February 2026 Edible Garden Planner

 

Sunday, February 1, 2026

With the days lengthening, plants know that spring is just around the corner.  In our garden, the daffodils and hyacinths have broken ground and the edible greens growing under cover are growing taller.  We are behind the last few years because of the polar vortex that is keeping us 20 degrees below normal.  Indoors, plants are increasing uptake of water, all plants are putting on more growth.  It won't be long before the forsythias are in bloom and edible perennials are breaking ground.   

When your soil is workable, it would be a great time to test it and add amendments so they are fully incorporated when you start planting and to support the rapid growth coming of your edible perennials.  You can buy a kit for testing, take a soil sample to your local extension office or send off a sample for a more rigorous soil analysis.   The next step in garden production and your nutrition-soil minerals...  If you don't want to go to the trouble of a soil test, add a well balanced, organic fertilizer to your garden bed, cover with compost, and top with mulch.

February is prime time to start seeds indoors and sow cold hardy seeds outdoors.  You  can get a jump on garden harvest by starting seeds indoors.  It is easy and a budget friendly option that allows you to get spring and summer harvests sooner and to grow many varieties not available at your neighborhood nursery or big box store.  Besides, it is fun to watch green things grow!

What to plant in the February edible garden  

Below is a calendar of what to start indoors and outdoors during the next month to get a jump on spring and summer harvests.  This is the earliest to start seedlings.  It is fine to start your seeds anytime after this timing as well.  To find your last frost date:  Frost date look up

Indoor seed starting dates (with an April 2 last frost date)

10-12 weeks prior to last frost (mid/end Jan in our Zone 7 garden)

Artichokes  Growing artichokes and cardoons

Arugula  Growing fabulous lettuce and greens

Bay  Start a kitchen herb garden!

Broccoli  How to grow broccoli and cauliflower

Cabbage  Cabbage is nutritious and easy to grow

Catnip

Celery  Give celery a try, an easy to grow garden staple

Chives  Add chives to your garden

Endive 

Escarole

Fennel  Growing fennel

Fenu

Horseradish

Leek, if starting from seed

Lettuce  Everything you need to know about growing lettuce

Mache

Mint

Mizuna

Onions, if starting from seed  Everything to know about growing onions

Parsley  Self-seeding crops, plant once and forget 'em

Peas  Time to plant peas!

Rhubarb

Shallots, if starting from seed  

Strawberries  Back yard strawberries

Summer savory  

Sorrel  Want a vegetable and fruit garden that you only have to plant once? Try perennials!

8-10 weeks prior to last frost (end Jan/early February in our Zone 7 garden)

Bee balm

Celeriac

Eggplant  Eggplant-add this native from India to your garden

Kale  Collards and kale in your garden

Kohlrabi  Kohlrabi-a less well known spring vegetable

Lavender  Using herbs, flowers and fruit for flavored sugars and salts

Lovage

Marjoram

Mustard  Mustard greens

Oregano

Rosemary  Make your own "Herbes de Provence"

Scallions, if starting from seed

Spinach  Grow spinach-a super nutritious, easy green

Thyme

Turnips  All about turnips

For a full seed starting calendar through April, Indoor Seed Starting Calendar

For both seed sowing and outdoor transplant timing for edibles and flowers, Indoor sowing/outdoor planting dates

Outdoor plantings in February  

Asparagus, fruit trees and bushes, garlic, grapes, shallots, spinach and peas seeds can be planted in the garden as soon as the soil can be worked.  Outdoor seed sowing seed starting times  If gardening in mulched flower beds, I clear a small slit in the mulch and then sow the seeds and cover with potting soil.  Most seedlings are not quite strong enough to break through mulch.  As soon as they are fairly sturdy, I bring the mulch back in around the plants.

Seedlings in Aerogarden seed starting system

Seed Starting Tips

What are the tricks to successful indoor seed starting?  The most surefire I have found with a gadget is the Aerogarden with the seed starting tray.  I have almost 100% germination rate with it.

