When the days get longer in February, my fingers start to itch and I yearn to get them into the dirt. Alas, it’s still way too early to sow and plant outdoors. BUT: we can prepare for spring by seed-starting some of our vegetables indoors in February.
If you’re new to vegetable gardening, seed-starting may seem a bit daunting. After all, you can always buy seedlings at a nursery and plant those out in your garden at the right time. Seed-starting has, however, several advantages compared to buying plants.
First of all, it’s cheaper. A seed package of tomatoes containing 10 seeds costs about 3 € now. A tomato seedling, ready for planting will cost at least 4 – 5 € per plant. Last year, I cultivated about 40 tomato plants, which would have amounted to 160 – 200 €! Just for the tomatoes! My inner Ebenezer cringes at the thought…
Another advantage of seed-starting is the variety selection. Most of the tomatoes I cultivated last year wouldn’t have been available as seedlings. I love tomatoes and what’s more, I love to try different varieties. Every season, I buy 4 – 5 new tomato varieties that I haven’t cultivated before and seed-start them together with my favourite varieties. You won’t get that range in a nursery.
Last but not least, seed-starting gives you a head-start for spring as the vegetables (and varieties) you like are ready for transplanting when the time and temperature are right, shortening the time until harvest by several weeks.
February seed-starting: What to grow
Although the list is not as long as in March, there are some vegetables you can seed-start now. Let’s start with warm-season crops:
Tomatoes
Seed-starting tomatoes in February is discussed controversially. As usual, it depends on your climate zone and where you intend to transplant the tomatoes. Wanna plant them outside in the open but can’t do so before May? Then, February is too early to seed-start tomatoes. They would only become too long and leggy and would be too weak to hold themselves up by the time you can transplant them. Tomatoes for the outdoors shouldn’t be seed-started before mid-March.
However, if you have a greenhouse, things are looking different. As you can plant tomatoes in the greenhouse in April already, now is a good time to seed-start them indoors.
I’ve talked about those two already in the January post but if you haven’t found the time yet to seed-start them in January, you can still do so now in February.
Physalis
Seed-start physalis in January by sowing several seeds into one pot. Put the pot in a warm and bright spot. Temperatures about 25 °C (77°F) are ideal. Physalis grow slowly at the beginning and must be kept moist. Separate the plants when they are about three weeks old and plant them in single pots. Either plant physalis out after the last night frosts or separate them again and put them into large pots that you put outside.
Physalis are perennials and can be kept indoors during winter.
Eggplants
Eggplants also need some time to grow and mature so the end of January / beginning of February is a good time to sow them into small pots. When they’ve grown four leaves, transplant them separately into pots.
Artichokes
Put two to three artichoke seeds into a pot and repot them into separate pots when they’ve reached a good height. Artichokes usually build blossoms (that’s what we eat) in their second year, with a bit of luck and a good head start even in their first year.
Sweet potatoes
Cut sweet potatoes in halves or quarters and let the cutting areas dry for a few hours. Then, put the pieces with the cut end facing down into a pot or balcony box with soil so that only a centimetre (1/3 inch) looks out. Place the pot or box in a warm and sunny place. After some time, shoots will grow out of the sweet potatoes which we’ll cut off later and put into water for building roots.
Fennel
I must admit that I’m not good at cultivating fennel. I either get no or only a minuscule harvest. Nevertheless, I’ll try it again this year and although I’m not an expert with this vegetable I know that seed-starting fennel will make the plants healthier and sturdier before we transplant them outside in April / May.
All these warm-season crops need a temperature of about 25 °C (77 °F) to grow well. A sunny window and maybe a heating mat will help them to thrive.
The following vegetables are all cool-season crops that grow best at a temperature of 18 – 20 °C (65 – 68 °F).
Early brassicas
Brassica is the name for the cabbage family. In February, seed-starting may contain early varieties of
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Savoy cabbage
Red and White cabbage
Kohlrabi.
I usually sow one to two rows of seeds into a large plastic container filled with earth and transplant them later into single pots. Remember to label the rows with some kind of marker where you note the kind of vegetable and its variety. Yes, that’s absolutely necessary because no, you won’t be able to remember what’s where or deduce it from the leave shape. Been there, done it, definitely not recommendable.
Leafy greens
If not already done, seed-start leafy greens like
Winter lettuce
Iceberg lettuce
Swiss Chard
Arugula.
Sow the seeds into pots and separate the plants later by repotting them.
Onion family
Onions
We’re talking of sowing onions here, not putting bulbs into the soil. Sowing onions may be more time-consuming than planting the bulbs but it shows advantages like healthier growth, more varieties and better storage capability. And it’s cheaper.
Sow the seeds into a tray or small single pots and place them in a bright spot at about 16 – 18 °C (60 – 65 °F) or colder (not below 10 °C / 50 °F).
Summer leak
Summer leek, that’s harvested in July / August must be seed-started at the end of January / beginning of February. You can either sow the seeds in trays and transplant them later or you sow them into small single pots. Plant the leek outdoors when it’s about as thick as a pencil.
Root vegetables
Celery
Celery needs a long time to grow those thick, bulbous roots and therefore profits from being seed-started in February. Keep in mind that celery only germinates in light which is why you shouldn’t cover the seeds with soil but only press them down lightly. Water the seeds very carefully and make sure that they aren’t washed off the soil.
Beetroot
Beetroot is normally best sown directly into the patch but if you want to get a very early harvest and intend to put the plants out into a cold frame or a greenhouse, seed-starting now is a good idea.
Herbs
You can seed-start the following herbs indoors:
Basil
Parsley
Thyme
Sage
Garlic chive
Plant them outdoors after the last night frosts, parsley and garlic chive can be transplanted in April already.
Common February Seed Starting Challenges
There are a few challenges every gardener who seed-starts his vegetables indoors will know.
