The allotment in February
The month it starts moving. Potatoes go on to chit, the first seeds go in under cover, and the pruning has to be finished before the buds break.
Set seed potatoes to chit in a cool light place. Sow broad beans, peas and onions, mostly under cover. Prune apples, pears and autumn raspberries before the buds move. Cover one bed to warm it. Purple sprouting starts late in the month, which is the first real change since November.
What to sow in February
Still mostly indoors or under cover. Soil temperature is the thing that decides, not the calendar, and outdoors it is rarely above 7C this month.
| Crop | Where | Depth | Spacing | Ready |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broad beans | Direct under a cloche, or in pots in a cold frame | 5cm | 20cm apart, rows 45cm | Early June |
| Peas, first early | Direct under a cloche, or in a length of guttering indoors | 4cm | 7cm apart in a wide drill | Late May |
| Onions from seed | Indoors, propagator around 15C | 1cm | One per module cell | Lift August |
| Leeks | Indoors in modules | 1cm | One per cell, thin to one | November onward |
| Summer cabbage and calabrese | Indoors in modules | 1cm | One per cell | June to August |
| Tomatoes | Indoors, needs 18C and real light, late February at the earliest | 1cm | One per cell | August |
| Radish and rocket | Direct under a cloche or fleece | 1cm | Thin to 3cm | Six weeks |
Anything sown indoors this month needs proper light. A north facing windowsill gives you long pale seedlings that never recover.
What to plant in February
| What | When | Spacing | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shallots | Any workable day | 18cm apart, rows 30cm | Push in so the tip just shows. Birds pull them out, so net for a fortnight |
| Garlic | Now at the latest | 15cm apart | After this the cold spell it needs to split is gone and you get one round bulb |
| Jerusalem artichokes | Any workable day | 30cm apart, 12cm deep | Put them somewhere permanent. You will never get rid of them |
| Bare root fruit | Any frost free day | As the plant needs | The window closes when growth starts, so this is the last comfortable month |
What you will be picking
| Crop | How it is doing | How to pick it |
|---|---|---|
| Purple sprouting broccoli | Starting, late in the month | Cut the central spear first. That makes the side shoots come |
| Leeks | Good, but starting to think about running up | Lift the biggest first now rather than saving them |
| Parsnips | Last decent month | Lift the lot by early March or they go woody and start regrowing |
| Kale | Good | Keep taking the tops |
| Brussels sprouts | Finishing | Cut the whole top as greens once the sprouts are done |
| Forced rhubarb | Ready if covered at Christmas | Pull, do not cut. Twist the stick away from the crown |
| Chard and perpetual spinach | Reviving | It puts on a burst now before running to seed in April |
The jobs that matter this month
Two of these are genuinely date driven. The pruning and the chitting both stop being useful if you leave them to March.
- Set seed potatoes to chit, rose end up, in a cool light frost free place
- Cut every autumn fruiting raspberry cane right down to the ground
- Prune apples and pears before the buds swell, taking out crossing and inward growing wood
- Cover the potato bed with black plastic or cardboard to warm and dry it
- Prune blackcurrants, taking a third of the oldest wood out at the base
- Clear the last of the winter weeds off bed edges while they are still small
Chitting, and why it is worth the shelf space
Stand the seed potatoes in egg boxes or a seed tray, rose end up. The rose end is the one with the most little eyes on it, and it is usually the blunt end rather than the end that was attached to the plant.
They want somewhere cool, light and frost free. A shed windowsill or a spare bedroom is right. Warm and dark gives you long white shoots that break off the moment you plant them, which is the opposite of the point.
What you want after four to six weeks is short, stubby, dark green or purple shoots about 2cm long. That is roughly a fortnight of growing time bought in advance, which on a first early is the difference between lifting in late June and lifting in the second week of July.
Chitting matters most for first earlies. For maincrops it makes very little difference, which is one more reason a half plot is better off growing earlies and buying the maincrop.
What not to bother with in February
Do not plant potatoes. Even chitted, they sit in cold wet soil doing nothing and are more likely to rot than to grow. Mid March is early enough almost everywhere.
Do not sow tomatoes, chillies or aubergines unless you have both heat and a bright place to keep them for the next three months. Sown in February on an ordinary windowsill, they are leggy and miserable by April, and a March sowing overtakes them.
Do not walk on beds to prune or tidy. Put a plank down if you must cross one. February soil is at its most fragile.
Questions that come up
The four that come up most this month.
Do I really need to chit potatoes?
For first earlies, yes, it is worth it and costs nothing but shelf space. For maincrops it makes almost no measurable difference. Nobody should feel they have failed because a bag of potatoes sat in the dark until March.
My broad beans sown in November look terrible. Should I resow?
Probably not. Autumn sown broad beans often look wind burnt and flattened in February and then grow away strongly in March. Give them until the middle of the month, and if fewer than half are alive, sow a second batch between them rather than starting again.
Is it too late to prune the apple tree?
Only if the buds have already broken. Prune while it is fully dormant. If you can see green at the tips, leave it until next winter, because pruning now removes the wood that was going to fruit and encourages a mass of soft growth.
Can I put the cloches out now to warm the soil?
Yes, and it is one of the highest value jobs of the month. Two to three weeks under a cloche or a sheet of black plastic lifts soil temperature enough to bring a March sowing forward by a fortnight, and it keeps the bed dry enough to work.
The sowing dates, in the week they matter.
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Where to go next
Next month
The month it all starts. First early potatoes go in and the seedbeds open.
Get the plan straight first
February is the last comfortable month to decide what goes where.