When starting in coir/peat pots, the key is using sterile seed starting mix, pots and containers.  You can make your own seed starting mix with peat moss or coir (renewable), compost, and vermiculite.  Just be sure to heat the compost to at least 150 degrees for 20 minutes to kill any pathogens before using to start seeds.

After filling the pots with sterile seed starting mix, plant the seeds at the recommended depth and water at the bottom (watering from the top can dislodge seeds).  After the mix has absorbed the water, the pots are ready to put in a catch pan.  Make sure any catch pan that you use has been thoroughly washed in a bleach solution so all pathogens are killed.  You want the soil mix moist and not sopping wet.

 Keep soil moist, but not wet, with the heating pad on during the day and off at night if using until seedling emerges.  You can use a spray bottle to spritz the soil to keep it moist.  Once seedling emerges, remove the heating pad.  If you don't have a grow light, place the tray in a south facing window for the best light.  I will use a heating mat when I start the summer lovers.

Indoor seed starting how to and tips

Ideal soil temperatures for starting your seeds

Make your own peat pots

Make sure you label your seedlings as soon as you plant them; you may think you will remember 2 months from now what was where, but likely not.  I put the plant marker in the coir pot with the name on it when I plant the seed.  You can also keep a piece of paper under the seed starter that has captured for each cell what is planted in the cell.  

Your seedling’s first leaves are not “true” leaves; think of them as baby teeth.  The second sets of leaves are their true leaves.  They are ready to be hardened off when they have their first set of true leaves.  Seedlings must be hardened and not just thrown outside.  You take them out a little at a time, gradually increasing their exposure to sun and cold, only during the daytime.  I try and plant when there is a warm spell with clouds forecasted to minimize the shock.

There are great selections of herbs and veggies at nurseries and big box stores nowadays so you have many options just waiting until spring is officially here and picking up what looks good at your nearby store in a couple of months.  This is also a great back up if your first seed starting adventure goes a little awry...........

If you are putting in new garden beds as we are this year, here are some tips.  Put in a new garden bed the easy way-really  

I put together my 2026 garden plan early last month.  I'll continue to have my edibles in the flower beds and to also combine flowers with edibles in pots.  I did a lot of new perennials (edibles and ornamentals) from seed last year for the new beds we put in.  I'll fill in the holes from the ones that didn't make it with some other perennials.  I also have some more thyme and daffodils to put around the perimeter of the last bed we put in.  I'll have plenty of thyme and daffodils I can separate for those spots.  

Battle of the voles  Quick tip-how I keep the deer away  

My 2026 Decorative and Edible Garden Plan

Surprising veggies that can be grown in pots  

Veggies for small spaces

  Here is what I definitely have in my garden every year or make sure I still have enough in the freezer to last another year:  herbs, chives, onions, spinach, lettuce as well as summer greens for salads, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, summer and winter squash, green beans, snow peas and lots of flowers!

For different garden ideas, here are a few to choose from:   Heirloom Sicilian kitchen garden, Small space French kitchen garden, Start a kitchen herb garden!  Children's edible garden  Colonial Vegetable Garden

For first time or busy gardeners, Easy kitchen garden 

Hang on, Spring is almost here!

My 2026 Gardening Goals

Saturday, January 31, 2026

I looked back on my 2025 gardening goals to see how I did and what I want to strive for the 2026 gardening season for my edible and decorative garden.  I did pretty well against my goals.  Now is a good time to develop this coming year's goals with specifics.

 My 2025 goals were to have a plan, make it beautiful, maximize the production, attract pollinators, try new things and be proactive on pests.  I think I did decent against my goals.  My biggest regrets on last year's garden was our tomato and potato harvest was not what I had hoped.

I think the 6 overall goals are the same I want this year with some changes in how to take them the next step for the current garden.

