A bit late getting this video edited but here is a collection of what I think are the key crops to sow in February for zone 7/8 primarily if you are looking to become as self-sufficient as possible from your garden. In this series, I am only sharing the crops that I feel make the biggest difference in not only yield, but also taste. What else are you sowing this month?
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38 Comments
Thanks Huw! 🌻💚
96 days until my last frost date; super pumped for this year! 2023 garden plan was complete in November. Of course, it was then tweaked almost every time I watched a "prepare your plan" video, but I think it's locked in now. Lol, and by "locked in", I mean it probably won't change until next week.
I’m trying tigerella and tumbling Tom yellow for the first time this year so good to hear positive feedback. I’m hanging baskets in my greenhouse with them to add to the pole tomatoes. The onions you mentioned I learnt from a Scottish gardener are a Scottish variety named after an island of the same name Ailsa craig (pronounced Ale-Sa)
This has been really helpful Hugh. Thank you 😊
Thanks Huw 🙂
Tumbling Tom Tomato is a great one to grow in hanging baskets in the greenhouse. Not only is is beautiful and productive, but it provides great snacks while working in the greenhouse.
Ailsa not Alissia.
Im zone 4b/5a, so avg last frost is between may11-20, should i be starting tomatoes and beans now ? Ive already started a few different plants, but i wasnt thinking about these yet!
Onion from seeds!!! You can do it… and save a boatload!!!
Ooh really interesting, I hold off on tomatoes yet but my peppers have made a start with heat mat and grow light, they're doing great 😊
Sup loo roll from u.s. of A. Huge fan ❤️🔥
Thanks🙏🙏👍👍
Winter goes thru April here. 😑
Dear Hugh, I know I should mind my own business, but I'm a bit worried, and I just want to let you know so you can consult a doctor if you will. I've noticed in this video and the two prior to this one that you are slightly out of breath all the time, and you didn't used to be in earlier videos. It could of course just be due to post production, maybe you were physically active right before recording every time over the last three videos. However, if you weren't, I'm just encouraging you to see a pneumologist or cardiologist to check if there's an insufficiancy of some kind which you yourself haven't noticed yet.
I hope all is fine, and I hope you don't mind me pointing you towards this.
Tried to buy online. Your website has a mind of its own. 8 items added to basket and won’t let me scroll down to make payment.
Thank you for separating field beans and broad beans!
Fabulous as always thank you 🙏🏼
im in london and 17 this is super helpful, i needed to know what to grow and when. my vegtables other plants all survive well at least last year but i struggle with starting seeds alot.
Huw – I did some fairly extensive work a few years back on trying sowing tomato seeds anytime from late January through to late April and to be honest with you, unless you are looking for a very early crop (like in June for an early bush cherry), you don't get that much benefit from sowing main crop tomato seeds in February vs late March/early April. Tomatoes grow so fast in mid spring that you can sow, prick out to an 8cm pot 1 week later, pot up to a 15cm pot another three to four weeks later and 10 days after that you can be planting out in 30cm pots or in your greenhouse/polytunnel. I worked back from a final potting/planting out date of 15-21st May to get to these sowing dates. Obviously, if your greenhouse/polytunnel can promote tomato growth in April, sow earlier, but unlike celeriac and celery which do need plenty of time to grow early in the year, young tomato plants seem to grow like the wind for me.
Awesome ❤
I'm a firm believer in buying Eggplant starts. For many years I have always tried to start from seed but they never really produced well. Last spring I stopped by a local market and bought two organically raised Japanese eggplant starts that were about 8 inches high for $5 USD. Those two plants produced nearly 5 bushels of fruit over the season and didn't die until after our first frost. Best five bucks I've ever spent.
I just got your book yesterday! I love your videos, I live in Devon, and I finally got some garden space to start my first official veggie garden!.
Yes! Efficiency and self-sufficiency in the garden are my jam =) Very excited for this series to continue through the year.
Here's my addition for anyone whose garden is on the smaller side: consider an extremely fast-growing variety of peas like Sugar Ann. Because they mature in ~50 days with a more concentrated fruiting timeline, you may find you can fit a full planting into your shoulder seasons (like late winter/early spring) and get them out of the ground before you'd ever want to transplant in summer plants like tomatoes. Works lovely for us =)
Great idea! Thank you for this series!
Must be nice to live in the tropics! 😂 It's February, the coldest month of the year, nothing is going to grow.
Moldovan green (beefstake) and Green Doctors (cherry) are fantastic tomatoes. I grew them outside in Northern Ireland and they performed well. Definitely recommended.
I have never been successful with cauliflower, have almost given up. If you have time and think more growers like me have trouble growing this veg I'd really appreciate a video on how to grow them. all other types of kale seems easier in comparison, at least for me. And thank you for the new series you're making now, always a pleasure to watch and learn from you.
I have never seen onion sets for sale here but wonder what the cost difference would be between growing onions by seed vs sets. Shallot seeds cost about $4 for 250 seeds, at least $4 for a punnet of 6 and a bag of about 8 starts could be $8-10.
Those are my people's peas!
great idea I can't wait to grow along with you . can you tell me the variety of the purple sprouting broccoli at the start of the video you were picking
Onion Ailsa Craig: "Ale" like the fermented beverage plus "sah," and then the word Craig. There's a place in Scotland called "Ailsa Craig," from which curling stones are quarried, if you enjoy the sport of curling.
Never, though "Ae-liss-a."
Why don't you eat field peas like cream peas or crowders?
Hi Huw, could you also advise us on the companion plants and flowers we should be thinking of sowing as last year either there weren't enough bee's or the cabbage white moths had a field day and it would be good to know which ones should be started out when – appreciated.
LOVE this idea!!! I'll be chomping at the bit every month for your wisdom. Thank you!!!
"Field beans" is not a term I recognize in the US. I looked it up on Wikipedia and they say it is either a term for Hyacinth beans (purple), string beans, or broad beans. Yours weren't purple, did not look like what I know as string beans, and you said they weren't broad beans. Do you know what the botanical name is?
Huw this is excellent, thank you so much. What a great little resource this will build into. I've just bought the latest updated Edition of your 'Veg in One Bed', as an alternative way of doing things. We normally grow the same staples and dabble here and there with other bits as we focus on animals throughout our year. This year we're trying to focus more of fruit and veg, with any excess going to be going into work for free to help out others who are struggling but can't or currently don't grow their own food. We're planning on using your veg in one bed as a basis for our planting plan, but upping the scale a bit to be 'veg in a few beds!' to take put some of the thinking and get to more of the doing! Thank you so much for keeping going, keeping positive and helping endlessly for others to do the same. Love it! Kindest of regards from the wild and windy Highlands of Scotland.😁👍
Thank you thank you thank you 🙏
Do you have any recommendations for tomatoes that get grown outdoors – I don't have a polytunnel or greenhouse as they are not allowed on my allotment