Are you ready to start gardening? Me too! Today I’ll be sharing my guide for what to plant in February for zones 7 and 8!
This guide is geared specifically for those of you who are in zones 7 & 8, so if you’re not in zones 7 or 8, check out these posts:
- What to Plant in February (zones 3-7)
- Gardening in February Zones 3 & 4
- February Planting Guide: Zones 9 & 10
Not sure what your garden zone is? Follow this link to find out!
Frost Dates
The first thing I want to talk about today is frost dates. It’s important to know when 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 depending on if you are planting warm or cool-season crops.
- 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.
It’s important to keep the last frost date in mind so that you can time when you plant!
Here’s a video I filmed on this months planting guide:
What to Plant in February: Seeds you can start indoors
Before we get started with our list of what to plant in February, here are a couple of resources for those of you who have never started seeds indoors before. It can seem overwhelming at first, but I promise it’s not too difficult!
- Indoor Seed Starting Set Up
- Seed Starting 101
- Container Ideas for Seed Starting
- Seed Starting Basics – Mini-Course
Lettuce
We love lettuce around here, so I try to get lettuce started as soon as I can! I recommend that you start leafy varieties in February instead of head lettuce. Leafy varieties tend to withstand the colder temperatures better.
Peppers
You can get peppers started indoors approximately 8 weeks before the last frost date in your area. If you’re in zones 7 & 8 that should put you starting them indoors in February. Peppers are some of my favorite plants to grow, so I like to get seedlings started as soon as I can. We actually use pepper plants as part of the landscaping in our front flower bed! Pepper plants are pretty enough to go in a flowerbed, and it also saves us space in our garden for other plants!
Tomatoes
Approximately 6 weeks before the last frost date in your area, you can start tomatoes indoors!! That means in zones 7 & 8 you should be able to start tomatoes in mid to late February.
We love tomatoes, so they’re my favorite thing on this “what to plant in February” list. Check out my top 10 tips for growing tomatoes, so that you can have a great harvest this year!
Onions
If you didn’t get onions started indoors in January, it’s not too late to start them! You will want to get onion seedlings started early because they need a sold 8 weeks or more to get to transplanting size.
Celery
You’ll need to get celery started indoors this month! Celery needs 140-150 days of cool weather to grow, so you’ll need to get it started ASAP in zones 7 & 8!
Flowers
Don’t forget about getting flowers started! You can start certain types of flowers now so that they’ll be ready for your flower beds in late spring or early summer! Here are a few of my favorite flowers that you can start indoors now:
- Zinnias
- Marigolds
- Geraniums
What to Plant in February: Plants you can start outdoors
There are some plants that you will be able to start outdoors in February! Remember to use your best judgment with this. If it’s been a harsh winter, you may need to hold off on planting, to give your plants their best shot.
As Starts:
You can plant these plants as starts in February:
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Kale
- Kale tastes better when it’s grown in cooler weather. It’s one of my favorite spring plants to grow in my garden!
- Onions
As Seeds:
All of these plants can be started in February as seeds! Remember to use your best judgment! You may need to wait for a few weeks if it’s been a particularly cold or wet winter.
- Spinach
- Lettuces
- You’ll want to choose leaf lettuces and hardier varieties
- Asian greens
- Give tatsoi, mizuna or Bok Choy a try this year! They do great in the spring and are frost tolerant!
- Swiss Chard
- Beets
- Carrots
- Turnips
- Radishes
- Peas
As a reminder, this “What to Plant in February” guide is for those of you who are living in zones 7 & 8. Happy Gardening!
If you are looking for seeds check out Honest Seed Co! You can find their website here: Honest Seed Co.
February Planting Guide-Zones 9 & 10
I just found your website and thought this may be a good site for me to learn what to plant when etc. However, I don’t see where to find what zone you live in. Is there a chart or map somewhere to figure out what zone you live in?
I live in zone 6. Here’s a link to an article I wrote that will help you find yours.
https://ourstoneyacres.com/what-is-my-garden-zone
This was so helpful for me. Thanks a bunch! I know my zone now… it’s 8a. Prayerfully this year will be an exciting year for me and my garden outside. Last year was so very hot and muggy that I got nothing. However, reading and studying about how to water deeply, I plan on doing much better this year 🙂 Blessings to you and your family.
Hello there,I was wondering if you could tell me what zone I am in. I looked in map says zone 7 but other maps say different. I live in Woodbridge VA.
Gloria,
The maps are sometimes a bit hard to read. Go to this article and there is a link out to the USDA site. On that site you can put your zip code in and it will narrow it down for you.
https://ourstoneyacres.com/what-is-my-garden-zone
Dear Rick,
This is wonderful! I have only this morning found your site; and it is giving me so much that I either had been hunting for unsuccessfully, or else hadn’t even known to think about. In putting your January-February advice to work in my garden notes, I have come to realize that my custom of starting tomatoes around the equinox, peppers some 2 weeks earlier is way out of date–that when our zone changed some 20? years ago from 6 to 7a, I didn’t stop to think that the start date ought to change as well. So, thanks!
I have been gardening for 50 years, grew up with a sizeable organic back yard vegetable garden (western Mass.) in the 50’s–I remember the stinky pile of manure my father had had dumped onto our driveway! Later I grew to love the smell of cattle manure whenever in a cattle shed (Eastern States Exposition annually).
Having retired in January from a twenty year stint as a public school teacher (following a 23-year ‘career’ as housewife and mother) I am free again to be a committed gardener. Last winter was my first successful effort with low hoops; with four 100 sq ft beds under Reemay (shortly to get their winter plastic—–I check the 10-day forecast for this) currently I am monitoring the daily size increase of my purple broccoli and various cabbage cultivars. Turnip, lettuce, bok choys, cauliflower–peas still have blossoms but the pollinators gave up two months ago although I kept the Reemay open during day.
My vegetable garden here in eastern Montgomery Cty PA is a square 55′ on a side; there are tree and small fruits outside that area. I have also embarked on gardening on our small Maine coastal island; a clearing in the woods having been provided by a 2018 storm–that spot is about 2100 sq ft. I set out strawberries (runners from my home garden) in early fall; did various (culture specific) soil preparations for blueberries, asparagus, raspberries, pome, and stone fruits to go in this spring.
FYI–I have found that Penn State Extension does an unimpressive job on soil testing–without even an option for the organic grower, so I now direct all my soil testing, for both Maine and PA gardens, to Univ. of Maine. I actually have my Penn State tests from 30 years ago by way of comparison–more generous with info back then. I get about 4 times the information from Maine at about the same cost as PA.
Again, I am so grateful for the work you have done to create and maintain this site.
Yours most sincerely,
Louise Wesson
Thanks Louise!!
Hi Rick! I have started some seeds indoors and most have germinated but now I find the soil has what I assume is white mildew growing on top of it. I’m sure I overwatered at some point. My question is, are the seedlings still okay to use in the garden or should they be disposed of? Thanks for any guidance you can give on this!
They should still be fine to use in the garden but you do need to get that issue dealt with. Try adding a fan to your set up that blows over your seedlings, that should keep that upper layer of soil dryer and reduce the mold.