Smart Gardeners Sow These Seeds in Late Winter

There are some seeds that are perfect for sowing in February – and yes, I know it's still cold outside! – but it's all about smart, well-timed sowings. Get this wrong and your seedlings could well just keel over and die. But get it right and you'll gain precious weeks on the growing season!

So let's get started with one of my firm favourites that I just have to grow every year...

Starting Lettuce Before Spring

…lettuce. The key to getting it going when it’s still decidedly chilly is cold protection. Lettuce is happy to grow in cool conditions, but it doesn’t especially enjoy being frozen solid repeatedly. So think indoors, greenhouse, in a hoophouse, or even a cold frame, depending on what you have available.

Sow lettuce into a 4 in (10 cm) pot filled with multi-purpose potting mix. Lettuce seeds are tiny and need a little light to germinate, so sprinkling a scant pinch of seeds over the surface and then cover them over with the merest dusting of screened potting mix – just enough so the seeds disappear from view, but so they still get a little light. Give them a light mist of water, and you’re done.

I’m growing in a relatively mild climate, equivalent to US hardiness zone 8. There are still plenty of frosts to come here, but the chances of really hard, penetrating frosts that last for multiple days are receding, which makes it a great time to start sowing hardier crops like lettuce.

I leave my lettuce germinate in the greenhouse, but if you’re gardening in a much colder climate I’d suggest starting your lettuce indoors on a bright windowsill. You can then move them out from there once they’ve germinated. Choose varieties bred for cooler conditions which will be better able to withstand the cold at this time of year, such as Arctic King, Little Gem, Marvel of Four Seasons, Rouge d’Hiver, or Winter Density.

The trick now will be to keep the compost just moist, but not wet. Overwatering in cold conditions is the fastest way to lose seedlings, and lettuce prefers its potting mix lightly moist. Once the seedlings have popped up, carefully transfer or ‘prick out’ seedlings into their own plugs or small pots. They’ll be ready to plant out in another two to three weeks, at about 10 in (25 cm) apart in both directions.

Growing Peas for Shoots

Okay, now for a treat I always look forward to in early spring: pea shoots. Peas sown now are truly fabuloso for sweet and crunchy shoots, germinating surprisingly fast to give tender young shoots within a matter of weeks. Pea shoots aren’t just for garnishing your meals – lovely as that is – they can be the darling of any salad or stir-fry too. Yes, please!

You’ll find varieties of pea sold specifically for growing as pea shoots, and these will work out a lot cheaper than using other pea seeds for this. That said, if you have part-used packets of pea seeds that are past their use-by date or you’re not sure how reliable they are now, by all means use those.

Any wide, shallow tray will make a great container. Fill it with multi-purpose potting mix, then scatter the pea seeds fairly thickly across the surface like this, aiming for a gap – of about an inch or a couple of centimetres between each seed. That’s very close but, of course, these will be harvested young as shoots, so spacing this tightly is just fine, it won’t hold them back at all.

Cover your pea seeds, over with around a half inch (1 cm) of potting mix, and water them in. Put them somewhere nice and bright – in a greenhouse or similar is fine. You could hurry germination along a bit by bringing them indoors, then take them back out to the greenhouse once they’re up.

Peas don’t need much heat, and the shoots will be ready to harvest in just three to five weeks, depending on how cold or warm it gets. To harvest, just snip the shoots off once they reach about 4-6 in (10-15 cm) in height. Harvest just above a leaf node, and they will then regrow for a second cut. For a steady harvest, consider sowing another tray in another few weeks. If you’re desperate to grow something edible right now, pea shoots are a brilliant way to do it because they are probably the fastest-growing crop of all at this chillier time of year.

Multisowing Radishes

Radishes are also impressively fast-growing and one of the most rewarding crops you can possibly sow at this time of year. Perfect if you’re craving that first crunchy harvest of the season – and this really is the first of this season’s sowings that you’re likely to harvest.

Fill a plug tray with multi-purpose potting mix. Radishes are a super salad to sow directly into the soil, where they are to grow, but in late winter, sowing into plug trays means you can start them off under cover to get a few weeks’ head start and a tasty harvest within just six to seven weeks, or even sooner if it turns mild. It's a good job radishes grow quickly, because I can hardly wait! I love to slicing them paper-thin with a mandolin to pep up my salads, or making a refrigerator pickle by covering sliced radishes with a warm solution of vinegar, water, salt and sugar, and then storing them in the fridge. They don't last as long as traditionally-preserved pickles, but they don’t need to because they'll be eaten in no time – they're that good, honestly!

To make sowing indoors and then transplanting later worth the effort, multisow your radish seeds. Multisowing simply means sowing more than one seed into each plug. For radishes, aim for around five seeds per plug, to give four or five seedlings to plant out about 6 in (15 cm) apart. Early sowings of radish up to about mid spring are actually a smart move, as later sowings can have a tendency to either bolt (go to seed prematurely before you get a decent root), or turn a bit woody as they grow into the heat of summer.

Radishes love cool conditions, so there’s no need for extra heat to get them going. The slight protection of a greenhouse, polytunnel or cold frame should give them a good, strong start. The seedlings can be planted two or three weeks after they have germinated. It’s often still decidedly cold where I am at that point, but adding a little protection from icy winds, whether that’s a row cover of horticultural fleece or a temporary cold frame, really helps them grow off and away.

Make the most of radishes, sowing little and often – say every couple of weeks – up until midspring, and you’ll enjoy a steady stream of roots instead of a glut turning up at once.

