Planting 101 Week 3

So it’s Monday again which means another gardening post. How is everyone doing? Seeds planted? Anything coming up?

I’ve got a lot coming up, they’ve gotten too tall to keep the clear cover over them and I think today they may have gotten either a little cold from the wind (from my open window) or a little burned from the sunshine coming in the window. Oops. I sent photos to my mom and she said that it looks like they got too much wind and cold. Luckily it wasn’t all of them. And it is still very early so there is plenty of time to replant. (and if that fails miserably you can always buy plants from the store)

Speaking of all the plants coming up, when do you move them to bigger containers? Turns out you have to wait until they get their second set of leaves. Luckily my broccoli is getting their second set and they are growing out of their little containers, so I will transplant them into bigger containers this week. When you transplant them you want to bury about half the distance between the base of the plant now (where the plant and the ground meet) and the leaves. This continues to make them stronger.

What do you do if you are going to be away for a few days? Like I am at the end of this week? It kind of depends how long you are going to be gone. If its a couple of days then pull your plants away from the direct sunlight from the windows and water them real good before you go. If it’s going to be for more then that then see if you can get a neighbor to come in and water them a couple of times while you are gone. You may loose a couple of plants, and that’s ok.

Is spring starting to show up at your house? Its beginning to come around here. I’ve had some great help and my daffodils are doing well. My tulips are still coming up and I have a number of plants that are getting ready to bud out. I also have a couple of Hyacinth coming up, they are some of my favorite spring flowers and smell amazing. I need to order more bulbs for next year because they just make me happy. We will still have some cold nights. If your plants are up against a fence or house and are pretty well protected then they should be good to around 25-30 degrees at night. If it’s going to be colder then that or your plants are out in the open then you may want to consider covering them to protect them. You can use planters, trash cans, buckets, whatever you’ve got. Last year I had just planted my new lilacs and then we got three blizzards in the course of 3 weeks in April and I lost a number of them. The weather is not always the friendliest to gardeners.