In February, the days are already longer but the natural light is still not enough for seedlings. For that reason, I always use a plant lamp which not only delivers enough light but also the “right” light.
Also, the air indoors is usually dry due to heating. To counter that, you can put bowls with water on the window sills. In the course of time and depending on your indoor temperature the water will evaporate and moisten the air. Additionally, make sure that your seedlings get enough water.
No matter how you heat your rooms, there is a natural temperature fluctuation indoors due to lower night temperatures and alternating day temperatures, especially when the sun is shining and heating up the temperature indoors.
To keep the soil and seedlings moist it’s best to cover them with a plastic lid which usually comes with seed-starting trays. If you use other pots you can also use cling film or any plastic cover actually that is transparent enough to let the light through. It’s important, however, to open the daily and check on your plants, making sure that the air can circulate and preventing the formation of mould or other fungal diseases.
Summary
As your seedlings thrive under grow lights, it’s time to look ahead to the bustling spring season. Your careful attention to indoor seed starting has given your garden a strong foundation, but the journey is just beginning. Keep monitoring your seedlings daily and adjusting care as they grow.
It’s so satisfying to see those first February seedlings transform into robust plants ready for the garden. That makes all the careful attention worthwhile! As spring approaches, you’ll be the envy of your neighbourhood with all those healthy, vigorous plants. And when later in summer you bite into your first homegrown tomato, you can say nonchalantly “I knew them when they were just seeds!”
Imagine having fresh vegetables from your garden throughout the entire growing season. With succession planting, you can transform your garden from a place with a one-time harvest to a continuous source of fresh produce!
When I started as a new gardener, I was overrun with harvest for a few weeks every season for the first couple of years. We couldn’t possibly eat or preserve everything that was ripe then and the neighbours started changing the roadside when they saw us coming from fear of being forced upon cucumbers or zucchini. Some weeks later, however, the situation was quite the opposite and we had to run to the supermarket to buy all those vegetables we had in abundance a short while before.
It took me a while to figure out how to ensure a continuous harvest throughout the whole season without any “gaps”. With a bit of smart planning, the next year’s harvest was a good deal more satisfying and we had almost no gaps between harvests. Over the years, I improved my planting plan and now I can proudly say that I can continually harvest from spring to late autumn.
The trick is to sow or plant vegetables whenever there is a gap where some other vegetables have been harvested.
I’ve been using these techniques for years, and I’m excited to share how you can maximize your garden’s potential.
Understanding Succession Planting
By cleverly sowing or planting whenever there are gaps in the beds after harvesting, we can ensure a continuous harvest throughout the whole season. This successive planting is called (drumroll, please!): “succession planting”. Apart from a continuous harvest, there are a lot more benefits and advantages of succession planting
Succession planting reduces weeds by constantly keeping the soil covered. Whenever we have harvested one kind of vegetable, we sow or plant right afterwards so that the gaps close fast and weeds don’t stand a chance. It also keeps the soil moist.
With clever planning and observing what plants go well together (i.e. mixed culture), staggered planting guarantees our soil’s health. For example: when we plant legumes like peas or beans which collect nitrogen before or after hungry plants like cabbages or tomatoes, we can ensure that the soil won’t be leached out.
Succession planting also helps control pests and diseases. By avoiding growing large numbers of the same vegetables at once, we create a natural barrier. Besides, different growth stages attract different beneficial insects.
When, due to the weather, pests or disease one crop fails, succession planting is our backup plan and reduces the risk of losing our entire harvest.
By spreading out planting and harvesting times, we prevent an overwhelming workload, either of planting or harvesting. As I told you before, I had this experience when I started gardening. I had lots to do in spring what with sowing and planting and then later with harvesting simply everything at once!
The different methods of succession planting
Succession planting is not only a season-long lettuce harvest. Instead, there are quite a few different methods to do it:
Same-crop succession
This covers the above-mentioned lettuce harvest. By planting the same crop every few weeks, for example lettuce, we ensure a constant harvest of this crop throughout the season. Make sure to always choose a different place for the same crop. Otherwise, the soil will get leached out of nutrients.
Different-crop succession
This means following one crop with a different crop, for example plant tomatoes after early peas.
Interplanting
A clever way to make the best use of your space is to plant fast-growing vegetables between slow-growing ones. A good example for interplanting is to cultivate radishes between cabbage plants.
Relay planting
This means starting one crop before the other has finished. A good example of relay planting is the famous “three sisters” bed, where we plant winter squash (harvest in autumn) between corn rows (harvest in late summer).
Temperature-based succession
Some plants like it hot, others thrive in colder temperatures. Choose different varieties of your crops and plant them accordingly by cultivating cold-season crops that are “followed by warm-season crops.”
Catch cropping
No matter how well you plan your vegetable garden, there will always be gaps for a few weeks. In that case, we plant or sow fast-growing vegetables like radishes or spinach to close the gaps and cover the soil until the next main crop can be planted.
Succession planting misconceptions
There are some common misconceptions about succession planting that I want to rectify.
“I need a large garden space”
That’s not true. You can apply succession planting in a raised bed and even in large pots on your patio.
“Succession planting means planting the same crop repeatedly.”
As you can see above, there are different methods of succession planting, same-crop succession being only one of them.
“I need to follow a fixed calendar schedule”
Local climate and weather conditions matter far more than a strict schedule. While not leaving out the calendar completely, it’s more important to watch the weather at your place.
“All plants are suitable for succession planting”
Some main crops like tomatoes and peppers don’t work well with succession planting. Instead, stick to the tried and tested veggies that go well with this concept.
“It’s too complex for beginners”
Definitely not! Even as a fledgling gardener you can apply basic succession planting methods.
“Every planting will show the same results”
Unfortunately: no. Growth rates and harvest yield strongly depend on seasonal changes like temperature, moisture and sun hours.
