What to sow in February in the garden and in the seedbed

When it comes to sowing in the garden and in the seedbed, February it is one of the busiest months. In fact, we enter the period in which the spring garden is being prepared and the farmers know very well that we must act with a certain advance. However, the sowings are not all the same, there are vegetables that can be sown directly in the field, others for which a passage in a seedbed is more appropriate. Furthermore, for planning the organic vegetable garden with carewe must take into account important agronomic variables, such as the condition of the land in relation to the seasonal climatic trend.
So here are the organic cultivation tips to understand what to sow in Februarywith an eye to the lunar calendar.

The ideal soil for sowing in February

To sow directly in the garden and have a good chance of success, acareful preparation of the soil, which must be worked when it is in tempera, that is, neither too wet nor too dry. In February we are still in the middle of winter, and a particularly rainy season can make early processing difficult. THE clayey soils they are the most disadvantaged, while the sandy ones dry out first. Therefore carefully evaluate the condition of your soil and, if it is too wet, wait a few weeks for it to dry.

Direct sowing in February

Leguminous plants

February is a great time to sow plants of the legume family. The most cultivated in home gardens are the Fava beans ei peas, plants that are sown as early as autumn. At the end of winter, sowing can be supplemented by focusing on lupins, peanuts, lentils And chickpeas. For the direct sowing we recommend using the postarella technique or a small groove on a regular row. It is important to keep the right distances between rows in order to allow subsequent cultivation treatments.
Remember that legumes are able to enrich the soil with their roots because of theirs nitrogen fixing capacityand therefore have an important role in rotations of the organic garden.

Potatoes

A cultivation of some importance that can be started from seed in February is that of potatoes. Usually, early varieties are used which are then harvested in early summer.
The early sowing is done above all in the southern regions, precisely because of the greater possibility of having drier and more workable soils. For sow potatoes it is necessary to dig a sufficiently deep groove, in the center of which the seed potato is planted. The furrow must then be covered in abundance with earth.

Other vegetables to be sown in the garden in February

If the temperatures are not too cold, perhaps waiting for the second part of the month, you can sow some leafy vegetables, such as chard, spinach, valerianella, chives, rocket And turnip greens. They also have a good result carrots, red beets And radishes. The sowing technique is broadcasting, with a subsequent thinning of the shoots. To improve the distribution of the seeds, these can be mixed with sand or fine soil.

The sowings of February in the seedbed

Sow in February using the seedbed it is an excellent solution for self-producing spring garden seedlings. The important thing is to keep it sheltered from the cold during the night, or to resort to heated seedbed. Be careful not to overdo the wetting, the soil must be just the right amount of moisture. Another precaution is to keep the seedbed in bright positions, to avoid growing weak and weak seedlings.
The vegetables that are best suited to be sown in this period are: different varieties of lettuce, Canasta and Roman salad, parsley, basil, celery, smooth endive, puntarelle and catalogne, curly endive, Brussels sprouts.

Sow late spring vegetables in February

In February it is also possible to start sowing late spring vegetables such as zuchinis, tomatoes, chili Peppers, eggplant, etc. When sowing these vegetables, you must turn your gaze to the moment when you plan to transplant. For example, zucchini sown in the first half of February will give seedlings ready for transplanting after about a month, in mid-March. The question you must ask yourself, therefore, is whether March 15th is a good time to put zucchini outdoors. This is highly dependent on the climate. It is possible to do this in some areas of the south, but it is very difficult in the north.
The same goes for tomatoes, which take about 45 days from sowing to seedling and which are transplanted in open fields from April onwards.

Tips and tricks

The advice is not to be too hasty and to calculate the days well. A trick to have more room for growth in the seedbed is to use small pots of 10-12 cm in diameter, rather than honeycomb containers with a small hole. Plants in pots, having more soil available, can wait for transplantation longer.