I got an urgent email a couple days ago with the subject header: too many seedlings. The text follows.
Dear Neighbor,
I'm right across Route 2 from you (in Arlington).
I've got three Jiffy trays of seedlings going.
Two trays are still unsprung for the most part, but 1 tray is sort of exploding. It looks like a chia pet, and it is only 5 days old. It has Kale, Romaine, Bibb, Cabbage, Broccoli, and something else I can't remember.
Rather than thinning each cell out, I'm tempted to try to transplant some of these directly into the ground and see if they tough it out. I have so many plants in each cell, that I definitely have seedlings to spare.
Do you think it is worth the effort? Will they die in this cold snap that we're in the middle of?
Any advice would be much appreciated :)
This morning I wrote back. Here's my response.
HI,
I've been putting my seedling trays out in my cold frame for a few weeks and they're doing super. I put them under lights ‘til second or third leaves appear, then harden them off by putting the seed tray in the cold frame. When the plants outgrow the pots, I transplant close in soil inside the frame. I'll transplant them again in May at proper spacing out into the garden. This is working good so far, with limited electric light use and no bringing plants in and out to harden off.
I think it may work well for you to transplant now into a very sheltered spot. I'd put up a plastic tunnel of some type. Maybe small hoops and some clear plastic well secured by burying the edges in the soil. Make sure its in full sun. It would be best to assemble and leave it a day or two so the sun can warm the soil a bit. Then put your trays inside for a few days to harden off, prior to transplanting. Then transplant seedlings on a warm day. Lettuce and the other types of seedlings you mention are all very hardy. (You can plant with close spacing if you need to conserve tunnel space and then space out plants later when the covers come off.) You could use fabric row cover instead of plastic if you want. It’s a matter of guessing the weather. I think in mid April I would say to go with fabric row cover, but best now is plastic for 2-4 weeks then convert to row cover. I also like to have a cheap remote thermometer inside any plastic covers, because the sun even now it can overheat inside. When temps start to exceed 60*F or so, open the covers a bit for airflow.
I hope you don’t mind if I post this on my blog. Maybe others will add their advice.
Good luck,
Kathy
Also this morning, I noticed another "neighbor" of mine has seedlings growing under plastic now. They don't even have hoops, but it seems like there are happy seedlings growing underneath. I always love to walk by this raised bed, which is right in the middle of their front yard! Super!
8 comments:
Thanks for this post Kath, I just propped up a new garden arbor and noticed my cold frame is rather empty, Ill put all my trays of seedlings out and see how they do out there in the frame, highs each day in the 30's - but 50's predicted this weekend!
I've found that gardeners, by and large, are nice people who are very willing to help others. Your post reinforces to me that this is usually the case. :-)
I can hardly imagine gardening anywhere that has a "real" winter, snow, sub-freezing temperatures, etc. It sounds like you really have to plan and the growing season is short. At least shorter than in Texas or Southern California. It's very nice that you can count on a fellow gardener's expertise. Good luck to you all!
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More examples of the fact that you don't need lots of big open space to grow some food. Love it!
Here in the UK it's that time of year when I really have to juggle with my tender seedlings - to protect them or not to protect them? It's a struggle to protect them from wind damage (and usually rain, though it has been very dry recently), whilst at the same time providing enough light. I am making full use of all my plastic mini-greenhouses.
I love your cold frame! I made a hoop house with pvc and plastic, and i have my cabbage, broccoli, kales and lettuce in it now. I have a row cover over the plants, and on colder nights i put the plastic over the hoops. I forgot one day and two of the broccolis leaves burned. do you think they'll bolt or anything from the stress? New leaves are growing and the stem is strong...
Transplanting some types of seedlings have been very difficult with the heavy rains we've gotten this summer and fall in Tennessee. We planted some hemlocks in a low shallow place by a creek on our property and they did extremely well until it turned dry and we lost about 1/45 of them which isn't good results i dont think.
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