Goal 1:  Have a plan.  I started planning at the end of the fall season what I needed to plant for 2026 so I wouldn't plant too much, plant a variety that didn't do well, or forget a variety that I wanted to try.  I wrote it all down this past fall and put together my 2026 plan so I am good there. My 2026 Decorative and Edible Garden Plan  I was successful in deterring the voles with my thyme and daffodil planting.  I'll just need to add them around the one new bed we put in in late fall.  I also have ordered a few heat and disease tolerant varieties to keep production through the summer going. 

Goal 2:  Make it beautiful.  My flower beds are dual purpose, production of edibles, fragrance and decorative.  Many flowers are edible, too.  Flowers that are edible  Many of the perennials I planted in 2025 did well.  I'll have to fill in the few gaps of the ones that don't make it through the winter.  My focus for beautifying is the hill next to the house that is not mowable.  I spread many seeds of annuals and perennials in the fall.  I'll do the same in late spring to hopefully get self-seeders going.  I'll also transplant the many flower volunteers that come up in the garden beds to the hill.  

Goal 3:  Maximize the production of edibles.  Continue succession planting.  Want continuous harvests? Succession planting!  Be more ruthless in pulling out what is past its prime to make room for the next round/season of edibles.  Continue to add compost to the beds each spring or fall.  Continue to do soil testing and work to get pH at the optimum level for edibles, 6.5-7.5.  The next step in garden production and your nutrition-soil minerals  Have ordered more heat  tolerant and disease resistant tomatoes for the heat waves we are having nowadays to keep tomatoes coming.  For potatoes, I will either take the sides down from the potato boxes when I plant or I won't plant them in the boxes so they get the sun they need early in the season to produce spuds.  Also ordered disease resistant cucumbers as the ones last year succumbed in August to disease.

I planted many bulbets of garlic this past fall and separated cloves.  I will need to keep an eye on them and space them out once the bulbets sprout in the spring so they can develop.  My potato onions didn't do much at all in their current spot.  I've been watering with whey to get the pH down in the optimal range for them but if they don't develop a lot of greenery come spring, I'll need to find another spot for them.

We bought a shed that we are converting into a greenhouse, potting shed and gardening storage.  After it is completed, I'll be figuring out how to leverage it for the garden.

Goal 4:  Attract pollinators.  As I chose the perennials, annuals and edibles, I will keep an eye to how helpful they are in providing food and habitat for pollinators.  All my pots with edibles include flowers.  Decorative container gardening for edibles  I'll be sure to have the water bath and keep the landing spot I added last year for both birds and insects.  I added a bee hive last year.  The marigolds, cock's comb and zinnias were buzzing in late summer and fall with bees.  I'll continue to plant these annuals for them.

Goal 5:  Try new things.  I am always seeing new varieties to try so that is not a hard thing to do.  It's more about improving all aspects of the garden.  I will continue to look for ways to improve productivity and deter pests naturally, like planting Dragon's Radish next to sprouting broccoli to deter caterpillars.  Part of my garden plan will be making sure I have a strongly scented plant about every 6 feet to deter deer.  This can be marigolds or herbs.    

Goal 6:  Be proactive.  I live in the country so no matter how well your garden plan is for deer defense, they are going to get really hungry come spring and again in the fall or doing any prolonged drought.  I want to continue to be proactive in keeping my deer deterrents refreshed before they get hungry enough that herbs don't keep them out of the garden. 

How to read seed packets for seed starting and planting your garden

Front of seed packet

Sunday, January 25, 2026

Seed packets are a wealth of information on the plant, its ideal growing conditions and when to start the seeds indoors and outdoors.  All give you the plant common and botanical name, many show you when to plant in your zone, when to plant in relationship to your frost date, how far apart to plant, what type of soil it grows well in, amount of sunlight needed for optimal growth, how many days from sowing until the plant is harvestable, and a detailed description of the highlights of the plant itself.  I love reading plant descriptions, looking for varieties that are "compact" and "prolific" for my small garden or "winter hardy" for winter gardening, or "heat tolerant" for summer gardening.  They give a wealth of information to decide what new variety or crop to try next.

