February planting list

Our average last frost date is 15 March, so the planting season is looming. This list will look pretty familiar from the fall.

There are three references I’m using, in order:
Collin County Master Gardeners
Dallas Planting Manual, The Dallas Garden Club of the Dallas Woman’s Club (Dallas, again)
Texas Organic Vegetable Gardening, J. Howard Garrett & C. Malcolm Beck (he’s in Dallas)
I’m making my primary list from the Master Gardeners, then noting any major deviations from the other two sources. But the Dallas Planting Manual is by far the most entertaining read. I just love it.

I’ve put an asterisk by the ones I think I’ll be planting.

CCMG
asparagus crowns (15th – 1 Mar.) (would love to, but don’t have room!)
beets (10th – 1 Mar.)
broccoli transplants (15th – 1 Mar.)
cabbage transplants (15th – 1 Mar.)
Chinese cabbage (15th – 1 Mar.)
carrot* (10th – 1 Mar.)
cauliflower transplants (15th – 1 Mar.)
chard, swiss (10th – 10 Mar.)
collards (10th – 1 Apr.)
kale (10th – 10 Mar.)
kohlrabi seeds (10th – 1 Mar.)
kohlrabi transplants (15th – 1 Mar.)
leeks* (10th – 25th)
lettuce* (10th – 15 Mar.)
mustard (15th – 1 Apr.)
onion* (10th – 1 Mar.)
peas, English & edible-pod* (10th – 1 Mar.)
postatoes, Irish* (10th – 1 Mar.)
radish (5th – 1 May)
rutabaga (1st – 1 Apr.)
spinach* (10th – 15 Mar.)
turnip (10th – 10 Mar.)

DPM
arugula
brussel sprouts
parsley*
strawberry plants* (I planted some in the fall, and will add more this spring – see how they do.)

TOVG
sweet corn (25th – 1 May)

Howard Garrett often recommends planting things earlier than the Master Gardeners do. I dug into this, and it appears to be because Garrett’s designation for our area (Zone 3) covers a huge swath of Texas, reaching pretty far south of us. So take his deviating recommendations with a grain of salt. In fact, I’m considering dropping him from my planting list references. I really like his book, Texas Organic Vegetable Gardening, for the details he gives about each veggie and fruit. And he does actually garden in Dallas. But his planting dates of not specific enough for our area.

The DPM reminds us to prune the roses. I don’t grow roses, but Rick does, across the street. And he has this one scraggly rose bush right in my line of sight from the living room. I threatened him all year that I will be pruning it this month. He says it’s an antique rose or some such, so it’s not supposed to be pruned. (snort) It’s just an eyesore, is what it is. I’ll take a picture for you. I can probably even find one from the middle of summer, to prove to you that I’m not just being clueless about roses. It’s pathetic. Some good tough love will wake it right up.

It’s also time to fertilize the trees and shrubs that will be putting on so much growth next month. I’ll be fertilizing the new fruit trees, the new elderberries, blueberries, crepe myrtles, and Japanese maple. The exception to this is not to fertilize the shrubs that are about to bloom, like camellias. They need to focus on blooming, not putting on new growth. Once they’re done blooming, you can fertilize them.

Now, get busy!