Buy early! Transplant soon!

Yikes! It's almost planting time. If you planted your own babies this year, I hope your seeds are germinating well and your baby plants are thriving. If you didn't grow from seed this year, I recommend purchasing your seedlings soon. There are three advantages to doing so. 1) Most nurseries don't use organic growing practices. By purchasing your seedlings well before the planting date, you have a chance to 'rehab' (weening off heavy chemical fertilizers) your seedlings before planting them outside. You also have the advantage of transplanting them into larger pots so they have a more vigorous root system before going in the garden. 2) When you purchase your garden plants early, you have a much better selection. The cool heirloom varieties and popular stand-by's are long gone if you wait til mother's day weekend to purchase them; and the nursery isn't nearly as busy right now. 3) By hardening your seedlings off yourself, you can be sure your seedlings are effectively adapted to your yard's unique climate. When you purchase them the day you plant them you take them out of an artificial environment and plant them in the real world garden - Quite A Shock! We ended up with half nursery plants and half home grown seedlings this year. I had tremendous success germinating peppers and eggplants, but had a low germination rate for tomatoes ( I think I overwatered them.) Needless to say, we purchased a few tomato plants and a few interesting pepper varieties today. The babies went outside for the first time today! We transplanted our home grown seedlings as well as our nursery grown seedlings into four inch pots. They were all nearly root-bound so the timing was fantastic. The soil you choose is extremely important. In the past, we have had trouble with some potting soils being hydrophobic (not absorbing water), or drying out too quickly. Moisture is critical at this stage in the plants life and it's worth spending a little extra on a good potting soil to save yourself a headache (and heartache) later on. We are huge fans of coconut core. Coconut core retains moisture and releases it slowly into the soil - similar to peat moss. But coconut core is a sustainable product whereas peat is not. We have mixed coconut core into a quality potting mix in the past with great success, but this year we found a potting mix with coconut core already mixed in. Black Gold is our brand of choice. Once transplanted, we left the seedlings outside in the shade for about three hours. Today was a sunny breezy spring day. The natural breezes and fluctuating ambient temperatures were a good introduction to the wild outdoors. As temperatures dropped, the seedlings returned to their lights in thier new pots. One last thing. I know this is silly, but I beleive that plants with names have a better chance of survival. So, we officially named every seedling today. These names will stick with them until canning day and beyond. In January, pulling a can out of the pantry labeled, "Sun-Dried Norah" just brings a smile to my face. Happy Transplanting!