Credit: Elizabeth White
Watching a seed grow and nurturing it to maturity is an incredibly satisfying and rewarding process. It’s also a good way to get a jump on the growing season and start enjoying your veggies early. But planting and raising seeds to garden-ready stage does take some knowledge, time and effort.
This can be done by spending a lot of money on fancy containers and grow lights. It can also be done very inexpensively. Nearly any container a few inches deep and with drainage holes will do. I like to use the bottoms of milk cartons and the light over my stove, along with a sunny window.
If you’ve decided to give this a try this year, chances are you’ve already planted your seeds, using a good seed-starting soil and following the directions on the back of the seed packet. You’ve kept the soil moist – not wet – and have placed your containers in a southern-facing window during the day and under a light in the evenings. Seedlings do well with 15 hours of light and 9 hours of darkness a day.
By now, you should be seeing secondary leaves – also known as true leaves – on your plants. This means they’re now ready for some food. I like to use a diluted fish emulsion solution every couple of days. It’s also a good idea to run a fan on them for a few hours a day. This accustoms them to wind and helps get them ready for the big outdoors.
Once your plants are a few inches high, they’re ready to begin the transition to outside life. This empty-nest process of gradually exposing your tender seedlings to outdoor conditions is appropriately known as hardening. Place them outside in a protected spot and cover them with a light cloth at night. As long as nighttime temperatures remain above freezing and the plants look happy, they can stay out. If not, bring them inside for a while to recover. In a pinch, plants can also be hardened in an open window. Hardening-off usually takes about seven to 10 days.
Seed-starting soil dries out very quickly, so plants need checking and watering throughout the day. Your seedings may also outgrow their nursery and need to be transplanted into larger containers. When replanting in a new container, be sure to use a medium that contains compost and potting soil.
The first plants that will be ready to transition to a permanent outdoor home are those that do well at cooler temperatures, like peas, beets, broccoli, Swiss chard, spinach and kale. Once your cool-weather plants are about 4 inches high and no further frost is predicted in the weather forecast, they can be moved to your garden or a permanent large container. The bigger and stronger your plants are at this stage, the more apt they are to do well in their outdoor environment. Warm-weather plants like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant need to wait until after Memorial Day to go into the garden.
Credit: Elizabeth White
The cool of the evening is the best time to move your plants to their permanent home. Loosen up the soil with a shovel or spade, and remove any rocks you encounter. A sign of a healthy soil is lots of earthworms, so hopefully you see some. I like to add a double handful of compost, a handful of wood ashes (if you have them), a generous sprinkle of blood meal for nitrogen, and bone meal to feed the roots and encourage blossoms. I also like to make a potassium solution by soaking banana peels in a container of water, to pour on the soil around each plant. This ensures your plants will get their necessary nutrients of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Be very careful to not disturb the roots by keeping the soil around them intact. Water well.
Early the next day, check your plants to see how they’re doing. Is the weather hot and sunny? Do they look wilted? If so, water them again and give them some shade by covering them with a light cloth or propping up a pot to cast a shadow. Be sure to remove the shade cover by the evening.
This cycle may need to be repeated for a few days, until your plants are firmly established in their new home. Fertilize and water regularly throughout the season. By the end, you’ll be enjoying the well-deserved bounty of your efforts.
Elizabeth White grew up on a farm in Shekomeko Valley and holds a degree in agronomy from SUNY Cobleskill. She’s been an active member of the Pine Plains Community Garden since 2020.