It's winter and not much is growing. But there is a lot you can do to prepare for when days are longer and the temperatures rise. This video has my advice about getting ahead in February.
Set up a propagation space with some warmth.
Plus we show you grow lights in my conservatory. With germinated radish and peas for shoots.
I give ideas for warmth in a greenhouse.
Sow mid-February and onwards.
See my Calendar https://www.charlesdowding.co.uk/product/charles-dowdings-calendar-of-vegetable-sowing-dates
And Sowing Timeline https://www.charlesdowding.co.uk/education/sowing-timeline
SOW from mid-month onions, spring onions, lettuce, spinach, radish, turnips, broad beans, peas for shoots, cabbage, cauliflower, calabrese, kohlrabi, fennel.
Some for multi-sow and others in seed trays to prick out, multisow link is https://www.charlesdowding.co.uk/education/multisowing
Make sure you’ve got plenty of potting compost and module trays.
My trays in the UK are sold by https://containerwise.co.uk/charles-dowding-propagation-trays/
See this page for stockists around the world
https://www.charlesdowding.co.uk/store/gardening-products
Create your own potting compost https://youtu.be/AcGclgWgtIQ
Pete's Peat Free is https://petespeatfree.co.uk/products/petes-peat-free-compost-30l
Moorland Gold is https://allgrowsupplies.co.uk
Buying seed, it's not too late, see my Seeds and Varieties video https://youtu.be/Oir1J_CfU9Q
Sort and chit your potatoes!
Sort root vegetables to save seeds from, such as onions, beetroot, carrots and parsnips. More info https://youtu.be/bHFg6ZEsMCw
Bed prep no dig, if not already done, and this includes raking which I show.
This includes a little hand-weeding.
See this short https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kl3mbaUbFVA
And this long https://youtu.be/6S501eW6nOU
Start new beds from scratch as here https://youtu.be/laBXwOdbOlw
Prune fruit trees, I demonstrate on apple trees.
00:00 Introduction
00:16 Sowing at this time of year - warmth needed for germination
00:54 Using a hot bed for warmth
01:13 Or the warmth of a house
02:08 Using artificial light in a house after germination phase
02:57 Mid-February, good time to start sowing
03:34 Sowing in module trays
04:15 More examples of veg that can be sown mid-Feb, wait to sow warmth-loving plants!
04:34 Potting compost, and making your own
05:02 My recommendations for bought compost
05:17 Trialling composts, including mushroom substrate
05:41 Buying seeds, including potatoes - saving your own
06:43 Seed saving of root vegetables
07:42 No dig bed prep - light raking and weeding
09:21 Getting new ground ready - cardboard or black plastic with compost on top
10:50 Fruit trees, pruning
12:33 Outro
Filmed and edited by Edward Dowding late January 2024, at Homeacres in Somerset UK, zone 8 or temperate climate, mid latitude. This video was Edward's idea to make. And he had a black eye.
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