A Wild Child Garden in February

February is the official start of spring in the wild child garden!  Are you as excited as I am??  I feel like January was extra-long this year.  And, we can't totally move on to February without talking for just a moment about the snow in January!  It was like Narnia in the garden!  You can see my full Narnia tour HERE!  It was unreal.  Any amount of snow is a big deal for us, but this was almost a foot of snow in some areas!!  We have not seen snow like this ever before in our lifetime! I made the decision to tell my cool season garden goodbye, and a lot of my plants still survived...even after being covered in snow for days!!  I learned so much about what our gardens are capable of and what is important to me as a gardener! 

Now it's February, the snow is behind us, and I am dreaming of spring!  Are you ready?  Because things are about to get really exciting around here!  First things first, if you are new here you need to know about my exciting course The Kitchen Garden Academy.  In the Kitchen Garden Academy, I teach busy women to grow a garden in their own back yards.  But it is so much more than just telling you where to put some plants.  I will teach you how to decide where to put your garden if you don't already have one.  I will teach you how to create a soil that works for you in your garden.  Pro Tip: It is not nearly as difficult as you might think.  And I will teach you how to grow yourself as a gardener!  It is an amazing 8 week course and where every new gardener should begin.  You can learn more HERE.

What I’m Planting

February is the official start of spring but as much as you might think that wild child gardeners are buying the first tomato plants we can find at the nurseries, I can tell you that we are not!  February is the month to dream, and we are working on turning that dream into reality this season. It all starts with a plan.  We are adding one more round of heat tolerant lettuce to some corners of our garden.  Maybe even creating some beautiful planters with lettuce, violas, and cilantro!  Just imagine your Easter Table with adorable pots full of beautiful lettuce! Choose a heat tolerant variety such as "Marvel of the Four Seasons"!  You can download more of my favorite varieties HERE. 

February is also the month to plant potatoes for a Spring harvest.  Don't miss this chance to grow your own harvest of potatoes.  This is a great project to do with your kids or grandkids!  Research done by Australian founder of The Kitchen Garden Foundation Stephanie Alexander showed us that "Almost everything that the kids learn in the garden and the kitchen can relate to their general curriculum, so it's a win win for everybody." The Kitchen Garden Foundation is an Australian based organization that works to get kitchen garden into schools.  Let's not wait for our children's school to build a garden.  Let's get our kids out there right now!  And potatoes are a great place to start with kids!  I have an entire blog about planting potatoes HERE!  Pro Tip:  Be sure to get those potatoes in the ground by Valentines Day! 

 To learn all that you can plant this month, download my February planting guide here.

Calendula

If you don't have Calendula in your garden already, be sure to plant some seeds this month!  Find an empty corner and direct sow right into your garden, these sweet yellow or orange flowers will stick around through Spring and won't disappoint.  In my mind when the Calendula really starts to bloom that is a sign that spring is coming!  These cold tolerant and frost hardy beauties will bring a pop of color to your garden.  These flowers also come with medicine benefits, you can dry the blooms and make a lovely homemade salve.  These blooms make a great companion for your garden and have strong anti-inflammatory properties! Homestead and Chill has one of my favorite blog posts all about calendula. 

Let's enjoy those Garden Salads

As great as the snow was, I was doing a happy dance when the snow finally melted, and I got the first glimpse of my lettuce!  So, in honor of my lettuce being a true wild child, I'm going to spend the month of February enjoying every last leaf!  If you are looking for a simple, delicious, and healthy salad dressing give this one a try!  

Wild Child Vinaigrette 

• 2 parts Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 part Olive Oil
• 1-2 tablespoons honey
• minced garlic to taste
• salt and pepper 

Mix all ingredients together and taste.  Adjust honey and balsamic to your preference. Pour over salad and enjoy! 

Give your garden some love this month. 

Last month we added leaves to the garden for a little extra love, and this month we will test and amend our soil.  We will be adding compost to our beds this month, and most importantly we will spend this month creating our garden plans.  If you want to learn why you can spot a wild child garden from a mile away, you want to be in this NEW CLASS Im teaching:  Mastering Companion Planting!!   I am going to break down the wild child method of companion planting for you, and I think you will be blown away at how much MORE you can fit into your space!!  Save your seat HERE!! It will fill up fast!!

Enjoying February in the Garden 

This February, I hope you start dreaming about your spring garden, and I hope that you also enjoy the garden that you have!!  This is such a huge piece of being a gardener. We enjoy our gardens...in every season.  So this month consider spending time filling the bird feeders and maybe adding a bench to your garden space.  Add some violas and pansies to pots that were emptied out in winter and maybe even plant a fruit tree! There is so much still to grow....even in February!!  I hope you enjoy it all!!