HURRY, HURRY! PLANT YOUR GARDEN…OR NOT
Interest in gardening is skyrocketing this year due to COVID19. Food uncertainty still runs rampant in the brains of many people. The media doesn’t help. Every time
they predict a shortage of certain items it sets off panic buying and then of course, shortages. Now,everyone wants to plant a garden and have their own veggies. This isn't all
bad! Everyone should know how to grow food.
Well, plan your garden. Then get to the nursery or garden center and buy your plants. If you can find them. Plants are being snapped up like crazy.
Slow Down!
If you can indeed find and buy them, take them home, but don’t plant them yet. Everyone is in a hurry in the spring to get their gardens going and then brag when their
plants are bigger and better than those of neighbors and family. Here in the Midwest I have found that planting early doesn't give those plants much
benefit since the ground hasn't warmed enough. This means they sit there with cold feet. Then there may be some gorgeous spring days and they start to grow
only to stop and hunker down when it turns cold again. We can get frost or hard freeze into May in Missouri. By the time the weather has
stabilized and you plant for the first time, your newly sunk in plants catch up with those that were started early so what was the point of the rush?
Harden Those Babies
Before you put your new plants in the ground give them a chance to harden off. This means to give your plants a chance to acclimate. Your new tomato and squash plants
have been rather coddled in the nursery. Growing conditions were near perfect with protection from harsh sun, wind, and they have been watered regularly. The
soil, or planting medium that they were planted in has the perfect drainage and Ph. Compare them to the baby that has been fed, burped, changed, swaddled
and held. That's one happy baby.
The Shocking Truth
If you plant those tomato and squash plants directly into the earth they will get a shock. If you plant them and it rains for several days, all that water
will shock them. If the tag in the pot says full sun and you put them in full sun then it suddenly turns from mild spring one day to burning summer the next,
it will shock them. If it turns extremely windy for three days in a row and that wind has those newly planted babies twisting and turning, it will shock
them.
You wouldn't throw your newborn baby out in the weather without protection, so don't do it to your new garden plants. Those plants are going to one day
give you sustenance in the form of perfectly formed tomatoes, zucchini and green beans. Help them get there so they can help you out.
Don’t Go Crazy and Remember Your Back
Everyone goes crazy and buys more than they need. I’m betting you have too. Try to save your back from all of the bending over and lifting to move plants here and
there. If you have a wheeled cart or something else with a handle or rope attached that you can easily drag back and forth, use it!
Put your new plants in a protected place outside, still in their flats or pots. I put mine in garden cart and park them in close to the house, usually in a
corner of the patio. A wheelbarrow works too but remember the bending and lifting to move it. Ease them into direct sunlight each day with a little more time
spent there each day. Put them back in their protected spot after their sunbathing is done. Give them a sip of water each day.
After three or four days, move them to the garden. Put some protection over them for shade and to block the wind. Row cover or a sheet will work. This will complete
their hardening off. Then go ahead and plant if all chance of frost is gone from your area. Usually the TV meteorologists will tell you the dates
during one of their broadcasts. There is a probable last date for no frost and a no more chance for frost date. Here in Missouri I wait until
there is no more chance. That date is right around Mother's Day. How fitting.
