Start Your Seeds Indoors For A Jump On Spring Planting

Indoor Plans for Spring Gard - Photo: Flickr

Spring is creeping in, hallelujah, and it’s time for us to start digging in the dirt. For all of you frustrated gardeners that live in colder climes, I bet you can’t wait to start planting your garden beds with flowers, herbs, and vegetables.  Over the long winter, you forget how much you miss those showy blooms and the riot of color a beautiful garden can supply. 

If you live up north, there are a variety of ways to cope with the short growing season.  Frost, which can happen as late as May or June, delays your plans for planting seeds.  With the many quick growing plants this does not pose a problem but with vegetables and ornamentals, a little head start is very helpful for healthy lush plants.

Starting those plants indoors solves the problem of unwelcome frost.  Getting an early start indoors will really make a difference for frost intolerant plants.  Another benefit of starting seeds indoors is that as soon as the frost danger has passed, you can plant your seedlings into your garden giving you a good extra month of gorgeous blooming flowers.

When starting seeds indoors, you must simulate the same conditions as those planted outside.  Your basics for all plant life, whether inside or out, our soil, water, and light.  The difference is that your indoor seedlings will need a little more attention and each plant will have its own considerations.

Always start with sterilized soil, this is essential.  There is a fungus known as Damping-off-Disease that can wipe out your hard work in a matter of days. For some reason the propagation of plants indoors allows just the right conditions for the spores of these fungi to grow rampantly.

You can easily avoid this plight by using sterile soil or a sterile medium.  You can use your own soil but it involves a lot of work and may not be worth the effort when commercial mediums are readily available.  To use your own soil, you must sterilize it in the oven after sifting out the clumps and debris. Most commercial mediums sometimes referred to as “soil-less” are usually a combination of peat moss and vermiculite.  When using these mediums make sure it is clearly marked on the bag that they are sterilized.

After deciding the medium that you will use, there are a variety of containers available to start your seeds.  I have used flats, peat pots, dixie cups, and even egg cartons successfully.  As with any plant, the size of the container used is determined by the plant you are growing and only experience can guide you here.

Seedlings require an enormous amount of light, either sunlight or artificial light or a combination of both.  If they don’t get sufficient light the plants will get “leggy” or “spindly”, denying them a healthy start on the way to your garden.  Even in a bright window with a lot of sun, you may still need to use artificial light.  If you do need to use artificial light, buy bulbs that are manufactured specifically for that purpose.  Even though they are for the singular purpose of growing plants you still must keep them on for at least fourteen (14) hours a day.  No artificial light can compensate for the intensity of direct sunlight. 

The most important element of growing your seedlings indoors is watching the moisture.  They must be kept moist but not soggy. The most advantageous way to water is from the bottom. Set your pots in a tray and pour the water into the tray allowing the pots to soak up all of the water.  Never let your pots stand in water as this will cause them to rot. If you have your pots in a very sunny window place them in a tray with gravel.  Keep the gravel “watered” just under the pots to keep them from drying out.

When you first start your seedlings cover them tightly with plastic wrap.  This helps to maintain warmth and moisture, but be careful to uncover them when they begin to sprout so they don’t smother. 

I know you may become anxious in January to start getting ready for planting season but it is important not to start your seeds indoors too early.  If they outgrow your pots, you will have to thin them and transplant them to bigger containers.  This is not the best scenario.  For best results, you want to transplant them once outdoors as soon as they are large and healthy enough to survive. A good rule of thumb to start with is four to six weeks after sowing the seeds, making sure they have at least two sets of leaves. Right before transplanting your thriving seedlings, feed them with a very weak solution of a water-soluble fertilizer to give them strength through the transplanting process.

Keep a diary on what has worked for you, since experience is always the best teacher.  Experiment a little each year with one or two new flowers, herbs or vegetables, this will add variety and spice to your garden.  Go to gardening forums on the internet and join the group, the experiences of others is always helpful and the spirit of community is enjoyable and satisfying.

