February always feels like the month between us and spring. However, there's lots of fun Garden related things we can do in February.

Like starting seeds! This comes with a warning though. Don't get ahead of yourself, this is not the time to start everything willy-nilly. With the greenhouse program that I run, we start hundreds of thousands of seeds over about 6 months. Each seed does the best when started at just the right time for it to thrive when planted.

Outside- Inevitably we have a few warmer days in February. Use these days to do the following

Water your bulbs and any low tunnels that you have, I like to wait until we have a night above freezing to do this. Also give any newly planted perennials a nice drink if we have a drier winter.
Take measurements for any new garden beds that you want to create if you haven't yet.
Towards the end of the month it gets safe to start pruning. I like to start with my berries and roses.
Take note of any perennials that you want to divide. It's a little early to start dividing, but having it on your plan makes it easier to remember next month
Inventory any irrigation issues. I planted a bunch of peonies in the fall and they will all need new drip irrigation. Getting numbers on that makes it easier to order what I need so I am ready to go when the weather gets good.
Take a sample of your soil if the ground is not frozen.

Inside

Look over any of January's tasks and see if you have any you still need to do.

Set up your seeds starting area. Success starts with the right tools. A heat mat with a thermostat and lights will make you a hundred times more successful. They don’t need to be expensive or fancy, my heat mat and thermostat are from Amazon and I used shop lights from a big box store when I used to start seeds at home
Organize your seeds- see this post here
Make a timeline for when you need to start each variety of seed. Write down the quantity you want to start, how many weeks they need to get to transplant size and the ideal transplant date you're shooting for. Remember if you use the soil blocking seed starting method, to shave off a little of your time to transplant.
Get plant sales on your calendar. At Snuck Farm in Pleasant Grove we have one for cool season plants on April 12th and warm season on May 10th. We will have so many fun cut flower varieties to choose from! I’m especially excited for the hellebore varieties we have growing.
Order supplies for things like irrigation, and pest control so that you have them when you need them.

Seeds to start

Any cold Hardy flowers that you want to plant out in March can be started now. Things like snapdragons, scabiosa, rudbeckia, feverfew, cynoglossum, agrostemma, straw flower, winged everlasting, sweet Annie, foxgloves, godetia, monarda, and dianthus.
Cold hardy vegetables like cabbage, broccoli and kale can be started indoors now.
And there is definitely still time to get those direct sown cold hardy seeds out in the garden. Bupleurum, bells of Ireland, larkspur, Ammi, agrostemma, chocolate lace flower, nigella, bachelor buttons, icelandic poppies, and saponaria
Some direct sown vegetables that are appropriate to put out in February are garden peas and sugar snap peas if the ground can be worked. Cilantro tossed out now will come up when it is ready.

See you in March!