What do we need for succession planting?
Well, first of all, time. Wait, don’t go yet! The time I’m talking of is mostly spent on planning your vegetable garden and especially what to plant and when. Additionally, it costs a bit of time to sow (indoors or outdoors) or plant every few weeks and regularly monitor for harvest timing.
Another thing we need is a continuous supply of seeds or seedlings. You can either seed-start or sow your plants directly or plant seedlings from the nursery into the gaps.
Plants need nutrients, so you have to feed them with compost or other fertilisers.
If you want to extend your season, you’ll need row covers or a cold frame.
Although you have to constantly monitor your garden, the workload is spread throughout the whole season rather than concentrated in spring and fall. This makes gardening more manageable despite requiring consistent attention.
Planning Your Succession Garden
There are a few things you have to observe when planning your succession garden.
First of all, you should make a planting calendar where you indicate when to sow, seed-start and plant what vegetables. Don’t confuse a planting calendar with a planting plan. The first is about timing while the latter is about what veggies you want to plant and where.
The next step is to understand your actual growing season which is determined by frost dates, temperature, daylight hours and microclimate. Your growing season or hardiness zone, indicates the length of time you can grow crops outdoors. Cold frames, winter gardens and greenhouses prolong this growing season. Not sure about your hardiness zone? Find out at this site.
A further important factor to consider is maturity dates, i.e. the time different vegetables need until they can be harvested. This information is usually printed on seed packages or in seed catalogues. If you know, for example, that a certain variety of tomatoes you want to plant needs about 75 days to be harvested, you’ll want to write down when you planted them (for example: May 15th). Then, you can calculate the estimated date of the first harvest, in this case, July 29th. To adjust to local growing conditions, you might want to allow for a wiggle room of 7 – 10 days.
With all that planning, always keep a close eye on how far each of your plants needs to stand from each other. You’ll also find this information on the back of the seed packages or in seed catalogues. I know how tempting it is to reduce the space between plants, especially when they are still young and small. Every gardener has made that mistake at least once. (Some of us more often… ahem). However, vegetables that are planted too close compete for nutrients and space and will stay a good deal smaller than those planted with enough distance from one another.
During the season it’s helpful to keep a record of your gardening. Be it with a software/app or with a traditional handwritten gardening journal, there are a few things that should be covered:
The crops you choose
Crop varieties
Days to maturity
Expected and actual harvest date
Notes on the crops’ performance
Succession intervals
Space planning
This might look something like this:
Crop
Variety
Planting date
Days to maturity
Expected harvest
Actual harvest
Yield
Location
Notes
Feel free to use this chart as an example or create your own and remember to update your chart during the season.
Best Vegetables for Succession Planting
To get a good basis for planning succession planting, we must distinguish between fast-, medium- and slow-growing crops.
Fast-growing crops (30 – 40 days)
Radishes: Plant every 2 weeks March-September
Lettuce: Plant every 2-3 weeks March-September
Arugula: Plant every 2-3 weeks March-September
Baby Spinach: Plant every 2 weeks March-May, August-September
Baby Asian Greens: Plant every 2-3 weeks March-September
Make sure you choose the appropriate variety for the respective season (remember: there are cool- and heat-tolerant varieties!)
Medium-Speed Crops (50 – 60 days)
Bush beans: Sow every three weeks from May to July
Carrots: Sow every three weeks from April to August
Beets: Sow every three weeks from April to August
Kohlrabi: Sow every three weeks from April to August
Slow-Growing Crops (60 + days):
Tomatoes: staggered plantings 2 – 3 weeks apart in spring
Peppers: staggered plantings 2 – 3 weeks apart in spring
Broccoli: Early spring and late summer plantings
Cabbage: Early spring and late summer plantings
Brussels Sprouts: Late spring for fall/winter harvest
Winter Squash: Single planting in late spring
Either grow the Speedy Gonzales veggies between the sloths or let a fast-growing one follow a medium-growing crop.
Season-by-season guide
Depending on your hardiness zone, terms like “early spring” and “late summer” can vary considerably. For that reason, let’s define these seasons by their temperature:
– Early Spring (soil temp 5 – 10 °C / 40-50°F)
– Mid-Spring (soil temp 10 – 15 °C / 50-60°F)
– Late Spring/Early Summer (soil temp 15 – 20 °C / 60-70°F)
– Mid-Summer (soil temp 20 – 30 °C / 70-85°F)
– Late Summer/Early Fall (soil temp 15 – 20 °C / 60-70°F)
– Autumn (soil temp 10 – 15 °C / 50-60°F)
That defined, let’s have a look at exemplary tasks that’ll help you to keep your garden’s soil covered and harvest rolling in continually.
Spring succession tips
Prepare the soil as soon as you can work it without smearing it. Remove the mulch to let the soil warm up. Then, rip out all weeds that may have grown, loosen up the soil with a hoe and work in some compost to add nutrients.
Start with cool-season crops like peas, spinach, radishes, and lettuce in early spring (depending on your hardiness zone). Cold frames and low tunnels allow you to plant and sow a few weeks earlier than normal.
Let carrots, beets and Swiss chard follow in Mid-spring. Continue the succession of lettuce and radishes and plant the first bush beans. Now, it’s also time to seed-start indoors the warm-season crops like tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and so on.
In late spring, when the temperature rises, succession plants more quick-growing greens like lettuce, arugula and radishes every 2 weeks.
Continue the greens succession and plant the last cool-season crops before summer.
Summer planting strategies
When late spring changes into early summer, replace the bolting spring crops with heat-tolerant varieties. It’s also time now to plant, summer squash, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers and other heat-loving vegetables. Continue to plant herbs and leafy greens every 2 – 3 weeks and seed-start fall crops like broccoli, cabbage and kale indoors. Plant out the last set of cucumbers.