Happy Planting!

Copyright © 2006 Mary Hanna All Rights Reserved.

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It’s SPRING And Time To Garden!

So it’s spring. The snow has melted away and it’s started to rain… a lot. Buds are sprouting on trees and the first signs of green can be seen. You’ve been waiting all year for this moment when you can once again return to your favorite stress reducing hobby: gardening. As it is spring, there are some things to remember to keep your garden looking fresh and well manicured! Let the growing season begin!

Garden with some tulips and narcissus
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s time to clear out the garden. Rake any leaves and remove the debris. Loosen up the soil and get ready to plant your roses, shrubs, perennials, annuals and also get ready to prune those early blooming shrubs! Your soil is important. Without taking good care of your soil, having a garden is pointless.

Remember: perennials are your best friend. You won’t need to replant them every year and they’ll help your garden look beautiful and colorful in the spring and summer like you long for. Try choosing perennials that don’t require much maintenance such as staking or division. 

Flower bulbs also add flair to your garden. They can add color, beauty and variety. Flower like tulips and daffodils look wonderful randomly added throughout your garden. Lots of people agree that tulips are the most beautiful flowers around! If you didn’t bother to plant any bulbs last spring, be sure to do it in the coming autumn. 

Spring is also the most important time to attack those weeds! As they’re just starting to grow and bloom, this is the best time to attack because they have underdeveloped root systems and haven’t fully reproduced yet. Getting a grip on your garden’s weed problems in spring will be a savior in summer when otherwise your garden would be covered with these horrible things!

Enjoy and remember: color, variety and beauty!

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Spring PLANTING Tips

Spring means that the garden centers are packed with people, and car trunks are packed with plants. Everybody has dirt on their knees, dirt under their nails, and is excited about gardening. To make certain that this excitement yields positive results, let's discuss the basics in this article of spring planting tips.

Auricula display at Malvern The Malvern Spring Gardening Show is the first major horticultural show of the season and these plants are at their best in spring. Each stand has a display and a sales area for selling plants to visitors.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Installing new plants and having them grow successfully is not difficult, nor is it as complicated as some would have you think. Is it as easy as just digging a hole and setting the plant in? Yes, it certainly can be. I won't get into bed preparation, as I have covered that in other articles that are available at http://www.freeplants.com

Let's start with B&B plants. B&B is short for balled in burlap. Closely examine the ball on the plant that you have purchased. Did the diggers wrap twine around the ball to hold the plant secure? If they did, you should at least cut the twine and lay it in the bottom of the hole, or remove it completely. Pay close attention around the stem of the plant where it emerges from the root ball, as diggers often wrap the twine around the stem several times as they tie the ball. This is extremely important because if the string is nylon, it will not rot and will girdle and kill the plant two or three years from now.

When B&B plants are stored in the nursery for extended periods of time it becomes necessary to re-burlap them if the bottom starts to rot before the plants are sold. If the plant that you buy has been re-burlaped it is possible that there could be nylon stings between the two layers of burlap, so check the stem carefully. As long as the nylon string is removed from around the stem of the plant, it is actually harmless around the rest of the ball, and you do not have to remove it.

Is the root ball wrapped in genuine burlap, or imitation burlap made of a non-biodegradable plastic material?

Genuine burlap will rot quickly underground and does not have to be disturbed before planting. If you're not sure or suspect a poly type burlap, you don't have to remove it completely, but should loosen it around the stem of the plant and cut some vertical slices around the circumference of the ball.

Now here's the critical part. What kind of soil are you planting in?

If your soil is heavy clay, I highly suggest that you raise the planting bed at least 8” with good rich topsoil. If you can't do that for some reason, install the plant so that at least 2” or more of the root ball is above the existing grade and mound the soil over the root ball. Keep in mind that plants installed this way could dry out over the summer, but planting them flush with the ground in heavy clay can mean that the roots will be too wet at other times of the year.

