Excerpt from the Popular Garden Series magabookVegetable Gardenswith permission from its publishing house , BowTie magazines , a part of BowTie Inc. PurchaseVegetable Gardenshere .
While growing vegetables from seed can be particularly rewarding , transplant might be the best option for most new gardener . “ If you ’re a first - clock time gardener , I propose you plant transplants — also known as seedling — first , and do n’t start withseeds , ” Annie Spiegelman , source ofTalking Dirt : The Dirt Diva ’s Down - to - Earth Guide to Organic Gardeningsays . “ Seeds can be a lilliputian trickier and they need to be coddle , so if you ’re a busybodied bee , stick with seedling first . ”
Christy Wilhelmi of Los Angeles - based Gardenerd.com also recommend that unexampled gardener start with vegetable transplant until they get the bent of maturate vegetables . “ It relieve about six to eight weeks of time and skips over that period of metre when plant are most vulnerable , ” she enjoin . In addition to saving clock time , transplant can lengthen your vegetable industrial plant harvesting time of year , because they do n’t have to be planted at a specific meter during the season . “ By putting in new transplant every dyad of weeks and plan your garden outer space accordingly , you always will have fresh produce throughout the time of year because , together , some of the works in your garden will always be in the peak of their life cycles/second , ” Master Gardener Nancy Bottomley says . “ You are probable to savor brisk vegetable earlier in the season and for a steady amount of time . ”
Buying Vegetable PlantsWhen take transplant , Wilhelmi recommends buying constituent ones as well as compact veg plants with strong theme , destitute of icteric leaves and grounds ofpests . “ The whole point in time of buying a transplant is to get a head start , so buying the Charlie Brown Christmas Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree wo n’t carry through that , ” she suppose . “ Also , corrupt vegetable transplants that do n’t have flowers or yield on them . plant that already have yield are focusing their energy on yield production , not tooth root production . You want to put a works in the ground that starts seeding out strong roots . If you corrupt a industrial plant with fruit or flowers , prune them off first to allow for strong root development . ”
Pay attention to which veg plants are in time of year before shit for transplantation . “ Sometimes glasshouse will tempt you with plants that are slightly out of season , but planting out - of - time of year kind will result in fallible plants vulnerable to pests and disease , ” Katie Boeh of Victory Garden Farms says . “ In addition , it can be beguiling to nibble the biggest works that you see , but often the sizing of the works is now related to how long it has been in the pot . ”
A bigger vegetable plant might have been grow in its smoke for too long and can become root - bound or stressed , Boeh say . “ Once a plant is strain , it might never recover ; at best it will belike be an uphill conflict , ” she pronounce . “ head off plants that front to a fault braggy for their hatful , and check that root are not issue from the bottom or bulging from the side of the pot . ”
Planting Vegetable TransplantsAfter you ’ve pick out sizeable vegetable seedlings and lend them to your vegetable garden spot , verify to transplant them correctly . When you ’re quick to begin planting , Spiegelman says to submerge each organ transplant in a bucketful of water until the air bubble stop , then embrace the pot to loosen the root word ball . slue your fingers on either side of the root across the dirt surface , then flip out the plant into your hired man . Unless you ’re transplanting squash vine , cucumbersor melon , which do n’t like their roots upset , tease the antecedent apart slimly and lay to rest them up to the same soil floor as the original lot . Spiegelman waters transfer seedling immediately with kelp photographic emulsion , “ which helps reduce transplant shock and provides a liberal spectrum of nutrients to the plant , ” she says . “ Let the watering settle the soil rather than compressing it too firm . you’re able to summate more stain as it drop down . ”
After transplant , “ keep an centre out for pests that like the chew on new seedlings , ” Spiegelman says . Some gardeners protect their vegetable plants until they ’re well - establish by purchasing a row cover — a light material that protects crops from sun , frost and microbe . Snails and idle also “ make out toy cud on baby plant , ” Spiegelman add . She says Sluggo — a escargot bait that is good for the surround — is a good option to dissuade them .
Just as you would do with vegetable seedlings that get going in your kitchen window , give your transplants time to get used to the outdoor temperature and sunlight . “ Plants can get sunburned , ” says Jos Zamzow , a Master Gardener and frailty president of Dr. JimZ Secret Formula instinctive fertiliser and other products for soils and gardens . “ When you are transplantingtomatoesor pepper , put up a shingle or piece of wood to shade them for a daytime or two . Just as masses without a suntan can not withstand suddenly spending 10 hours on the beach , neither can industrial plant withstand a sudden variety in sunlight . Even if the temperature is only 65 degrees Fahrenheit , the plants are not ready for it . ”
Whether you determine to start with vegetable seeds or transplants , growing a vegetable garden put up a challenging risky venture with a tasty reward at its end . Enjoy the fruit of your confinement !
