February Gardening in North Florida

One advantage we didn’t consider when we decided to move to North Florida was having a year-round garden! We got our feet wet with a vegetable garden last summer, but things are getting serious now. I’ve done some (extensive) research into February gardening for our region, and though I’d share our plan for this season!

February Vegetable Gardening

Last year we planted our vegetables in late spring. Although we were wildly successful with eggplants, beans, and peppers, our tomatoes never fruited (fruited is a word, right?). We also struggled with cucumbers.

Late summer of 2020 I found an amazing resource for seasonal gardening in Florida: the University of Florida! They have a general information section and a vegetable specific section. This link is specifically for northern Florida, but if you’re in the state, they also have pages for each region.

So, according to their site, we should be planting potatoes this month as well as other cold-weather veggies. We have a batch of carrots in the ground at the moment, but we can also plant broccoli, kale, and lettuce while it’s still chilly out.

Trees

We have three magnolia trees, a baby tangelo, an unknown pain-in-the-backside tree (I need to do a tree ID), and a palm tree.

First, we pruned the magnolias last weekend. You’re supposed to prune them before the sap starts to flow. They were heavily overgrown when we bought our house last spring, so it was a big transformation. Our yard looks ginormous now!

Second, our baby tangelo will be getting some fertilizer, that’s about it.

The PITBS tree… we’d like to cut it down. It’s too close to the house, and ants love it. A lot. However, we have to check out our HOA rules before we decide on that.

Lastly, the palm tree. The University of Florida site says February is the month to care for cold-damaged palms. I did some more research on this concept and it turns out you just wait until there’s new growth and then prune off dead areas. They recommend doing this after the risk of frost is gone (yes, we get frosty here!) because the dead parts actually help insulate the tree.

Lawn

Last but not least, we have the lawn. We have St. Augustine grass here which is super thick and looks like astro turf when it’s heathy. Ours is currently dormant, so it’s mostly brown and not growing. The University of Florida site says we need to use a “pre-emergence weed killer” this month to prevent warm weather weeds.

Your February Gardening

Now it’s your turn! Do you live somewhere that allows you to garden in February? What are you planning for your garden this year? Let me know your February gardening plans in the comments!