From The Ground Up

February is when things begin to wake up around here, including me! The difference between the beginning and end of this short month is always quite remarkable. Many of the changes are small and based at ground level but hopefully as this month’s field video will show the signs of Spring sneaking in are small but significant.

The middle of February marks the first days of 10 hrs daylight, and the beginning of the seed-sowing season if you have space to sow some seeds under cover. A small word of warning though. It’s all too easy to get overexcited with a cup of tea, whilst dancing to the radio with the sun on your back in your greenhouse. Please don’t get carried away and start sowing everything in one day. It will lead to a floral hangover as we still have weeks of potential frosts ahead before it’s safe to plant many of the summer flowers out and some seedlings will simply collapse after a night of frost. Now is the time to stick to sowing the Hardy annuals and Perennials only. Don’t let the likes of the jazzy packets of Zinnias and their sun-loving friends even tempt you. Its far too cold for them and all their Half Hardy friends yet and you are doing them a favour by hiding all those packets away until 6 weeks before your final frost date (round here in North Yorkshire that will mean it’s not really worth sowing them until mid-April) If your unsure what to sow now further along in this article I will provide a list of the varieties I have been sowing and will sow successionally until mid-spring. Along with some handy hints for germination techniques included in the video tour.