Gardening in February in Zones 3 & 4

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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Not sure what your garden zone is? Follow this link to find out! 

Not in zones 3 or 4? Check out our posts on What Seedlings to Plant in February (zones 3-7), zones 7 & 8, and zones 9 & 10 

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 a few ideas of things you can start working on now to have a better-organized garden:

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! 

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!

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 the 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! 

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’s 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.