On the front of the seed packet, you typically get the common name, the botanical name and a picture or drawing of the plant.  Some seed companies will also put a clay pot symbol on the front to indicate that the plant does well in a container (see pic of Burpee's seed packets below).  Many will also indicate if the plant is an annual or perennial (comes back every year).  Most also give a very short description of the plant.  They will also say if they are "organic" or "hybrid".  Some will also state if the plant is "open pollinated" or "heirloom".  

99% of what I grow is open pollinated or heirloom.  All heirlooms are open pollinated varieties that have been around for generations.  Open pollinated varieties come back "true" to their parents.  Hybrids won't necessarily come back the same as their parents.  I like saving seed from the plants that do well to plant again next year.    

What do the terms GMO, natural, heirloom, organic, hybrid really mean?

Back of seed packet

On the back side of the seed packet there is a wealth of growing information.  You typically get when to plant the seed in relation to your frost date for both starting indoors and outdoors, germination time (how long does it take from when you plant the seed until it sprouts), how deep to plant the seed, any special treatment of the seed prior to planting, how far apart to space the seed, when/how to thin the emerging seedlings and days to harvest if it is an edible plant.  There is a longer description of the most desirable traits of the plant and which season it thrives in.  If a flower seed, it will give timing of flowering and height of the plant.   There will also be a date that the seed was packed for and a "sell by" date.  Unless you store in the refrigerator, germination rates dramatically decline after the first year and this varies by plant seed type.  I keep my seeds in the refrigerator in ziplock bags to keep them viable.  I have seeds that are over 10 years old and still have great germination rates.

Burpee's seed packet front even has the pot symbol for those that do well in  containers

Key attributes I am looking for to improve the productivity in my garden, I look for on the descriptors on the back.  Examples-if I want to maximize the harvest I get from a pepper plant, I will look for words like "prolific", "produces until frost", "continuous harvest".  If I am having a disease problem in my humid summer garden, I will look for words of "disease resistant", "powdery mildew resistant", "blight resistant" or whatever disease issue I am having.  For the best summer producers, look for terms like heat tolerant, thrives in hot temperatures, drought tolerant.  For the best cold season crops, look for terms like "winter hardy", "frost tolerant", etc.  If you want to harvest tomatoes all at once, look for the description "determinant".

With the crazy heat waves we are having now, I look for tomato varieties that do well in extreme heat.  Typical tomato plants produce sterile flowers at when temperatures are averaging 85F.  I'm going to buy a couple of new to me varieties that thrive in heat.  

For even more information about a particular variety, check on the seed company's web site or seed catalog.  When I first started gardening, I poured over Territorial Seed catalog.  Their catalogs have a detailed planting and growing guide for each family of vegetable seeds they offer.  Even now if a crop isn't doing the best, I will go back and look at all the great growing information that they have for every crop they sell seeds for.

I do look for varieties that have disease or pest resistance that I have experienced in my garden.  Squash bugs are a big problem in our area so I look for varieties that say they are squash bug resistant to try in my garden.  For example, I used to grow regular zucchini but they would also get ate up and diseased from squash bugs.  Now, I grow Trombetta squash that is not as attractive to squash bugs nor succumbs to disease.  

If you are growing flowers, what may be a strength for a vegetable can be a liability for a flower.  "Prolific" means it produces a lot which you typically want in a vegetable but in a flower that can be synonymous with "invasive".  A flowers that "self sows" means it produces many seeds that turn into more plants which can end up being invasive in your flower bed.  Think through what the descriptions mean for your bed and if it is a positive attribute or something you don't want to get started in your garden.