The “experts” suggest that when planting in clay soil you dig the hole wider and deeper than the root ball and fill around and under the plant with loose organic material. That sounds like a really great idea, doesn't it? Some of these experts also recommend that you dig the hole extra deep and put a few inches of gravel in the bottom for drainage. Where do you suppose they think this water is going to “drain” to?

Keep in mind that most B&B plants are grown in well drained soil. That means that the soil in the root ball is porous and water can easily pass through. Now imagine if you will, a root ball about 15” in diameter, setting in a hole 30” in diameter. All around and under that root ball is loose organic matter. Inside of that root ball is porous soil. Now along comes Mother Nature with a torrential downpour. There is water everywhere, and it is not going to soak into that hard packed clay soil, so it is just flowing across the top of the ground searching for the lowest point.

When it reaches our newly planted tree surrounded by loose organic matter, it is going to seep in until the planting hole is completely full of water. (Remember my article on getting rid of standing water and the French drain system?) By using this planting technique we have actually created a French drain around our poor little plant that cannot tolerate its roots being without oxygen for long periods of time. Because the bottom of this hole is clay, even though we've added gravel for drainage, there is nowhere for the water to go, and this plant is going to suffer and likely die.

If you cannot raise the planting bed with topsoil, and are planting in clay soil, I recommend that you install the root ball at least 2” above grade and backfill around the ball with the soil that you removed when you dug the hole. Backfilling with the clay soil that you removed is actually like building a dam to keep excess water from permeating the root ball of your newly planted tree. The plant is not going to thrive in this poor soil, but at least it will have a chance to survive.

Once again, raising the bed with good rich topsoil is the best thing you can do to keep your plants healthy and happy.

No matter what kind of soil you have, be careful not to install your plants too deep. They should never be planted any deeper than they were grown in the nursery. Planting too deep is a common problem, and thousands of plants are killed each year by gardeners who just don't understand how critical planting depth is.

Staking newly planted trees is always a good idea. If your new tree constantly rocks back and forth when the wind blows it will have a very difficult time establishing new roots into the existing soil. Stabilize the tree with a stake. You can use a wooden stake, a fence post, or for small trees I often use 1/2” electro magnetic tubing, (conduit), available at any hardware store.

You can secure the tree to the stake with a single wrap of duct tape. In about six months or a year the sun will dry the glue on the duct tape and it will fall off. Check the tape to make sure that it has fallen off. You don't want to girdle the tree with the tape.

Container grown plants are much easier. Follow the rules for depth of planting as described earlier. Before gently removing the plant from the container check the drain holes in the bottom of the container for roots that might be growing out the holes. If so, cut them off so they will not make it difficult to get the plant out of the container.

The easiest way to remove the plant from the container is to place your hand over the top of the container and turn it completely upside down and give it a gentle shake. The plant should slide right into your hand.

Examine the root mass as you hold it in your hand. Sometimes when plants have been growing in a container for a long time the roots start to grow in a circular pattern around the root mass. This is not good, and you should disturb these roots before planting so you can break this circular pattern. You can take a knife and actually make about three vertical slices from the top of the root mass to the bottom. This will stimulate new roots that will grow outward into the soil of your garden. Or you can just take your fingers and loosen the roots that are circling the root mass and force them outward before you plant them.

What about fertilizer, bone meal, peat moss, and all those other additives they are going to try and sell you at the garden center?

Raise your planting beds with good rich topsoil and forget about the additives. Be very careful with fertilizers, they can do more harm than good. I landscaped my house 14 years ago and I haven't got around to fertilizing the plants yet, and have no intention of doing so. They look great.

As far as bone meal and all those other soil additives are concerned, don't get too caught up in all that stuff. The only thing that I know for sure is that they will make your wallet thinner, but I don't think you'll see a difference in your plants. Over the years I've landscaped several hundred homes with fantastic results, and I never added any of these additives to my planting beds.

Did I mention planting in good rich topsoil?  That's the secret!