Every year about this time, East Texans get fooled by a few warm afternoons. The sun feels good. The soil looks workable. Garden centers start stacking transplants. Even some forecasts for next week show we may reach the upper 70’s! And suddenly, people start planting like spring has already arrived.
It hasn’t.
February in East Texas is a transition month. And that distinction matters, because planting too early doesn’t give you a head start. It usually gives you dead plants, wasted seed, and a false sense of progress.
Our weather pattern this time of year is predictable: mild days, cold nights, and at least one more hard cold snap before winter fully releases its grip. Remember that our average last frost is in mid-March. Warm afternoons do not change soil temperature, frost risk, or plant physiology. They just make people impatient.
The most common mistake is planting warm-season vegetables too early. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, cucumbers, melons, okra, and beans simply do not belong in East Texas gardens in February. These crops require warm soil to germinate properly and warm nights to grow. Cool soil slows root development, reduces nutrient uptake, and stresses plants even if the tops look fine for a while.
When a late freeze hits — and it usually does — those stressed plants don’t recover. They stall, yellow, rot, or die. Even if they survive, early cold stress often sets them back so badly that later-planted crops outperform them.
In other words, early planting doesn’t create earlier harvests. It creates weaker plants.
Another common mistake is confusing “cool weather” with “cold tolerance.” Lettuce, spinach, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, onions, and other cool-season crops can handle cold — but even they have limits. February planting should be strategic, not reckless. These crops tolerate cold soil better than warm-season plants, but extended freezes, saturated soils, and repeated freeze–thaw cycles still cause damage.
February is also when people overestimate what soil can handle. Working wet soil leads to compaction. Compaction leads to poor root growth, drainage problems, and long-term productivity loss. You don’t fix that with fertilizer — you live with it all season.
Then there’s the transplant trap. Those beautiful tomato and pepper plants sitting in garden centers are not a signal to plant — they’re a signal to wait. Retail availability is driven by supply chains, not local growing conditions. Plants don’t care what the calendar or the store display says.
So, what should East Texans actually be doing in February? Go ahead and get your onions, potatoes and other cool season vegetables. Other than those, February is for preparation, not production.
This is the right time to build beds, add compost, correct drainage issues, improve soil structure, and get your garden physically ready. It’s the time to plan crop layout, rotate planting areas, and think about spacing and sun exposure. It’s the time to start warm-season crops indoors if you want transplants ready later — not to rush them into cold ground.
If you’re planting anything outside right now, it should be limited to true cool-season crops that tolerate cold soils and fluctuating temperatures — and even then, with the understanding that protection may still be needed.
February gardening is about restraint. It’s about resisting the urge to confuse a warm afternoon with a warm season. It’s about understanding that East Texas weather doesn’t shift cleanly — it staggers, stalls, and backtracks.
Gardening isn’t rewarded by enthusiasm. It’s rewarded by timing.
The most successful gardens aren’t planted first — they’re planted right. And in East Texas, February is not spring. It’s preparation season.