I use Johnny's Seeds web site for for their seed starting date calculator to plan out when to start my seeds indoors.  You plug in your last frost date and it spits out the dates for you on when to plant your seeds.  Baker Heirloom Seed puts out an enormous annual catalog that dives into the history and growing of different crops that I look forward to getting and reading every year.  They have a huge selection of all kinds of unusual varieties.  I try new varieties every year, along with the standbys that grow exceptionally well in my garden and garden conditions. 

Indoor seed starting calendar

Hydroponic seed starting

Saturday, January 24, 2026

It may seem like spring is a long way away this time of year.  Luckily for us gardeners, we get to start spring early!  End of January into February is prime seed starting time indoors.  I have outlined by month the plant seeds to start indoors between now and April for our Zone 7 garden.  It is wonderful to see the little green sprouts shooting up with promise of a bountiful gardening season right around the corner! 

Big box stores have their seeds and seed starting supplies in right now.  The variety available in big box stores continues to expand as more and more of us are growing our own food.  There are many open pollinated and heirloom varieties in stores.  If you are wanting something unique, try on line seed companies. Some of my favorites with a good selection of unusual, organic and heirloom vegetables, garden fruits and herbs are Abundant Life Seeds, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, High Mowing Seeds, Johnny's Selected Seeds, Renee's Gardens, Seeds of Change, Territorial Seed Company, Seeds from Italy, Botanical Interest.   

Starting indoors is a great way to accelerate your harvest by up to two months.  Seed packets tell you how far in advance of your last frost date to start your seeds indoors or when to plant outdoors for "direct sowing" in the garden.  Just look on the back. Here is the Farmer's Almanac web page to look up your last frost date: https://www.almanac.com/gardening/frostdates  Our forecasted last spring frost is April 2 this year. 

January and February are primarily cold season crops seed starting time.  There are a few summer lovers that require a long growing season to produce that you can start this early.  Cold season crops include your greens, broccoli, cabbage, strawberries and peas.  What is a four season garden?   For more on cool season crops for your spring edible garden, see Spring edible garden

March and April is the time for warm season veggie and herbs to get their indoor start.  Summer veggies include beans, tomatoes, beans, basil, eggplant, peppers and squash.  For more on your summer edible garden, see A summer edible garden  In general, you want to start your seeds as close to the time as you can to putting out into the garden; sooner is not necessarily better.  It is perfectly fine to start your seeds later than the seed packet says.

Here is when to start seeds indoors for your edible garden.

10-12 weeks prior (end Jan/beginning of Feb in our Zone 7 garden)

Artichokes

Arugula

Bay

Broccoli

Cabbage

Catnip

Celery

Chives

Edamame

Endive 

Escarole

Fennel

Fenu

Horseradish

Leek, if starting from seed

Lettuce

Mache

Mint

Mizuna

Onions, if starting from seed

Parsley

Peas

Rhubarb

Shallots, if starting from seed

Strawberries

Summer savory

Sorrel

8-10 weeks prior (mid-February in our Zone 7 garden)

Bee balm

Celeriac

Eggplant

Kale

Kohlrabi

Lavender

Lovage

Marjoram

Mustard

Oregano

Rosemary

Scallions, if starting from seed

Spinach

Thyme

Turnips

4-6 weeks prior to last frost (March in our garden)

Artichokes

Broccoli

Chamomile

Chard

Cilantro

Comfrey

Fennel

Lemon verbena

Okra

Peppers

Raddichio

Sage

Summer squash

Tarragon

Tomatoes

April

Basil

Beans

Cucumber

Melon

Winter squash

Stevia

You can find more crops seed starting times in this blog  Indoor sowing/outdoor planting dates

Another trick is to do succession seed starting.  For continuous harvests of veggies like broccoli, spinach and lettuce, start new seedlings every 3 weeks and plant out every three weeks in the garden.  For the early seedlings, use varieties that are described as cold hardy.  When you get to April, start seedlings that are heat tolerant.  Heat tolerant varieties will resist bolting and bitterness at the first sign of summer.  Get the most from your space-plant intensively!