In Mid-summer you can sow quick-maturing crops like bush beans directly into the bed.
By the end of August, you can plant a second round of cool-season vegetables like spinach, arugula and lettuce and sow fall root crops like turnips and radishes. Continually plant short-season crops.
Although it can still be hot, consider the first frost date for your region and choose your vegetables accordingly. It’s best now, to cultivate varieties which take no longer than 30 – 45 days to mature. That way you’ll make sure that they ripen before the first frost hits.
Autumn garden planning
Continue to plant cold-hardy greens and root vegetables, always considering the first frost date. If necessary, you can use row covers to protect your vegetables from cold temperatures and thus extend the growing season.
Plant your last batch of quick-maturing crops like spinach and lettuce by mid-September. Now is also the best time to plant garlic for next year’s harvest.
Sow cover crops in every gap that arises when you have harvested or cover the soil with mulch.
Winter preparations
Protect your perennials, like certain herbs as well as vegetables like leek, kale and winter lettuce with covers from the cold.
Winter is the time for planning next year’s garden and succession planting. If you have recorded your garden year in a journal, you can see what worked well and where you can make improvements next year.
In January, you can seed-start the first vegetables for the upcoming season.
Soil Management
As the soil is always covered with crops that take nutrients out of it, it is our task as gardeners to provide exactly those nutrients. After all, we not only want to maintain our soil’s fertility but also to ensure the healthy growth of our plants.
To do that, we start with working compost into the soil in early spring.
When planting strong uptakers like cabbage or tomatoes, we can add well-rotted manure or compost into the plant hole.
During the season, we need to make sure to add organic or mineral fertiliser to give the plants what they need when they need it.
When we have harvested one crop it’s good to loosen the now uncovered soil and work in some compost, well-rotted manure or another long-term fertiliser before sowing or planting the next crop.
Always keep in mind which plants grow great together (and which don’t) and apply the rules of companion planting. That way, we can prevent soil depletion.
Like in nature, our garden’s soil should always be covered, either by plants or by mulch. The cover not only holds the weeds at bay but also retains moisture and prevents the soil from being washed away by rain.
Advanced Succession Strategies
Beyond the basics, there are some advanced strategies you can use that will make you look like a succession planting pro in no time:
Intercropping Techniques
Plant crops together that complement each other, for example, tall corn and low-growing beans. That way you make the most use of your space, keep pests at bay and improve nutrient cycling
Companion Planting
Companion planting means knowing which crops support each other’s growth and strategically placing them together. The combination of tomatoes and basil or carrots and onions are good examples of companion planting. A clever combination of “best buddies” helps to repel pests, enhances nutrients and supports soil health.
Vertical Gardening Methods
Make the most of your space and let your vegetables grow upwards. You can use trellises, for example, where cucumbers, pole beans or winter squash can climb. Or you try hanging pots from carport ceilings or patio canopies and plant them with vegetables. On your balcony or patio, you can also use wall-mounted planters or buy stackable growing systems. Vertical gardening is ideal for small spaces.
Season Extension
With cold frames or a greenhouse, you can extend your region’s growing period. You can sow and plant weeks earlier than outdoors and, depending on your hardiness zone, ensure a year-round harvest, if necessary with a bit of additional protection.
Especially for the first crops outdoors, row covers are a game-changer. They protect the seedlings from harsh weather and temperature variations. Hoop houses create a microclimate that’s beneficial for growing and great for keeping pests out.
Microclimate Creation
With a bit of clever planning, you can create a beneficial microclimate in your garden and thus manipulate your local growing conditions in your favour! My garden, for example, has a slight slope. To prevent the soil from being washed off, I have created the beds at a 90 ° angle to the slope. That way, water is kept longer at the beds’ edges and has more time to seep in.
It’s important to place your plants strategically to create a good microclimate. Large or climbing plants, like corn or pole beans, should be planted at the back of the garden so that they don’t cast a shadow on other plants.
Or you use them as a wind-breaker to protect other, more sensitive plants from harsh winds. A side effect may be the retention of warmth that benefits heat-loving plants like tomatoes and peppers.
Succession in Small Spaces
Gardening in containers is no reason to give up on succession planting. On the contrary: what works in a garden works in containers as well. However, given that we only have a limited amount of soil in containers, fertilising is more important to keep the soil nutritious enough to ensure the healthy growth of your vegetables. Also, use smaller varieties that are better for being grown in containers, like dwarf plant varieties. As with a garden, make a planting and a growing plan.
Succession Planting Wrap-up
You see: a good succession planting strategy can easily provide you with fresh produce during the whole growing season. Just observe the following points:
To get started with succession planting, begin small by focusing on quick-growing crops like lettuce, radishes, and bush beans.
Keep a calendar to track planting dates and expected harvest times, taking into consideration your hardiness zone.
Make sure that you’ve always new crops ready to replace any gaps where plants have been harvested.
Match the crops to the seasonal temperature ranges. Make sure to plant cold-hardy veggies in spring and late summer and heat-loving ones in late spring / early summer.
Maintain your soil’s health by working in compost in late winter and spring, fertilising according to your plants’ needs during the growing season and making sure that the soil is continually covered through successive planting.
Start planning your succession schedule now, and you’ll be amazed at how much food you can grow in even a modest garden space.
When my siblings and I were children, we used to play outside a lot (those were the days), even in winter. Or rather: especially in winter. We had a (small but great) hill in our back garden that used to be frequented by all the children in the neighbourhood as a sledge hill. When, after a long day of bobsleighing, building snowmen and doing snowball fights, we came back into the house, cold and wet with snow, my mum sometimes had made an authentic Bavarian apple strudel (what else?) to warm us up and get us back our strength. It was heaven! Even today, when I eat apple strudel, I remember those days and sometimes I still can smell the snow.
