February Week 2

Organic Gardening Calendar
10 Weeks to frost free date in zone 6

By: Kathi

This week, if your weather is beginning to warm, to the point that your normal low does not get below about 28 degrees you can start using those row covers we put up in January.


Things you will need:
Soil thermometer
Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower slips
Onion and Chive bulbs
Organic vegetable fertilizer
Bone meal

If you did not put up the row cover, you should go ahead and do it. Days are getting longer and warmer and the large PVC hoops with clear plastic trap the solar heat gained during the day in the dark soil, warming it much faster than exposed ground.

On sunny days in February when it is in the high 20’s –low 30’s it will be in 70+ degree range inside the row cover. At night there is enough residual heat to keep everything happy until the weather does that inevitable dip. On those nights, run Christmas lights through your plants. The bulbs will keep the slips warm enough to make it through nights in the low 20’s. Cloudy days and cold nights could get to be a problem, but so far, I’ve not lost any plants under my row covers. The trick to keeping everything warm is of course, making it as air tight as possible.

In my row covers the soil is about 50 degrees. Too cool to plant seed but fine for transplanting cold weather crops like Parsley, Broccoli, Kale, Cabbage, and Cauliflower. If you are a bit further south, or the weather is predicted to be warm for the next week, put out the lettuces, mesclun greens, spinach, and English peas. If the weather this week is unusually cold and nasty, wait until it’s tolerable. Timing is everything and where you live has everything to do with the timing.

Plant chives, onions, and garlic now. Plant them in the center of the row where the soil is warmest. Chive and onion bulbs should be planted near the surface with their tips up and just barely below the soil. Garlic should be planted tips up about 3X the size of the clove you are planting. With bulbs, you must consider how large the onion or garlic clove will grow. Be sure to space them so that they can mature fully and still have some room between them.

When you dig each hole to plant your bulbs or your transplants, dig the hole out to about a 5 inch diameter and deep hole. Mix in a generous dose of bone meal in the soil you removed to make the hole. I usually put in 2X as much as the package directs. If you can get other amendments, compost, organic fertilizers (dry not liquid); mix them into the hole dirt. Rake as much of that as you need to reach the bottom of the roots of the transplant or bulb. Then refill hole, pat it down gently with your fingers or the back of a hand shovel. Where you planted the bulbs, sprinkle enough bone meal on the soil directly on top of each bulb. The bulb appreciates it and it is white, so you can see where you have bulbs planted, thus avoiding an accidental bulbicide.

Now that your row under cover is planted, put those covers down tight. Block all drafts possible, and watch out for cold spells. Do this with your cold weather crops every week, weather permitting, up until the last frost. By then you will be in full harvest mode. Each week you should get a succession of veggies until the middle of spring.

Next week I’m going to share my personal discovery about dandelion eradication.

Next week you will need:

Lawn mower