You can start perennial flowers and veggies indoors as well.  For any plant, look at the seed packet for when to plant outdoors according to your frost date.  Then back up the time from there on when to start indoors.  Typical seed starting is 6-8 weeks prior to the plant out date.  For more on perennial fruits and veggie gardens, Perennial veggies in the Midwest garden

For tips on seed starting: 

Indoor seed starting tips

Ideal soil temperatures for starting your seeds

Make your own peat pots

How much to plant?

Trying to decide what to plant for this year's garden?  Here are some garden ideas:

Easy kitchen garden

A French vegetable garden you can grow in a small ...

Start a kitchen herb garden!

Pizza garden for the kids

Heirloom Sicilian kitchen garden

Mediterranean diet garden

Colonial Vegetable Garden

Veggies for small spaces

Fruit for small spaces

The First Victory Gardens

Don't be worried about the work of putting in an edible garden plot.  You can simply grow veggies right along with your flowers in the ground or pots!  Make edible gardening easy

Seeds to start this week (10-12 weeks before last frost)

Starting seeds in peat pods and Aerogarden

Thursday, January 22, 2026

Our last frost date is April 2nd this ear.  We are 10 weeks away!  There are several varieties of herbs, veggies and flowers that can be started this week indoors.  For our zone 7 garden, here are the ones to get started.  

Herbs 

*Parsley

*Leeks

*Celery & celeriac

*Sage

Veggies

*Corn salad (mache)

*Peas

*Spinach

*Cabbage

*Collards

*Kale

*Kohlrabi

*Mustard

Flowers and Ornamentals

*Lisianthus

*Milkweed

*Chinese lantern

*Foxglove

*Verbena

*Drumstick flower

*Datura

*Blanket flower

*Helianthus maximillianii

*Hollyhock

*Lupine

*Petunia

*Prince's feather

*Black-eyed Susan

*Salvia

*Snapdragon

*Stock

*Yarrow

For indoor seed starting how-to and tips:  Indoor seed starting how to and tips

If you are transplanting seedlings from indoors to outdoors, be sure to harden them to the conditions they will be transplanted to.  If in a greenhouse, cold frame or hot bed, you can take outdoors when temperatures are warm or maybe an unheated garage if the temps are close to the covered location you will be placing them.  "Hardening off" seedlings 

Most of the veggies and herbs listed are cool season producers.  For more on cool season gardening, see A spring edible garden.

We're back to 10 hours of daylight

Late January edible garden

Monday, January 19, 2026

If you have noticed that plants stop growing in the winter, whether indoors or out, you would be right.  It is not just the temperatures that affect this slow down.  It is also the amount of sunlight.

Basically, plants go dormant when receiving less than 10 hours of daylight during our cold winter temperatures.  For my latitude, this was from November 22-January 19 for this winter season.  You can look on this site to see when your daylight hits 10 hours.  daylight calendar

When planting in the fall for winter crops, you need to plan that they are at full, harvestable size by November 22nd this past fall.  They remain this size until the end of January, when they begin growing again when daylight is back to 10+ hours.  edible winter garden

Growth starts back up now, for indoor and outdoor plants.  The lettuce, chard, sorrel, cabbage, kale, celery, and herbs that have overwintered will start growing with vigor again after this time with clear days and warmer temperatures (doesn't look like we're getting the warmer temperatures anytime soon).  Start your edible spring garden now

You can scatter sow seeds now of cold hardy crops and they will be primed for the longer days.  Sowing them under cover will get them an early and strong start.  It is surprising, but not unusual, to see the little greens popping their heads out in February.  It is great time to start your cold hardy crops in cold frames or outdoor greenhouses.  What to plant for the January 2025 edible garden  

End of January is also when you can start indoor seeds for a jump on spring and summer harvests.  Indoor seed starting calendar

The force of life is amazing!