However, apple strudel is not only for winter but it’s a year-round sweet dish or dessert that’s best served with vanilla sauce. Our Bavarian strudel has a slightly thicker dough and is crispier than its Austrian brother which requires pulling the strudel dough very thinly. If you are new to making strudel dough or a bit intimidated by the pulling process, read this article where I’ve described step-by-step how to do it.
But no matter which strudel you prefer, just make sure you bake plenty of it. There won’t be any leftovers. 😉
You are currently viewing a placeholder content from Default. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
Sieve the flour into a bowl, add the other ingredients and knead it all into a smooth dough. Brush the dough with oil, put it back in the bowl, cover that with cling film and let it rest for at least 30 minutes (the longer, the more elastic the dough gets).
If you use fresh apples, peel and core them and cut them into thin slices. Put them in a bowl and mix them with lemon juice to prevent them from browning. If you use dry-canned apples, just put them into the bowl.
Roast the nuts in a pan without fat until they are lightly brown. Immediately get them out of the pan and either grind them finely in a kitchen mixer or put them as they are (as chops or flakes) to the apples.
Add the raisins (if you like), sugar and cinnamon and mix it all well.
Dust a kitchen towel with some flour and roll out the strudel dough on it with a rolling pin. Now pull the dough with your hands to the desired size.
Spread the filling evenly across the whole dough but leave out about 2 cm (1 inch) from the edges.
Fold the shorter edges in and roll the strudel with the help of the kitchen towel. Put the strudel either on a baking tray or in a roasting pan that is either covered with a baking tray or greased with butter, lard or tallow.
Brush the strudel with butter and egg yolk and bake it in the preheated oven for 45 minutes at 180 °C (350 °F) (no fan-oven).
Vanilla sauce
Ingredients:
1/2 l milk
1/2 vanilla pod
80 g sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 eggs
Instructions:
Separate the eggs and mix the egg yolks with sugar, corn starch and a bit of the milk to a homogenous mass.
Cut the vanilla pod lengthwise in half, scrape off the seeds and put the seeds and the pod in a pot. Add the milk and put it to the boil.
When the milk wells up, add the egg yolk mixture.
Stir it all well until the sauce thickens. Put the pot off of the plate.
While the sauce cools down, beat the egg whites and fold them into the (still hot) sauce.
Let it cool and stir once more before serving.
Cut this Authentic Bavarian apple strudel into slices and serve them with a huge dollop of vanilla sauce.
Variations
Finely grind the nuts or almonds and add them with 200 g cream cheese to the filling.
Bake the strudel in a deep roasting pan. Bring 120 ml milk, 25 g butter and 20 g sugar to the boil and add the mixture after 20 – 25 minutes of the baking time to the strudel. Let it bake until the strudel has soaked up all the milk (total baking time about 40 – 45 minutes).
If you don’t want to make vanilla sauce, you can serve the strudel with vanilla ice cream as well.
Authentic Bavarian Apple Strudel
Authentic Bavarian apple strudel is not only a main dish for autumn and winter but a year-round dessert that's best served with vanilla sauce.
Sieve the flour into a bowl, add the other ingredients and knead it all into a smooth dough. Brush the dough with oil, put it back in the bowl, cover that with cling film and let it rest for at least 30 minutes (the longer, the more elastic the dough gets).
If you use fresh apples, peel and core them and cut them into thin slices. Put them in a bowl and mix them with lemon juice to prevent them from browning. If you use dry-canned apples, just put them into the bowl.
Roast the nuts in a pan without fat until they are lightly brown. Immediately get them out of the pan and either grind them finely in a kitchen mixer or put them as they are (as chops or flakes) to the apples.
Add the raisins (if you like), sugar and cinnamon and mix it all well.
Dust a kitchen towel with some flour and roll out the strudel dough on it with a rolling pin. Now pull the dough with your hands to the desired size.
Spread the filling evenly across the whole dough but leave out about 2 cm (1 inch) from the edges.
Fold the shorter edges in and roll the strudel with the help of the kitchen towel. Put the strudel either on a baking tray or in a roasting pan that is either covered with a baking tray or greased with butter, lard or tallow.
Brush the strudel with butter and egg yolk and bake it in the preheated oven for 45 minutes at 180 °C (350 °F) (no fan-oven).
Vanilla sauce
While the strudel is baking, prepare the vanilla sauce:
Separate the eggs and mix the egg yolks with sugar, corn starch and a bit of the milk to a homogenous mass.
Cut the vanilla pod lengthwise in half, scrape off the seeds and put the seeds and the pod in a pot. Add the milk and put it to the boil.
When the milk wells up, add the egg yolk mixture.
Stir it all well until the sauce thickens. Put the pot off of the plate.
While the sauce cools down,beat the egg whites and fold them into the (still hot) sauce.
Let it cool and stir once more before serving.
When the apple strudel is baked, dust it with icing sugar, cut it into slices and serve it with a huge dollop of vanilla sauce.
Notes
Variations:
Finely grind the nuts or almonds and add them with 200 g cream cheese to the filling.
Bake the strudel in a deep roasting pan. Bring 120 ml milk, 25 g butter and 20 g sugar to the boil and add the mixture after 20 - 25 minutes of the baking time to the strudel. Let it bake until the strudel has soaked up all the milk (total baking time about 40 - 45 minutes).
If you don't want to make vanilla sauce, you can serve the strudel with vanilla ice cream as well.
Apple strudel is one of my favourite sweet dishes and although I’ve made lots of them myself and have eaten even more in restaurants and cafés, my mum’s apple strudel is still the best I’ve ever tasted. She always made two baking trays of strudel for our large family, plus two generous cans of vanilla sauce. What shall I say? There never were any leftovers! It tasted too good to leave a single crumb on the plate (especially for my brothers who always ate like there was no tomorrow).
