your pruners
- Sharpen your lawnmower blade
- How to sharpen your shovel
- Build your own hoop house
- Build your own raised beds
Planning your garden is important, so it’s a great way to start gardening in February! You can find more garden planning/preparation tips in this blog post here: Planning Your Garden
Can I plant anything in February?
The short answer is yes you can! It just requires a little bit of creativity! Gardening in February in zones 3 & 4 requires that you have some sort of protection ready for your plants for when they’re ready to go outside in a few months. Zones 3 & 4 are still very cold in February (as I’m sure you are well aware of) and it will continue to be cold for a while!
So you’ll only want to start the following plants indoors in February if you have protection ready for them such as a hoop house, greenhouse, or cold frames.
If you don’t have any of these, unfortunately, you will need to wait for a bit before starting any seeds! If you do have a greenhouse, hoop house, or cold frame you can start these plants indoors in mid to late February.
Gardening in February-Seeds you can start indoors:
Lettuce
When you’re gardening in February in zones 3 & 4, for the most part, you’re looking at starting your leafy greens.
We eat a lot of lettuce around here, so I love getting lettuce started as soon as I can! I recommend that you start leafy varieties now instead of head lettuce.
They tend to withstand colder temperatures better! I know that starting lettuce indoors can be a controversial topic among gardeners. Click here to learn why I do start my lettuce indoors!
Spinach
We love spinach around here, so it’s always at the top of my list to get started indoors! You can check out our Strawberry Spinach Salad Recipe here!
Swiss Chard
I’ve found that swiss chard is a very hardy plant, so it’s a great one to get started in February!
Arugula
If you’re an arugula fan then you can get it started now! We’ve tried it before (with decent success), but we don’t like it enough to keep planting it each year.
Bok Choy
If you haven’t had bok choy before, give it a shot this year! It’s a variety of cabbage that goes great in soups and stir-fries!
Kale
We really like kale around here and we eat a lot of it! Starting kale is one of my favorite things about gardening in February. Kale is a very hardy plant (and in my opinion, it tastes better when it’s grown in the cold!).
Kale that’s grown during the warmer seasons of the year tends to be bitter, so we start kale indoors in the winter for a spring harvest, so that it will be sweeter!
Last Frost Dates
The last thing I want to talk about is frost dates. It’s important to know what the last frost date is in your area (especially when you’re gardening in February) so that you can time when to start seeds indoors and outdoors. This will differ based on what type of crop you are planting.
- Warm-season crops can be started indoors 6-8 weeks before the last frost date.
- Cool-season crops can be started indoors 10-12 weeks before the last frost date.
- Cool-season crops can be started outdoors 4-6 weeks before the last frost date.
Never started seeds indoors before? Here are a couple of articles and videos to help you get started!
- Indoor Seed Starting Set Up
- Seed Starting 101
- Container Ideas for Seed Starting
- Free Seed Starting Basics – Mini-Course
I hope you’ve got some good ideas for how you can garden in February in zones 3 & 4. What will you be starting this month? Let me know in the comments below!
If you are looking for seeds check out Honest Seed Co! You can find their website here: Honest Seed Co.
February Seed Starting Schedule
I’m in Vermont , I think it’s zone 4? , how exactly do you plant leaf lettuce ? I mean I know how to plant it but seriously isn’t it almost impossible to transplant it into a garden after you’ve started it in the house ? Do you start it in a special pot, then handle each sapling ? I’m new at this obviously. Any help would be great.
Suzanne,
When I grow any lettuces indoors for transplant outside I thin down to only one plant per container. Then I let them stay inside for at least 6 weeks so that I have a nice strong transplant to move outside.
I live in zone 2 (border on zone 3). I enjoy gardening because I only have a few months to take care of it. Too long and I get lazy.
Some squashes that take a long time to grow can be started in February and also eggplants because they take so long to mature. I managed to get a 40 in Canadian crooked neck gourd last year from my garden. I was really happy.