Seeds To Start In February If Your Frost Date Is After May 15th

There are so many planting calendars, gardening books and advice about when to start seeds. The truth is there is no perfect time. Gardens are as diverse as the gardeners themselves. Factors of when one should plant their precious little seeds are broad and can include: the weather that particular year, seasons, frost dates, climates and even personal preference. Are you planting in a greenhouse, cold frame, under cloth, raised beds or straight into a the ground? No wonder it can be so confusing - especially to a newbie! Every year I do a weekly post in the Esthers Eden Facebook page what I’m planting and I get tons of questions and comments. This year I decided to add to that and make a blog post to go along with the FB posts. Let’s talk about which seeds to start in February if your frost date is any time after May 15th.

I’ve personally found that with gardening there is a huge scoop of trial and error, a dash of chance and a heap of intuition. Now, I know all you more calculated folks won’t really love that but it’s the truth from my perspective. I’ve been gardening on the same land for 10 years now and I’ve found that sometimes (eh hem like last year) half my garden gets wiped out by some freak weather phenomenon or pest and there isn’t a whole lot to be done about it except try again next year. When you are growing in a short growing season like we are your margin for error is very slim. This is why I keep a detailed garden journal, tons of pictures and videos to help me improve each year and to maybe give me a leg up over whatever nature might throw my way. I write, teach and share my experiences with you and I hope that you will benefit from my notes and grow an even better garden than I do.

Before I tell you which seeds I am planting this week I will give you a few things to keep in mind while you are making your own list.

• Where will the final location of these seedlings be? A greenhouse? A raised bed? In the ground? This will affect planting times. Check seed packages for specific planting details if you think you need to do something different.

• How much space do you have for growing plants in your house?

• Are you going on any trips?

There is almost always wiggle room when planting seeds this early, but keep in mind to get a jump on the growing season the more time the better - IF you can care for all the little plant babies that is.

By now you’re dying to know which seeds to start this month! So here we go!

If you missed out on the January planting post you can still plant some of those things:

• Leek

  • Autumn Giant

• Celery

  • Utah Tall

• Onion from seed

  • Walla Walla Sweet, Sweet Spanish, Red Globe

• Celeriac

  • Giant Prague

• Peppers

  • Cubanelle, pablano, hot wax, cayenne long thing, Tam Jalapeño, Craigs Jumbo Jalapeño and Anaheim

The extremely productive Lemon Drop Peppers (seed from Bakers Creek Heirloom Seeds). Very spicy but so delicious - I am taking a break from growing them and focusing more on daily use peppers rather than crazy spicy ones.

This month we are going to add more of these plants to our growing indoor jungle as well as slower growing herbs and flowers for the cut garden. Also herbs and flowers that prefer the cool weather and don’t mind a touch of frost. I will also be planting some things that will live in my unheated greenhouse permanently. *Note that some of the herbs and flowers I grow changes year to year depending on my focus for that growing season.

• Delphinium

• Marshmallow (needs to be cold stratified before planting)

• Polish Chamomile (for the greenhouse)

• Balloonflower (do not disturb roots; soil blocking or peat pots)

• Canterbury Bells

• Basil (for the greenhouse)

  • Genovese

  • purple

• Carnation

• Honeywort

• Sweet potato slips

A Large harvest of Genovese Basil and Purple Basil - I made lots of pesto. YUM!

These seeds that I use are either from the companies listed below or I save them myself from my own garden or my friend’s gardens.

• Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company here (not an affiliate link)

• Heirlooms Evermore Seed company here Use Code ESTHERSEDEN10 for 10% off any seed order (affiliate link thank you for supporting my farm!!)

• Strictly Medicinals Seed Co. (not an affiliate)

• Survival Garden Seeds here

• Johnny Seeds here (not an affiliate)

In case you want to know what’s coming up my growing calendar can be downloaded here for FREE! If your frost date is a week or more earlier or later just add or subtract it from the planting date. Check out this video (it’s an older video so please pardon the quality) on how I started figuring out how to build my own planting calendar if you’d like to take a crack at making your own!

Happy February planting!

Learn and Grow,

Your favorite crazy plant lady.

The first balloon flower bloom on our farm. The root is edible and the flower is excellent for bouquets.