When I tried to make my first strudel, it was, well, not a disaster but not a pretty sight either. The dough was too thick in some parts and so thin in others that it tore and had holes in it. It tasted good, however, and that kept me going. Since then I’ve gathered a lot of experience in making strudel dough and pulling it without tearing – although the occasional hole may form.
If you’ve ever wanted to make an apple strudel by yourself but have shrunk back from pulling the strudel dough, here’s your chance to learn how to do it. Some basic ingredients and a few knacks to observe are all you need for a delicious strudel dough for all kinds of fillings!
Strudel basics
What makes a strudel into a really good strudel?
A good strudel has a beautiful colour. It is usually golden yellow, but it can also be almost black, for example, when the dough is coloured with cocoa or sepia.
The outer layers should be crispy and the strudel should look good when cut into pieces.
Nevertheless, the most important thing about a strudel is the filling which may be sweet or savoury.
What kinds of strudel doughs are there and what do you use them for?
The classic strudel dough is a pulled dough which refers to the fact that you have to pull out the dough very thinly before you spread the filling on it. Pulled strudel dough is typically used for apple or vegetable strudel.
Other strudel doughs include for example puff pastry, shortcrust, yeast dough, curd cheese dough and even pancake dough.
In this post, we’re gonna learn to make a classic Bavarian and an Austrian pulled strudel dough.
Basic knowledge about pulled strudel dough
Most beginners are not afraid of the simple kneading of the dough but the “pulling” part. When pulled properly, the dough should be very thin (some say you should be able to read a newspaper through it) and it shouldn’t tear.
How do we manage that?
By mixing flour with water. The flour proteins (gluten) build a network with the water and form a rubber-like, elastic mass. This network enables us to pull the dough very thinly without tearing it. The longer the dough can rest, the better its capacity to be pulled. The dough should rest for at least half an hour, but it’s better to let it rest for 1 – 2 hours or even overnight in the fridge.
If you want to use the dough now, it still needs to rest for about 30 minutes but my mum always used to cover it with a hot metal bowl: she poured hot water into a metal bowl that was slightly smaller than the dough bowl opening, drained off the water and dried the bowl. Then she put the bowl upside down over the dough.
Ingredients like oil, vinegar and egg also enhance the dough’s elasticity.
It’s also important to knead the dough thoroughly as kneading intensifies the protein-water-reaction. When you work the dough for some time you’ll realize that it starts to feel elastic, smooth, even and not in the least sticky.
What flour should you use?
As you heard before, the proteins (= gluten) in the flour are important. The higher the protein content, the more elastic the dough.
Worldwide there are different flour types. What we in Germany know as “Type 550” (wheat flour) is the “all-purpose” flour in English-speaking countries. Flours of a higher type like bread flour or high-gluten flour are also suitable. The same goes for spelt flour.
No matter what flour you use, however, it’s important to observe the water-flour ratio. After kneading the dough should be smooth, elastic and a little bit moist but not sticky.
Storage
Strudel dough can be kept in the fridge for about 2 days. It may change its colour to a light grey but that’s quite normal and will lighten when kneaded. Always let the dough reach room temperature before processing it further.
You can even freeze raw strudel dough and let it thaw overnight before processing it.
If you want to freeze a whole (or parts of a) strudel, put the (raw or baked) strudel onto a tray with baking paper and put it into the freezer until it’s completely frozen. Afterwards, put it into a container or freezer bag.
How to fill a strudel
There are two different methods to fill a strudel.
1) Put the filling on the first third of the dough
With this method, it’s important to have a thin strudel dough as you have several layers of it on the outside when it’s baked. If the dough were too thick, the outer layers would be hard and you couldn’t cut them well.
Always leave out the edges which will be folded inwards before rolling the strudel.
This method is recommended.
when you have a relatively moist and hardly compact filling
when the filling contains a good amount of eggs that will rise during baking
when you want to get more crispy strudel dough instead of only one layer
when you want to make sure that the strudel dough won’t tear
when you want to make an elegant strudel that can also be presented standing
when you want to use store-bought dough like filo, yufka or strudel dough. Brush each layer with melted butter before adding another dough leaf (not more than 4 – 6 leaves)
2) Put the filling on the whole dough
For this method, you can use thin and (even better) thicker doughs which stay more compact during baking and don’t tear as easily as thin doughs. If your filling contains eggs or beaten egg whites, the risk of tearing is higher during baking as the filling expands. Just make sure to roll the strudel not too tightly.
Sieve the flour into a bowl, add the other ingredients and knead it all into a smooth dough.
Brush the dough with oil, put it back into the bowl, cover the bowl with cling film and let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes, the longer the better. If you want to use it right away, cover it with a hotly rinsed and dried metal bowl for 30 minutes.
This dough is traditionally pulled very thinly.
Strudel dough – step-by-step instructions
1. Put the flour, egg/vinegar, salt and oil into a bowl and add the lukewarm water
2. Mix the ingredients thoroughly and knead the dough…
3…. until it’s smooth. Form the dough into a ball, brush it with oil, put it back in the bowl that you cover with cling film. Let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
4. Dust a kitchen towel with flour and roll out the dough with a rolling pin.
5. Start pulling the dough carefully at the edges with your fingers.
6. Pull the dough with the back of your hand while holding it with the other hand.
7. Pull the dough thinly into a rectangle. You should see slightly through it.
8. Either spread the filling on one-third of the dough…
9. … or across the whole dough. Leave out the edges.
10. No matter how you placed the filling, fold in the edges.
11. Gently roll the strudel with the help of the towel.
12. Prick the strudel with a pin so that moisture can evaporate during baking.
13. Bake the strudel at 180 °C (350 °F) for 35 – 45 minutes and let it cool down a bit before serving.
Bavarian Strudel Dough
This authentic Bavarian strudel dough recipe creates a delicate, paper-thin pastry that's both elastic and tender. When stretched correctly, this dough becomes nearly transparent—the hallmark of traditional strudel. Mastering this technique opens the door to countless sweet and savory fillings, from classic apple to savory meat variations.
