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Nannette's Gardening Diary
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New!
APR-19-04
10:10:1
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Forum: Fireside Chat with Nannette
Hardening Off Your Plants
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Nannette
Female
41-50
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I started hardening off my plants on Easter. That way they'd have their two weeks of hardening off right about the time the weather and ground are warm enough to plant them.
And what is this in instructions about wait until ground temperatures are about 50 degrees? Do they sell some kind of ground thermometer? I haven't found ground temperatures on weather.com, even though they have a wonderful gardening page that displays frost, freezing and wind as well as temperatures.
Speaking of wind, I set my seedlings outside on tables and the wind was so windy it just batted them pratically to death. I lost at least 3 flats and many flowers within other flats. Two days were over 25 mph winds, so I didn't even take them outside.
I'm getting fed up with the hardening off... taking 4 tables outside and moving plants in and out. So I'm just going to start planting and hope for the best. I didn't have nearly this much work last year when I didn't read so much about what to do and what not to do.
Hardening Off: the practice of putting your plants outside in small increments and more each day until they're used to it. Bringing them in at night, etc. I read on a website, which I can't find right now, that it has to do with the cell structure of the plants. The cells grow long and thin when grown inside, but shorter and fat when grown outside, and what you're trying to do is allow the cell structure to grow fat so they will endure the outdoors. If you put a thin cell structure plant outside, it will not survive the wind, the cold, etc. So therefore, you must put it out enough to allow the cell structure to change gradually.
Okay, that's enough from the "knows enough to make her dangerous" gardener!
Happy Gardening!
Nannette
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New!
APR-18-04
15:41:43
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Forum: Fireside Chat with Nannette
Pencils and a Finger Nail File
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Nannette
Female
41-50
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When I am transplanting the seedlings from the flats to their own little pots, I use a fat pencil or fat pen to poke the hole in the soil, and a finger nail file as my little shovel to stick underneath the plant and pull it up by the leaves.
A friend made me several little wooden dowels of different widths, which I now use the poke the holes in the soil. You poke the hole in the soil, put the file under the little plant and loosen the soil, gently pulling it out by the leaves, then put it back in the hole you have just poked, and lightly push the soil back around it.
Works great!
Happy Gardening!
Nannette
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New!
APR-18-04
15:39:5
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Forum: Fireside Chat with Nannette
Pots and Flats, where to get..
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Nannette
Female
41-50
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If all you want are pots to plant seeds in, or to put outside and hide amongst other pots or plants, and you don't mind ordinary black plastic pots like you get from the greenhouse, then get them for free!
Here in Kansas City, you can go to several of the greenhouses and they have a recycle bin. It is a big wooden bin where you can drop off pots you no longer need or take out pots you can use.
I've found huge 5-10 gallon pots in these, as well as smaller pots I use for seed starting and transplanting seedlings. Sometimes you'll find flats / trays to plant your seeds in, and even the little containers that go in the trays.
I grabbed up a bunch of the really big ones last time and I use them as buckets to put stuff like rocks I'm getting out of the lawn, or when weeding, I can take one with me and put the weeds in it.
When using the smaller ones for seedlings, I prefer the 4" square pots. They fit better in a flat, and don't wallow around, like the round ones do. And I put about 4 seedlings per pot, one in each corner. Some don't survive the transplant, so that's okay. I haven't wasted an entire pot per plant.
Happy Gardening!
Nannette
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New!
APR-18-04
15:25:47
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Forum: Fireside Chat with Nannette
Seedlings
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Nannette
Female
41-50
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I started about 30 flats or trays of seedlings around February. I had purchased a lot of packets of seeds and all the ones that said they had to be sown indoors, well, I sowed them indoors. The rest I left to sow directly in the soil.
A few things I learned about planting seeds:
There is potting mix, potting soil, seed starting soil, and vermiculite. Some seed packets say to sow in vermiculite. Forget it. That stuff is worthless and I got spindly little sickly seedlings not even worth keeping. Everything I read said to start seeds in a special seed starting soil forumulated especially for seed starting, blah blah blah. Don't believe it. That stuff costs about 3 times more than a potting mix and also is worthless with spindly results.
I took 8 4" pots of soil, put 4 tomato seeds per pot and used the 4 types of soil: Scott's Potting Mix, Mircle Gro Potting Mix, Jiffy Seed Starting Mix, and Vermiculite - 2 pots per soil type.
The vermiculite plants are horrible and spindly. The Jiffy was little better, but both the Scott's and Miracle Grow were about the same. Both were much cheaper than the seed starting mix and the vermiculite.
There is a difference between potting mix and potting soil. Potting mix has no soil in it and is better. It is about a buck extra per bag and is worth it in the long run. You're not paying for dirt.
Also, on the flats, I filled them about halfway to go sparingly on my potting mix. Don't chintz. The little plants couldn't have deep roots and kind of fall over. Always fill the entire flat up as much as possible. You should have about 3" of soil. Those who say to use egg cartons, forget it. They're too shallow and you're wasting your time.
Also, watering from the bottom: There are flats with holes in the bottom. Can't use them in the house without another flat below them to keep the water from going all over the place. Great for greenhouses where the water can just slosh on the floor, but I don't have a greenhouse. So you have to buy a non-hole tray to hold the hole tray. Why would you do that? To water from the bottom.
That means that you put water in the non-hole flat/try, I use about half an inch, enough to sop up without having water remaining in the bottom tray a couple hours later. Then set the hole try within the non-hole tray and allow the water to soak in through the bottom. Then I still take a spray bottle and spray the top a bit too.
So for best results, use potting mix, fill up your trays to 3" or more, and water from the bottom.
Happy Gardening!
Nannette
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New!
APR-18-04
15:22:8
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Forum: Fireside Chat with Nannette
Nannette's Gardening Diary
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Nannette
Female
41-50
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I'm going to use this to post my thoughts and experiences on gardening. I love flowers and when I talk about gardening, I'm talking about flower gardening. ;)
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