Your February Garden
Warm Your Heart With Soup This February
Februarey is a great month to plant your heart warming soup garden. Potatoes, onions, sugar peas, carrots, turnips and beets, can all be planted right now.
The very first comment that I usually get is, “But won't it freeze?” Northern winters are winters. South Carolinian's whine with a little bit of cold. I know, because I am one of those whiners.
My friend in West Virginia is constantly shoveling snow. Most states above South Carolina, receive a excessive dose of winter. Luckily for us, we just get a spoonful.
Plants really suffer when the ground freezes. Our temperatures dipping down to 13 degrees for a night and then back up to 65 degrees during the day, prevents our ground from freezing, here in South Carolina. This also keeps the ground perfect for
our cold weather plants.
Repeat after me. Cold weather plants like cold weather. One more time- cold weather plants like cold weather.
Our cold weather plants do not like hot weather and warm days, and these warm days are coming soon. As of January 27- you have about 13 weeks of cool weather left.
Cold weather crop seeds need to be planted now in order to make. Seedlings, or transplants will be available around the first week of February.
Cabbage and collards are some of the most popular crops to buy as seedlings. You can also plant them by seed.
Mustard, lettuces, kale, turnips, rutabaga, carrots, sugar peas and rape are very easy to sow from seed. As a bonus, you get a lot of seed for just a little bit of money. The seeds you don't plant this month, can be planted when it turns cool in the fall.
So how about starting your soup garden? Plant some potatoes in a pot, fill up your raised bed with beautiful and heart healthy kale. Mix in some onions in the same bed. The more plants you have in your raised bed, the less room weeds have to grow.
Carrots grow great in pots, as do beets and turnips. You can even plant Chinese celery now which one be great in soup, but I can't lie, I am picturing a my celery sticking out of a bloody mary.
Set a goal this February to grow something. Food is a necessity and soup warms the soul.
Do you need any other reason to learn to garden? If you are new to gardening, or don't think you have a green thumb, start with something easy, like potatoes. Don't get overwhelmed- just plant a little at a time.
Container gardening is easy and fun. So let's do this, and let's get growing South Carolina.
Do you want to learn to grow? Sign up for our classes. They are so much fun.
Also, sign up for Crazy Chic Heritage Farm's open houses and see a real farm. Learn where your food come from. Meet the pigs.
We also have a really cool gardening course that comes to your door each month- complete with seeds and easy to follow directions. The course goes along with our blog so you can plant along with us. Do you have a home school group? This is a great learning aid.
