It’s the start of a new month, so time to plan what should be planted in February. It’s not yet properly spring and conditions are cold, so the more you can start off in pots in the greenhouse or under cover, the better. Many of these crops can be planted straight into the plot, though, and that’s particularly true if you can protect them with a cloche.

Note that the later in the month you plant these, the better, as the air and soil temperature should be just a little bit warmer.

Broad beans: one of the earliest crops to sow, broad beans can be put straight into the ground, although we’ve started ours in the greenhouse, using the paper potter. Once they’re under way, and the cold weather has passed, we’ll transplant them into the plot where we’ve prepared a wire archway for them to climb up.

Carrots: be careful of your variety, as not all carrots can be sown just yet, but early varieties, which should be ready to lift in May, can go in the ground over the next couple of weeks. To keep things tidy and to save space in your plot, consider planting them in pots on your patio or pavements using a two-parts-sand, one-part-soil mix. The sand mix will help these drought tolerant crops to drain properly. Not only will using pots give you space for other crops in the plot; it’ll also save you contaminating your plot with the sand.

Peas: if you can plant broad beans now, it’s hardly surprising you can also get cracking with your peas. These can be sown sparsely along a trench, with one seed every couple of inches or so, and each one two inches deep when covered with earth.

Onions: you have two options if you want to grow onions – either seeds or onion sets. Seeds speak for themselves, but sets are small onion bulbs that can be planted in the ground to sprout. Whichever you choose, you should use a cloche to keep them warm, and only start planting around the middle of the month, so a couple of weeks from now.

Potatoes: these aren’t grown from traditional seeds, but from seed potatoes. These are special potatoes grown at high altitudes so they can be certified as disease free. This is the time of year to be buying your seed potatoes so you can start to chit them prior to planting. For this you’ll need to put them in a supporting holder – an egg carton is ideal – and leave them in a cool light place for six weeks. During this time they will start to sprout. After six weeks they can be planted, with the seed potato at the bottom of a shallow trench and the shoots pointing upwards.

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