Hardening Off: Time To Ready Your Seed Starts For The Real World!

VintageTomatoPacket

So a couple of months ago, when snow was swirling around outside and wicked winds were whipping through your garden, you got out your paper cups, or toilet rolls, or fancier cow pots and filled them with sterile seed starting medium and planted your choice heirloom tomato, pepper and eggplant seeds. You watched every day for emergence, keeping them moist but not too wet, warm on the top of the refrigerator or a heated seed starting mat. And celebrated when they finally poked their little green heads up. You added a grow light, lowered to a few inches above them, to keep them from getting straggly. Then followed weeks of growth as they developed their real leaves and then thicker stalks. You might have gently put a fan on them for a few minutes each day to strengthen them. And now, the weather is warming and your seedlings are ready, or almost ready, for the garden.

For any gardener who has ever experienced transplant shock and loss, you know how heartbreaking it is. This is the most critical time to ensure your future success — the “Hardening Off” period, when you ease your seedlings to readiness for the garden. Some gardeners like to rush the process, using devices to protect their seedlings from sudden temperature changes, or even snow. I prefer to let them gradually strengthen from short, daily exposures to sun and outside temps and hold the transplanting for when the weather and conditions are correct. I have found that rushing to the garden doesn’t produce fruit any faster. Tomatoes (and eggplants and peppers) come when the number of hours of daylight and temperatures are right for them, and not before. So why risk stressing those dear little things?

Emphasis is on gradual. Here in North Carolina, it is not unexpected that we go from quite chilly, windy days and close to freezing nights, to suddenly summer! Yesterday was such a day — in the 80’s after weeks of cold, inhospitable weather. Now, a warm day does not equate with warm soil. And a hot sunny day can literally fry your sweet little tomatoes, so caution! I like to take a tray of the largest seedlings out with me in the mid-morning, when the sun is still hospitable, and set it down with me while I weed or prepare soil. I set a timer, because it is so easy to lose track of time when gardening. First outings are strictly limited to 15 minutes, gradually increasing that time over a period of a week or two until they can stand quite well even in the middle of the day. This is when you are ready to transplant.

Now, there is still the possibility of shock and loss if the soil is too cold, or the sun too bold. Choose a day that’s cloudy but not threatening and do your transplanting in the morning or afternoon. You’ve already prepared the proper location and soil, with appropriate amendments so that the tilth and pH is right. Tomatoes can be planted quite deep (or laterally) up to their top leaves. They will develop roots all along the stem that is in the soil, adding strength and vitality to your plants. Water them in and keep an eye on them to be sure they are not stressed. And don’t forget to regularly side dress them with delicious organics. And dream of the beautiful fruits to come!

Happy Chickens, Happy Gardens!

Chickens Make Me Happy

Chickens Make Me Happy

Spring is a time of such intense activity for gardeners that we sometimes forget to stop and smell the roses! Last night I sat in my chair in my chickens’ compound and just enjoyed them – the quiet sounds they make, how they jump up in my lap for attention, how they compete with one another for the choicest little things in the soil, how they steal my blueberry buds (those are getting moved outside the compound soon) and just the gentle feathery goodness of them. It is a meditation that I enjoy at the end of the day. Before I had chickens, I would never have thought of myself as a bird person, let alone a chicken person. I wanted the backyard eggs. But these gals are endearing and there is just no way around it — you start to love them and they become members of your family, each an individual.

My brother-in-law is always sending me great chicken videos and posts, and there is one in particular that I want to direct your attention to: the Facebook page of the Chickens Make me Happy Community with all manner of adorable photos shared by its members. Just scroll through a few of these and you might get a sense of why we chicken people are so passionate about our “flocks.”

On another matter, chickens not only provide eggs, but great fertilizer for your garden. No magic to it – you just collect it and add to your compost pile. And save those eggshells. Rinse them out and dry them, grind them up and add them to your dried used coffee grounds for the best tomato fertilizer you can have! Prevents blossom end rot! I got a used coffee grinder at a yard sale and it is dedicated to this task year round. I dry my grounds on a corner of my seedling heat mat. That way there is no mold and the grounds dry in one day. Happy Gardening!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Drying the grounds …

Store in a Zip Lock until ready to use

Store in a Zip Lock until ready to use

More on chickweed …

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Chickweed Salvation Salve

A while back, when chickweed was emerging all over my garden, I wrote a post about its many attributes. Some time later I showed a friend a patch of persistently reddened skin that I had tried everything to cure without effect. I had concluded it might be the start of some skin cancer (we gardeners always worry about that). So, armed with my column about chickweed, my friend concocted a simply fabulous Chickweed Salve which I have been using for several days now with some amazing results! It is a beautiful green goo! First, I noticed immediately how incredibly soothing the salve was. And after several days use, the reddening has calmed. The skin is no longer raised. And I am hoping for full “remission” of whatever it was, in time.

So when today a neighbor showed me her little pooch’es “hot spots” which the vet had not been able to heal effectively, and which had developed ugly crusting over, I gave her a bit of the Chickweed Salve and she promised to report back.

I hope my dear friend will respond to this post and provide everyone with this great salve (i.e., salvation) recipe!