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Despite the exceptional fluctuations in temperatures recently in central Texas, February is an amazing time for planning and planting your backyard garden.
We can plant another round of cool season crops for a spring harvest, and we can begin starting warm season seeds indoors.
Now through the end of February, direct sow cool season seeds like Asian greens, beets, carrots, chard, leafy greens like collard, kale, lettuce, mustard and spinach, kohlrabi, leeks, onions, English peas, radishes and turnips. All cool season seedlings can also be transplanted now, especially young broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower plants.
Mid-February is the prime time to plant Irish potatoes. Look for small seed potatoes and pre-sprout them before planting. If possible choose small, 1-inch seed potatoes. You’ll have better luck than if you try cutting up a larger one.
Cut pieces need to dry a few days to form a callus so that they don’t rot after planting. Place your seed potatoes in a warm sunny spot and let the potatoes start to develop eyes. The eyes are the first signs of the sprouts. This is pre-sprouting and stimulates the potatoes to begin forming stems and leaves. You do not have to let them pre-sprout. The seed potatoes will eventually sprout on their own under the soil, but pre-sprouting encourages them to grow sooner.
If you plan to include artichokes or asparagus in your garden this year, you will need to plant crowns by the end of February. Crowns are young plantlets that are separated from a mother plant when the roots are divided.
Asparagus plants are perennials. Perennials actively grow most of the year, go dormant to rest for the winter season and then come back in the spring. Most perennials live productively for six or seven years. Asparagus is much more hardy and can produce for 15-20 years when conditions are favorable.
Asparagus contains asparagusic acid, a compound that is only found in asparagus. When you eat asparagus and your body digests it, the asparagusic acid breaks down into byproducts that contain sulfur.
Humans don’t process these byproducts, and they are excreted as waste. For most people, the sulfur molecules can cause a foul odor in urine. Some people metabolize these compounds differently and may not notice a foul odor after consuming asparagus.
Asparagus grows better in cooler parts of Texas, like North Texas and West Texas, but it can be grown in our area provided you select a variety that tolerates our slightly warmer Central Texas climate. Look for “Mary Washington”, “Jersey Knight” and “Jersey Giant” varieties.
Choose your asparagus bed carefully since it does not tolerate being disturbed once the roots get established.
Asparagus grows the best in full sunlight with well draining, lightweight soil. A raised bed may be more suitable than directly in the ground. If you plant in the ground in our black, heavy clay soil, amend the area generously with sand and compost. Sand and compost will keep the soil loose and well-draining.
An ideal location in your garden for your asparagus bed would be on the northside where it would be less impacted by the summers’ intense heat. Asparagus takes a long time to get established. Consider planting them somewhere in your garden that you don’t consider prime space. It can take several growing seasons for your asparagus beds to get established.
Asparagus crowns resemble stringy mops. To plant them, dig two trenches with a mound or a hill in the center. Drape and spread the asparagus roots in the trench then cover them with the dirt from the center mound. Do not harvest spears in the first growing season.
With 25 years of backyard gardening experience, Julie is a plant and nature enthusiast. She lives in Taylor and hosts the “Plow & Hose Organic Gardening in Central Texas” podcast and radio show that airs on KBSR, Black Sparrow Radio, every Saturday and Sunday at 9 a.m.