Put the flour, egg/vinegar, salt and oil into a bowl and add the lukewarm water.
Mix the ingredients thoroughly and knead the dough until it's smooth.
Form the dough into a ball, brush it with oil and cover it with cling film. Let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
Dust a kitchen towel with flour and roll out the dough with a rolling pin.
Start pulling the dough carefully at the edges with your fingers.
Pull the dough with the back of your hand while holding it with the other hand.
Pull the dough thinly into a rectangle. You should see slightly through it.
Either spread the filling on one-third of the dough or across the whole dough. Leave the edges out.
No matter how you placed the filling, fold in the edges.
Gently roll the strudel with the help of the towel.
Prick the strudel with a pin so that moisture can evaporate during baking.
Bake the strudel at 180 °C (350 °F) for 35 - 45 minutes and let it cool down a bit before serving.
Tips and tricks for a perfect strudel
Dust the kitchen towel with flour before you roll the dough out with a rolling pin. Remove rings, bracelets, watches etc., they only cause holes. Always pull with the whole (back of the) hand and work slowly and relaxed.
Before rolling, fold in the short edges. That way no filling can spill.
Make sure that the seams of your strudel are tightly closed so that no filling gets out during baking.
If your filling contains eggs, it’ll rise during baking and will need more room. Don’t roll the strudel too tightly.
Prick the strudel with a pin before baking so that moisture can evaporate and the dough won’t tear.
If you brush the strudel with egg yolk before baking, it gets a beautiful colour and becomes crispy.
Brushing with olive oil or butter also makes the strudel crispy.
If the dough has become too hard after baking, cover the strudel with a cloth or brush it lightly with salt or sugar water and let it cool. It becomes softer.
Troubleshooting
The strudel dough is too moist.
The right ratio between flour and water is essential for a strudel dough which should be smooth and elastic, slightly moist but not sticky. If the dough is too moist, knead in some flour, a little at a time.
The strudel dough is too dry.
If the dough tears when kneaded, it usually is too dry. Wet your hands repeatedly when kneading and thus moisten up the dough.
What to do when strudel dough tears
You did everything right but your dough has torn nevertheless? The flour may be the reason. Flour is a natural product and the protein (gluten) content can vary.
However, it’s no drama if your dough has torn. That has happened (and still does) to everyone who has ever done a strudel. There are, however, a few things you can do:
1) Most tears and holes aren’t large. Just press the dough together with your fingers and close the hole.
2) Depending on where the holes have formed, you may not see them when the strudel has been rolled up. “Mending” won’t be necessary then.
3) If there are really many holes (think Swiss cheese) you could put the dough together, knead it through and try to pull it out again. Or you cut off parts of the edges and stick them onto the holes. You could even cut off dough strips and decorate the wrapped-up strudel creatively. Remember, the most important part of the strudel is the filling!
Making strudel dough is very easy and pulling it thinly without tearing is also not rocket science. If you’re a newbie to strudel making, I suggest starting with the Bavarian strudel dough as it needn’t be pulled out too thin and is more forgiving. Make sure that you observe each step and you’ll be on your way to becoming a strudel master before you can say “apple strudel”!
I don’t know about you but once the festive season is over and life starts again in January, my fingers itch to dig into some dirt! Although there are some outdoor garden tasks you should do in January, it’s too cold to get my fingers dirty outside. But I can always do some seed-starting in January and sow vegetables indoors! Of course, it’s way too early to seed-start tomatoes, for example, but there are some plants we can give a head-start by sowing them out in January. Let’s get growing!
Understanding Your Growing Zone and Its Impact on Seed Starting
As you probably know, there are 11 hardiness zones, each divided further into two half-zones. Hardiness zones are set worldwide and classified by the lowest temperatures reached in winter and last frost dates. If you want to know your hardiness zone, hop over to this site, insert your postal code and find out your zone.
The hardiness zone you live in determines to an extent what plants you can cultivate in your region. It also tells you when to plant and seed-start your vegetables which is largely determined by the dates of the last frost.
However, knowing your hardiness zone doesn’t take into consideration regional microclimates that mostly affect temperature and humidity. Also, soil quality contributes a lot to the microclimate. Sandy soils, for example, have a lower minimum and higher maximum temperature than loamy soils.
Apart from temperature, the last frost dates are what’s most important for us vegetable gardeners. When we know how long it takes for a plant to germinate and from sowing to harvest, we can calculate backwards and determine when to seed-start indoors.
Essential Indoor Seed Starting Equipment for January
The basic equipment consists of cultivation trays and/or small pots with transparent covers, alternatively cling film.
Then, you need cultivation soil specially for seed-starting. It contains fewer nutrients and is also good for planting herbs, which also need a few nutrients, in pots.
A small watering can or a plant sprayer helps you to water your seeds carefully without washing them out of the soil.
Plant sticks are great for noting the plants and varieties you sow and sticking them into the tray to mark your plant rows. Don’t think you can determine the plants later. Been there, done it, not successful!
A plant lamp is a true game-changer when it comes to indoor seed-starting as light intensity and light hours are usually not sufficient for healthy plant growth. When there is too little light for our seedlings, they become leggy and might even fall over as they try to reach for the light. A plant lamp can be programmed for how long it has to shine (12 – 14 hours/day) and it usually provides just the right light spectrum for plants.
Additionally, you may want to think about buying a heating mat for warmth-loving plants like peppers, tomatoes and eggplants. With a mat like that underneath the seedling trays you can ensure a consistently high temperature.
How to seed-start indoors
Seed-starting indoors is not rocket science but there are a few things to observe:
Rinse the tray or pots with hot water to eliminate bacteria and fungi.
