• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Home Garden Joy
  • Home
  • How to Garden
    • Seed Starting
    • Plant Profiles
    • Tools & Equipment
    • Raised Bed Gardening
  • Vegetables
  • Fruit
  • Herbs
  • Plant Based Recipes
    • Canning and Food Preservation
    • Salad Recipes
    • Soup Recipes
    • Vegetarian Meals
  • About
    • Books & Classes
      • Herbalism Classes
      • Indoor Herb Gardening
      • Books for Christian Herbalists
      • Privacy Policy

February, the Fulcrum Month of Gardening

February 4, 2018 by Jeanne

A fulcrum is both a thing upon which a lever wrests and the essential point, the middle point upon which all other activities rest. Although February isn’t thought of as an “important” month in gardening, it is essentially the fulcrum, the point upon which all other gardening activities rest.

canning, home preserving, pantry

A portion of my pantry showing canned goods from several years. We need to use up the oldest ones first.

Time to Use Up Store Garden Produce and Check the Pantry

February is the month in which I take inventory of the remaining garden produce from the past year. I look through my dried herbs, noting which ones I’ve gone through the most. This year’s winners: elderberry, which I made into a medicinal syrup during my bout of the flu back in November; tarragon thanks to my continuing love affair of tarragon with chicken; apple mint, which I make into tea at least once a week; and lavender, which was a big hit this Christmas when I made it into sachets and other gifts for family and friends.

In the pantry, I go through the stored produce. The sweet potatoes are storing well this year, but the potatoes are sprouting eyes and wrinkling up and I need to make them into something, anything, and fast before they end up in the compost bin. The garlic has, alas, dried out, but a few cloves remain useful, and the onions are long gone.

As for the canned goods, we’ve gone through plenty of apple butter, again given as gifts this year, canned apples and peaches, and strawberry jam. I’ve already made notes to add more strawberry plants to the garden so that I can increase the yield and make more jam.

The green beans and pickled beets are still in good quantity, although I am using them up at an average pace, and the canned tomato juice, chicken and turkey stock are all in good supply.

This inventory isn’t just a pat on the back and feel good time to admire my summer’s hard work. It’s also the time for me to take notes on:

  • Sizes of canning jars and lids I may need for this summer’s canning. I typically purchase canning supplies out of season not because they are cheaper but because our local stores tend to run out during peak season.
  • Varieties that we enjoyed and ones we didn’t. The beets, for example, that made the best pickled beets are “Detroit Dark Red” so I will plant more of those this year and avoid varieties such as “Chiogga” and “Bull’s Blood” which although they were okay just didn’t taste as sweet as Detroit Dark Red.  The same holds for frozen produce. Peas froze really well and we are still enjoying fresh garden peas in February. The broccoli rabe was just terrible frozen, like eating rope, and the chard, if diced fine before blanching and freezing, is a good substitute for spinach. It is notes such as these that guide my seed purchase now and planting in April and May.
  • Canned goods we ate very quickly because they tasted great. New recipes, such as the green tomato relish, were a hit. I make notes now so that when summertime comes around and I am busy with work, gardening, and canning, I don’t have to wrack my brain and think, “Now, where was that recipe we loved so much?”
kitchen

Photo by Andy Chilton on Unsplash

This is also the time of year when I do a little experimenting in the kitchen. Yesterday I made sweet potato fries in the oven, adapting a recipe I found online by using my special blend of herbal salts. (Recipe coming this week – it was scrumptious!). I test recipes online, make old favorites to use up stored and canned produce, and simply enjoy time puttering in my kitchen.

Today, I’ll use up canned sweet potatoes, stored carrots, and canned chicken broth to make sweet potato-carrot soup. It’s a good day for it, too. I’m feeling a little under the weather, it’s sleeting and raining out, and the cats are all snuggled in bed. A good day to nest and tackle some homemaking chores.

February marks the beginning and the end. Once I’ve assessed everything from previous years, I’ll continue ordering seeds, planning the vegetable garden rotation, and taking notes for future years. What’s your February garden task list look like?

February Gardening Tips and Tasks, here.

Happy Gardening. Keep growing! – Jeanne

SaveSave

Pin
Share
Tweet
0 Shares

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Previous Post: « How Do You Define Homesteading?
Next Post: Sweet Potato Fries Recipe »

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect!

  • Amazon
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Featured

logo of the american horticulture society

Explore All Gardening Articles

Seed Starting Basics

Easy Ways to Save Cantaloupe Seeds

plants and tools in a wheelbarrow

Starting Peppers from Seeds

tomato seedlings

Seed Starting Resources

tomatoes on the vine

When Should You Start Tomato Seeds Indoors?

Herbalism Classes & Supplies

Goods Shop by Herbal Academy – botanically inspired products

We were featured in Porch.com and answered reader's questions about indoor plants.

Disclosure

Home Garden Joyo participates in two affiliate programs: Amazon and The Herbal Academy. Home Garden Joy earns a commission from qualifying purchases as an Amazon Associate. As an Herbal Academy Associate, HGJ also earns a commission when you sign up for classes or purchase herbs or supplies from The Herbal Academy.

Footer

raised bed garden

How to Build a Vegetable Garden Using Raised Beds

If you’re thinking about building a vegetable garden this year, raised beds are one of the best ways I know of to start a vegetable garden. Instead of renting a rototiller or hand-digging the soil, adding amendments and turning it all under to create a good garden bed, you start with the best soil mixture…

Read More

henbit close up

Henbit: Plant Profile

I’ve put together this henbit plant profile to spotlight a lovely plant – which many gardeners consider a weed. Weed or flower? To me, it’s a matter of perspective. Every spring, at least one of my raised beds is covered in a thick mat of henbit. Henbit is both lovely and practical despite being labeled…

Read More

fresh beets from the garden on the lawn after being washed

The Ultimate Guide to Growing Organic Beets

I wrote this Ultime Guide to Growing Beets to share my techniques for growing tasty, organic beets. Beets are a powerhouse of nutrition. Both the beetroot and the leaves and stems are edible. You can also can beets and beet greens to store them for year-round use. Here, I share with you a full guide…

Read More

a blue wheelbarrow and a red wheelbarrow filled with pine branches

Winter Homesteading Projects

Even though it’s cold and snowy out, winter homesteading projects beckon. As I write this, snow is falling in sheets outside my office windows, covering the orchard trees with a blanket of white. Last week, an ice storm knocked power out for 36 hours – and knocked pines down every which way. We had poles…

Read More

  • Privacy Policy
  • About
  • Awards

Copyright © 2025 Home Garden Joy on the Foodie Pro Theme