Sowing Spinach Under Cover

Next up, spinach – tough as old boots when it comes to the cold, yet with an irresistibly tender texture and, of course, loaded with goodness! Spinach ideal for a late winter sowing because it actually prefers cooler conditions. It tends to bolt in summer with warmer temperatures and longer daylength, but by sowing now we’re extending the harvesting window so we can enjoy more of those luscious leaves for salads, smoothies, stir fries and so on. And you can always freeze some of your harvests to enjoy in summer, once fresh spinach has gone to seed.

Sow a couple of seeds per plug tray cell into multi-purpose potting mix to grow on as one or two seedlings – no need to thin if both pop up. Spinach hates sitting in sopping wet soil, especially when it’s cold, so starting things off in plug trays under cover, means we can keeper a closer eye on moisture levels and make sure our seedlings are happy. Once sown, these can go straight onto the greenhouse bench, or a cold frame would do. Plant out your young spinach plants into their final growing positions in early spring about 8 in (20 cm) apart each way.

If you’re gardening somewhere with very harsh winters, you might want to consider starting your spinach off indoors, then hardening the seedlings off gradually by bringing them outside for just an hour, then longer each day as long as there isn’t a biting wind. Look for varieties bred for early sowing, such as Giant Winter or Medania. Seeking out these extra cold hardy varieties tips the advantage in your favor and ups the chances of a successful harvest.

And remember, baby leaves are just as delicious as full-sized ones, and much quicker to reach harvest too, so enjoy leaves the moment you feel they’re a useable size. Pick just one or two from each plant at a time so others can grow on and replace them.

Starting Beetroot in Plugs

Beetroot might surprise you but towards the end of winter is a great time to get an early batch going, especially if you enjoy fairly mild winters. These richly coloured, earthy roots aren’t keen on being disturbed once they’re growing so starting them off in plugs that will simply be pushed out from the bottom and planted in one go is most definitely the way to go.

Each seed is in fact a seed cluster that with the potential to produce a few seedlings. But that really doesn’t matter because, just like our radishes, we’re going to multisow these anyhow to give a little cluster of seedlings to plant out un-thinned, just as they are. Multisowing always feels like a bit of a cheat code, because planting a clump of plants instead of planting each one individually has the potential to save so much time and effort! It even extends the harvest window because as the biggest in each cluster are picked, the smaller plants that remain then have the space they need to swell to maturity for more pickings a bit later. Nice!

Sow roughly four seeds per plug, and expect anywhere from four to six seedlings popping up in each plug as a result of that. Cover them over and give them a water.

These will germinate best somewhere frost-free. An unheated greenhouse is fine in milder areas, but indoors is safer if your nights are still very cold. Early sowings like this give you a head start on the season – and earlier beetroot mean earlier beetroot salads… which is always something to look forward to! My favourite variety is the bolt-resistant ‘Boltardy’, which – honestly – tastes the best too in my humble opinion! Plant each cluster of seedlings a foot (30cm) apart in both directions.

Giving Broad Beans a Great Start

After a penetrating cold snap, my broad beans have frozen and drooped. This often happens when plants get a bit too far ahead with lots of soft growth, making them prone to frost damage. So it’s time to make a re-sowing!

Sowing in late winter is a great window for starting broad beans, and results in good, solid, stubby seedlings popping up quite promptly, then growing away as conditions start to warm up with much, much less risk of tender seedlings getting whacked by those frigid midwinter cold snaps. Some varieties are more suited to very early sowing than others, so do be sure to choose one that fits the bill. Some popular varieties include Aquadulce Claudia, De Monica, Dreadnought, Karmazyn, Sweet Lorane, The Sutton, or Witkiem Manita.

Sow into deep pots or plugs. They’ll develop long roots quickly, which we want to encourage so plants are nice and strong when we plant them. Aim to plant the seeds at least an inch (3 cm) deep. Keep them in unheated greenhouse or cold frame.

Growing in plugs under cover helps to keep these tempting beans away from mice and slugs, who consider beans a five-star dining experience! If you find mice making their way inside, you could always pop your sown plugs into a plastic box to germinate and keep them safe till they’re up. Plant out your broad bean seedlings 8in (20cm) apart each way in a month or so.

If mice aren’t so much of a problem where you are, or it’s perhaps a tad warmer, then you could sow the beans directly where they are to grow, at their final spacing. Cover the whole area with something like an old windowpane or other cover to help warm the soil and coax those seedlings along. Remove the cover once the seedlings press up against them. One word of caution: if you’re sowing directly outdoors in winter, just make sure that the soil you’re sowing into isn’t waterlogged. Beans hate sitting in cold, wet soil.

Broad beans are incredibly good for your mental health – it’s been scientifically proven! And if you thought these beans were starchy and stodgy, I invite you to check out my recent video that will show you some very tempting and outrageously delicious ways to enjoy them.

All the seeds we sowed last month can also be sown now, so there’s plenty to be going on with! Sowing directly outdoors really gears up in a few weeks’ time. In the meantime, make sure you’re set up for the season with a beautifully laid out and colourful plan for your garden. Our Garden Planner can help with that, with clever features such as crop rotation, companion planting suggestions, and personalised sowing, planting and harvesting schedules – and more, all built in! Our 7 day free trial includes all the features you need to create your garden plan, and you can even print out your plan if you want to!

Plants Related to this Article

Lettuce (Loose Leaf) Grow Guide

Peas Grow Guide

Radish Grow Guide