Put the soil into the tray or pots, press it lightly and make small holes where you want the seeds. Put the seeds into the holes, cover them lightly with soil and press the soil gently. Now, water the seeds carefully with a fine-holed watering can.
Put the transparent covers onto the trays. This enhances the temperature and keeps the moisture in. Put the trays in a sunny place at the temperatures required for each plant. If you want to seed-start plants that need relatively high temperatures, like eggplants, peppers, physalis etc., you should consider using a heating mat that you can put under the trays and heat up to the appropriate temperature.
Once the plants grow, check them daily. Keep the cover off for a few minutes to enable ventilation and prevent fungi. Also, check for fungus gnats, those small black flies that come out of the soil and whose larvae eat your plants’ roots. Sometimes, we bring them into the house with the soil. Put glue traps into your propagation trays and if gnats stick to them, put nematodes, which eat gnat larvae, into water and water your plants with it. Maybe you have to repeat this procedure at a later time.
Vegetables to seed-start in January
#1 Peppers / Chillies
Peppers and chillies need some time to get started. If you sow them too late, they’ll have their fruits late, too, and you risk damaging them by cold temperatures—even if you cultivate them in your greenhouse.
Sow the seeds into a tray with cultivation soil and put it in a sunny and warm spot at 25 °C (77 °F). A bright south-facing window, a winter garden or a heatable greenhouse are good places.
#2 Physalis
Seed-start physalis in January by sowing several seeds into one pot. Put the pot in a warm and bright spot. Temperatures about 25 °C (77°F) are ideal. Physalis grow slowly at the beginning and must be kept moist. Separate the plants when they are about three weeks old and plant them in single pots. Either plant physalis out after the last night frosts or separate them again and put them into large pots that you put outside.
Physalis are perennials and can be kept indoors during winter.
#3 Winter lettuce
Seed-start winter lettuce like ‘Baqieu’ to plant it out later in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse. That way you’ll have an early lettuce harvest.
Sow the seeds into a tray with the appropriate soil and press it lightly. Lettuce only germinates in light so don’t cover the seeds with soil. Temperatures mustn’t be as high as for peppers or physalis. 16 – 18 °C (60 – 65 °F) are ideal. When the plants are large enough, separate them and set them into single pots.
#4 Sweet potatoes
Cut sweet potatoes in halves and let the cutting areas dry for a few hours. Then, put the halves with the cut end facing down into a pot or balcony box with soil. Place the pot or box in a warm and sunny place. After some time, shoots will grow out of the sweet potatoes which we’ll cut off later and put into water for building roots.
#5 Ginger / Turmeric
Ginger and turmeric build rhizomes instead of deep roots and thus are best grown in flat pots. Put a rhizome with “eyes” into a tray or pot and cover it with soil so that two-thirds of the ginger or turmeric is in the soil and one-third is still above.
#6 Eggplants
Like peppers and physalis, eggplants like it warm and thrive best at temperatures of 25 °C (77 °F). Seed-start eggplants at the end of January by sowing seeds into a tray. Later, when they are large enough transplant each plant into a single pot. Always make sure that they are in a warm and sunny place.
#7 Cabbage
Cabbage is usually harvested in autumn, but there are varieties for a summer harvest and those should be seed-started now. As usual, sow the seeds in a tray and separate them later when they’ve grown four seed leaves.
Cabbage doesn’t need high temperatures like peppers and eggplants. On the contrary, it’s perfectly content with temperatures of 16 – 18 °C (60 – 65 °F).
When we plant out these cabbage varieties after the last day frosts, we can harvest the plants already in July.
#8 Savoy cabbage
As with cabbage, there are summer varieties that should be seed-started at the end of January. Savoy cabbage germinates already at temperatures of only 3 °C (38 °F). Once they have four seed leaves, separate the young savoy cabbages and plant them into single pots. Now put them in a bright place at about 16 – 18 °C (60 – 65 °F) and plant them outdoors end of March/beginning of April.
Summer varieties of savoy cabbage can be harvested in July and August.
#9 Early cauliflower
Seed-start early cauliflower varieties in January by sowing them into trays and putting them in a place with 16 – 18 °C (60 – 65 °F). Separate them when they have grown four seed leaves and plant them into single pots. Plant them into an unheated greenhouse or a cold frame mid to end of March. If you have them in the greenhouse, you can plant tomatoes in between later. By the time they need more space, the cauliflower is already harvested.
#10 Kohlrabi
Kohlrabi can also be seed-started now for an early harvest in the cold frame or greenhouse. Indoors they need temperatures about 16 – 18 °C (60 – 65 °F) and should be separated once they’ve developed four seed leaves. Plant them out into the cold frame or greenhouse end of February/beginning of March for an early harvest.
#11 Onions
Sowing onions may be more time-consuming than planting the bulbs but it shows advantages like healthier growth, more varieties and better storage capability. And it’s cheaper. Seed-start onions in January to ensure that you can harvest them before the first frost in autumn. Put the seeds into a tray or small single pots and place them in a bright spot of about 16 – 18 °C (60 – 65 °F) or colder (not under 10 °C / 50 °F). At the end of March/beginning of April, you can plant them outdoors.
#11 Summer leek
Summer leek, that’s harvested in July / August must be seed-started in January. You can either sow the seeds in trays and separate them later or you sow them into small single pots. Plant the leek outdoors when it’s about as thick as a pencil. To protect it from night frosts, however, you should cover it then with a frost fleece.
Summary
Starting seeds in January sets you up for a productive growing season ahead. Remember to choose varieties suited to your zone and provide proper growing conditions for strong, healthy seedlings. When you observe the simple rules for seed-starting vegetables indoors (see above), you’ll give your plants a good head-start and have a great harvest later that season.
Ready to get growing? Grab your seed packets and let’s make this your best gardening year yet!
