A Kihei Garden Newsletter for February

Most salad greens are cool season crops and in early February I plant as many salad greens as I can find room for. The sun will begin to intensify at the end of February creating challenging growing conditions for Asian greens and lettuce.

February is a good month to plant cucurbits, peppers and heat tolerant beans. Matador spinach can still be planted in February too.

Seeds to plant in February:
Amaranth
Arugula
Asian Greens (plant in early February)
Basil
Beans (Asian & Southwestern)
Buckwheat
Celery
Chard
Cilantro (plant in partial shade)
Corn
Cucumbers
Eggplant - Long Asian/Italian
Fennel
Ginger - Culinary
Herbs
Kale
Lemongrass - Culinary
Lettuce
Melons
Mesclun Greens
Mint
Mustard Greens
Onions - Bunching (white)
Peppers
Radishes (early heat tolerant varieties)
Roselle Hibiscus
Spinach (Matador)
Squash - Summer & winter
Tomatoes - Cherry, Grape & Small Plum
Watermelon
Wheat
Zucchini

Beans
Most French and Italian beans aren't heat tolerant and grow best in Kihei when planted from November through January. Although I have planted these types of beans in February, I haven't had great results. Many Asian and Southwestern beans grow well through the spring. For more information see my post on High & Low Desert Beans.

Peppers
December through February are good months to start sweet and hot peppers from seed. Most peppers need 4 to 5 months until the first ripe fruit. When planted by February they'll begin to blossom before the hot summer months when the higher temps can damage the blossoms and emerging fruit.

The common bell and sweet peppers (capsicum annum) are hard to grow in Kihei due to the heat and bugs. I've had great results with the capsicum bacaatum and capsicum chinense varieties of peppers. These types of peppers are perennials and grow well in our acidic soil. Reimer Seeds and Trade Winds Fruit have good selections of hot and not too hot bacaatum and chinense seeds. Peppermania, my favorite source, still has a website but appears to be MIA or no longer in business.

Destructive Larvae, Worms & Caterpillars
In February the cabbageworm is still a problem for brassicas, spinach, lettuce and salad greens. See the October newsletter for more information.