Transplanting Seedlings

Plants are a lot like kids, except they don’t talk back.  Bonus! They need more space the bigger they grow. Eventually, they also have to leave the warmth and security of home to brave the great big world out there.  So, we’ve got to help things along.   Seedlings are so simple.  They establish roots if you give them 3 things:  Water – Check!  Light- Check!  Lots of Love – Check!  So, what now? Transplanting seedlings is what’s next.

Once your seedlings have established ‘true’ leaves (their second set of leaves), it’s time to give them a little room to grow – a transition home.  All you need is soil and bigger pots.  Check out the video to see how easy transplanting seedlings is.

Once you’ve transplanted them, pat yourself on the back and celebrate your hard work with a cocktail or two!  Get ready to see them grow bigger, stronger and really flourish. But, transplanting seedlings isn’t all that needs to be done to cut the apron strings.  To be ready to move out, they’ve got to acclimatize to the outdoors. In the vegetable gardening terms, this transition time is called ‘hardening off’ your plants.  Essentially, you’re giving your plants a taste of what it’s like to be outside braving the elements for a few hours, increasing the exposure gradually every day.   

You can’t do this until the weather takes a turn for the better.    The month of May is a great time for transplanting seedlings and hardening them off.  They should be ready to live permanently outside in the ground by the end of the month, once the weather is consistently warm.  Until then, I put my plants to bed inside at night where they are starting to take over my kitchen! 

If you are sun challenged like me with a shady backyard (or if you only have a balcony), you can permanently plant your vegetables in self-watering containers.  More on that in my next post.  Meantime, it takes a ‘village’ to keep my garden going and I couldn’t do it without my partners in crime – Andrew Burnstein and Woody (pictured below).   Happy gardening everyone and goodluck transplanting seedlings!