Things to do in February
Chit potatoes in a cool but frost free place where they get some light but not direct sunlight.
Febuarys a difficult month for sowing as it can be too cold and wet for the seed and they rot. Save some of your seed for March if you decide to take a chance, the reward is an earlier harvest.
If the weather allows, you can direct sow your broad beans in February along with early peas such as Feltham First and Meteor for a May / June harvest. This early in the year your best chance would be to start your peas/beans in the greenhouse or a coldframe and plant later. Peas sown this early will avoid the pea moth the cause of caterpilers in your pea pods.
If you have some guttering and room in the greenhouse you can sow the peas in guttering, then when the plants are big enough slide the pea plants off the guttering into the ground.
You have a better chance with broad beans if you sow in modules which have at least 2 inches depth of potting compost.
You can direct sow parsnips now but it will probably be too cold and wet and better to wait till march.
Jerusalem artichokes and shallots can be planted now, Shallots under a cloche is better. Have cloche in place 2 weeks before to warm the soil.
Under Cover Greenhouse Polytunnel
Sow your summer cabbages such as Greyhound and Primo, as well as turnips, spinach,lettuce,rocket,radish and onion seeds
With gentle heat to germinate the seeds and good light sow aubergine and peppers, chillies and tomatoes and celeriac.
If you have an incubator, grow lights and a well lit not too warm but not too cold position you can often use the propagator to start seeds off a month earlier than that stated on seed packets. Remove seedlings as soon as they germinate or they will become leggy. Then use the growlights to extend the light after dusk. You need to keep the plants just warm enough to keep growing well but not too warm as it will make the plants leggy. Many plants have a set number of weeks between germination and harvesting, so you must keep them growing to get a good harvest.
This requires a lot of space after you pot up, the plants will be quite large by the time you plant them out after the last frost in mid May.
Why add organic matter to your soil?
Adding organic matter to your soil will provide extra nutrients which are in the organic matter and are released slowly. It will increase the water retention and also drainage in clay soils. Also improve the structure of your soil along with the soils acid buffering capacity.
It will also allow more nutrients to be held by the soil, because some nutrients can bind to organic matter.
The maximum nutrient retention ability of your soil is measured by the cation exchange capacity. In a very simplistic way soil particles and compost contains negatively charged ions bound to their surface these act like north pole magnets. The cation exchange capacity is a measure of how many negatively charged ions are bound to your soil. Potasium, calcium, magnesium and some other beneficial minerals have positively charged ions which act like south pole magnets. When you put a north and south pole of a magnet together they attract and cling together. This means that by adding compost you are adding more north pole magnets that can hold on to some fertilisers you add to the soil or minerals that bacteria in the soil release from the rock in your soil.
Organic matter is anything that is alive or once was alive. This is added to your compost heap to rot down. Cooked food and meat are organic however are not added to the compost heap because it will attract rats and mice etc.
Bacteria and fungi rot organic matter to make compost. These microbes are beneficial for the plants and soil bringing your soil to life to release nutrients for your plants. January`s newsletter explains more about the benefits of microbes in the soil. Organic matter will encourage these microbes to multiply.
Organic matter attracts worms and allows them to multiply. Worms eat the well rotted compost pulling it into the soil. The worms worm casts are rich in nutrients and bacteria so are beneficial to the soil. Also their worm holes allow air to penetrate into the soil which is beneficial to your plants.
Its also believed that organic matter can help protect plants from plant pathogens.
Chit potatoes in a cool but frost free place where they get some light but not direct sunlight.
Febuarys a difficult month for sowing as it can be too cold and wet for the seed and they rot. Save some of your seed for March if you decide to take a chance, the reward is an earlier harvest.
If the weather allows, you can direct sow your broad beans in February along with early peas such as Feltham First and Meteor for a May / June harvest. This early in the year your best chance would be to start your peas/beans in the greenhouse or a coldframe and plant later. Peas sown this early will avoid the pea moth the cause of caterpilers in your pea pods.
If you have some guttering and room in the greenhouse you can sow the peas in guttering, then when the plants are big enough slide the pea plants off the guttering into the ground.
You have a better chance with broad beans if you sow in modules which have at least 2 inches depth of potting compost.
You can direct sow parsnips now but it will probably be too cold and wet and better to wait till march.
Jerusalem artichokes and shallots can be planted now, Shallots under a cloche is better. Have cloche in place 2 weeks before to warm the soil.
Under Cover Greenhouse Polytunnel
Sow your summer cabbages such as Greyhound and Primo, as well as turnips, spinach,lettuce,rocket,radish and onion seeds
With gentle heat to germinate the seeds and good light sow aubergine and peppers, chillies and tomatoes and celeriac.
If you have an incubator, grow lights and a well lit not too warm but not too cold position you can often use the propagator to start seeds off a month earlier than that stated on seed packets. Remove seedlings as soon as they germinate or they will become leggy. Then use the growlights to extend the light after dusk. You need to keep the plants just warm enough to keep growing well but not too warm as it will make the plants leggy. Many plants have a set number of weeks between germination and harvesting, so you must keep them growing to get a good harvest.
This requires a lot of space after you pot up, the plants will be quite large by the time you plant them out after the last frost in mid May.
Why add organic matter to your soil?
Adding organic matter to your soil will provide extra nutrients which are in the organic matter and are released slowly. It will increase the water retention and also drainage in clay soils. Also improve the structure of your soil along with the soils acid buffering capacity.
It will also allow more nutrients to be held by the soil, because some nutrients can bind to organic matter.
The maximum nutrient retention ability of your soil is measured by the cation exchange capacity. In a very simplistic way soil particles and compost contains negatively charged ions bound to their surface these act like north pole magnets. The cation exchange capacity is a measure of how many negatively charged ions are bound to your soil. Potasium, calcium, magnesium and some other beneficial minerals have positively charged ions which act like south pole magnets. When you put a north and south pole of a magnet together they attract and cling together. This means that by adding compost you are adding more north pole magnets that can hold on to some fertilisers you add to the soil or minerals that bacteria in the soil release from the rock in your soil.
Organic matter is anything that is alive or once was alive. This is added to your compost heap to rot down. Cooked food and meat are organic however are not added to the compost heap because it will attract rats and mice etc.
Bacteria and fungi rot organic matter to make compost. These microbes are beneficial for the plants and soil bringing your soil to life to release nutrients for your plants. January`s newsletter explains more about the benefits of microbes in the soil. Organic matter will encourage these microbes to multiply.
Organic matter attracts worms and allows them to multiply. Worms eat the well rotted compost pulling it into the soil. The worms worm casts are rich in nutrients and bacteria so are beneficial to the soil. Also their worm holes allow air to penetrate into the soil which is beneficial to your plants.
Its also believed that organic matter can help protect plants from plant pathogens.