You can either buy vegetables and flowers to transplant into your garden, or you can grow them from seed. Some plants need to be started very early indoors to assure a full and long season of crops that will mature before the fall frost. If you cannot start them indoors, then a cold frame would be beneficial.
Growing your own transplants allows you to really personalize your garden. You get to select which varieties of each crop you want to grow, instead of relying on the garden center’s choices. Also, many gardeners enjoy starting from seed; it really allows you to connect with your plants and feel a greater satisfaction with your garden and yourself.
While many gardeners do start their own seeds, some find it easier to purchase their plants from garden centers or greenhouses. You just want to be sure you are getting a high quality plant when you do this. If it is a nice dark green color and stocky then it should be fine. When the plant is yellow and dwindling, just pass on it. It will not grow very well when you bring it home. Some guidelines will be furnished at online blog for gardening at home. Otherwise a person ended up spending hours reading most of her how-to gardening guides. The following of the guide will be effective for the person who loves gardening.
No matter where your seedlings come from, you must always harden them off before planting them in the garden. This means that you need to take them outside for a few hours about a week before planting. Bring them in at night, and the next day leave them out a bit longer. They need to be exposed to more sunlight each day, and be allowed to dry slightly between waterings at this time.
You want to harden your plants off because this increases their food reserves, which in turn reduces the shock they receive during transplanting. This increases their chance of life in your garden.
When putting your transplants in the garden, your goal is to avoid as much root damage as possible. Depending on the materiel your pot is made out of (i.e. peat or newspaper) you can plant the pot in with the seed. This causes no damage to the root. When doing this however, you must be sure that the tops of the pot are under the soil. Otherwise, it will draw all of the moisture away from the soil around the transplant.
When planting flats of small seedlings, use a sharp knife to cut around each plant, and then water them heavily. This causes tiny hairs to grow on the roots, which will greatly lessen the transplant shock. You should try to do your transplanting on a cloudy day in the afternoon.
Keep in mind that early seedlings are still young, and may still need a little protection from the sun. Giving them a block to shade them on bright sunny days for the first week will help to protect them, and keep them healthy. When doing this, be sure that you do not suffocate the plant. Provide ventilation holes if covering with plastic to prevent cooking your plant.
Also, when transplanting, it helps to use a liquid fertilizer as soon as the plant is placed in the ground. Before starting, prepare a liquid starter fertilizer by adding about 2 tablespoons of fertilizer for each gallon of water. A little bit goes a long way, so be sure you don’t overdo it. Each plant should only have about one cup of fertilizer.