February - this is what you can sow and cultivate

The winter is deep in the ground, and the snow lies white and glistening in the garden. At first glance, it looks like the whole garden has gone dormant, but that is not actually the case. There is always something happening in nature, and in the small pocket between the ground and the snow cover, there are still insects and small creatures crawling around and living their lives, more or less as usual.

If you have plant lighting that provides the plants with the light they need, there should be no problem growing indoors even in the dark winter month of February. Among the many vegetables that thrive indoors with the right light, we find plenty of greens and tasty options for sandwiches.

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In February, you can also pre-cultivate plants that have a long development time, as long as you provide them with extra light from a plant lamp or similar. It may seem early to start already now, but the Norwegian summer is quite short and many plants depend on an early start to have time to develop at our latitudes.

February is a great time to winter-sow plants that need a cold period to germinate or plants that normally self-seed in the fall. Examples of such plants are summer flowers and vegetables like spinach and dill. Growing under the snow can provide an early harvest, so it might be worth taking a chance with at least some of your seeds. If you sow spinach in February, you may be able to harvest the first leaves as early as April or early May with a bit of luck. Then you can use the space to grow something else when the season is in full swing. You can winter sow outdoors, in a greenhouse, or in plastic boxes, as long as you keep animals away. The most important thing is not to sow before it has become really cold, as the seeds should germinate as quickly as possible in the spring, not right after sowing. If the plants start growing before the cold sets in properly, there is a high chance that the delicate young plants will freeze when the temperature really drops. When winter sowing, you should not sow in late fall, but wait until the cold has settled in!

What you should avoid sowing outdoors now in February are seeds that cannot withstand cold, such as flowers that are not hardy in our climate, cucumber seeds, pumpkin seeds, and beans - the time for this will come later in the spring.