February is when the anticipation for spring gardening begins to build! The days get longer and warmer, the daffodils begin to push through, and gardening events like the Portland Spring Home & Garden Show start happening.
Wondering what you should do this month to keep your garden healthy and happy in the year to come? Our friends at Oregon State University Extension have the advice you need. It starts with planning ahead for the year, cleaning up from winter, performing maintenance tasks (including pruning), planting of certain plants and edibles, monitoring for pests, and of course, indoor gardening! Read Extension’s full February Garden Calendar for all the details.
Of course, it is only natural you may want to break out the seed packets and start planing herbs and vegetables. It’s not too early! At least, not too early for certain plants. According to Portland Nursery’s helpful Veggie Calendar (PDF), it’s a good time to seed certain plants indoors, including artichoke, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, chard, chives, choi, endive, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, onion, parsley or tomatillo. After 2/15 you can also start eggplant, peppers and tomatoes indoors.
As far as outdoors, you can seed arugula, asparagus, cilantro, lava beans, garlic, mustard greens, onions, onion bunches, onion sets, peas, potatoes (tubers), radishes, scallions and spinach. You can also plant starts, including artichokes, peas, garlic, onions and scallions.
Portland Nursery’s Veggie Guide (PDF) has info on how far apart to space everything.