April 19, 2022 • 18 mins
Jim and Mary cover the topic of hardening off vegetable and flower transplants in the spring. Hardening off tender young plants is seedlings is vital getting them off to a healthy strong start outdoors. Learn how to harden off your plants safely, and why it is so important for a great garden season.
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(00:02):
Welcome to the Simple Garden Life podcast, a program dedicated to keeping the yard
of gardening simple, fun and alwaysrewarding. Now Here are your hosts,
Jim and Mary Competti. Hello andwelcome everybody to Simple Garden Life. I'm
your host Jim Competti along with myco host Mary Competti, and today's subject
is hardening off plants. Mary,that's something that's really really important for the
(00:24):
health of your plants, for youngseedlings in the beginning of garden season.
Absolutely, it really makes me excitedbecause that means we're actually getting close to
planting season. I'll tell you itdoesn't always feel that way with the rain
and the cold that we have.But it's been crazy spring here so far
this year. But isn't every springreally when you think about it. I
mean, there's no doubt about itthat you think it's going to be better
(00:45):
than the year before, but itjust never works out that way. And
this year is he's to be draggingon and on winter does in the spring
itself, just lots of rain,But we're gonna get close someday, that's
right. So before we get intoour subject today, I do want to
remind everybody that you can always emailus at the farm at owgarden dot com
with your questions show topics if youwant to talk about show topics, but
(01:07):
we do answer everyone. We tryto get back with everyone with a couple
of days. Gets a little harderthese days and we get a lot more
emails come garden season. But it'sfun for us too, you know.
It gives us a chance to connectto people and we look forward to that.
But more importantly, it allows usto you know, stay in touch
with our listeners and readers to theblog of Overal Garden Farms and this is
my garden and all of our otherwebsites, so it's it's it's really a
(01:30):
positive thing for us, it is, and we get a lot of good
questions that lead to a lot ofgreat topics that we write about, so
we enjoy reading those every morning.That's right. And you can also maybe
get featured on our podcast because wedo a question of the week and we
have one today actually from Canada thatwe'll get to later in the podcast.
But let's get back to hardening allplants and why it is so important.
You know, it's really one ofthe most important things you can do in
(01:51):
the spring to get your vegetable andflower plants off to a great start.
You just can't take your plants andgo outside and put them in the ground
and expect good things to happen fromthat easy indoor life to the outdoor life.
You know, whether you raise yourown plants from seed indoors or as
we talked about, purchase transplants froma local nursery or greenhouse. Preparing them
properly for planting day, Boy,it's crucial to their health early on and
(02:14):
if they're going to bloom well orperform well in the garden. Yeah,
and when done correctly, it reallysets the stage for plants to take hold,
established and grow very fast, that'sright. And when they're not done
that way, the shock and thestress can really injure and stunt damage them
in some cases. And we've hadthis happen to us before, you know,
just it can happen to anybody.It can kill a plant if it's
not properly ready to be outside.You know. The hardening off is a
(02:39):
confusing topic for some people. Theyreally sometimes don't know what it means and
they don't really understand Okay, whatdoes what does that whole process mean?
I guess we should really start offwith that, like what does hardening off
vegetable and flower plants mean? Right? And you know, basically we're talking
about prepare your plants to be livingoutdoors. So you know, just like
(03:00):
we don't like to be outdoors whenit's cold outside or raining, you know,
we've got to get our plants readyfor the outdoors. And sometimes,
you know, spring planting season,it's very tricky for plants because they're going
to be in different elements that theyever wore in. That's right, and
let's let's cover that subject first.So for a seedling and a transplant,
whether you raise it at home inyour house with some lights over top of
(03:21):
it, or and that's the bestway, by the way, not in
a window sill, but if youhave it in a window sill, or
whether it's in a greenhouse where they'rein that controlled environment. You have to
really think about the seedling's life upto the point before it goes outdoors.
We always like to talk about itlike a child that's very spoiled because it
gets absolutely everything it needs. Whenit needs water, the bright amount of
(03:42):
light. There are zero winds.The last time I check thunderstorms don't develop
inside a house. So you know, the seedlings at that point are very
very just protected, protected and sheltered. It's right, I mean they really
are. I mean you don't haveyou know, instant frost or that temperature
drop. And really one of thebiggest things we'll talk about protecting these plants
(04:03):
is wind. You know, whenyour plants first go from the inside to
the outside, they've never experienced that, and it can really be detrimental to
a plant. Yeah, getting plants, transplants ready for just the mother's nature's
elements is really crucial here. Yeah, So you know, when a plant
goes outside for the first time,and especially in the springtime, it's not
going to go out to seventy twodegrees and sonny every single day and sixty
(04:25):
at night and perfect. It's goingto have days where you might even have
to cover it because the temperature getsdown to thirty six or thirty five.
And then it's going to have somedays. I pray for these days right
now where it might actually get abovesunnty degrees or seventy five degrees and sonny
and be a little bit hot onit. And again it's not used to
that inside, so hardening off.What hardening off is is this process of
(04:46):
preparing or toughening up these young plantsso that when they go out to deal
with those extremes, they've had alittle bit of experience. You know,
you can't just throw somebody to thewolves for the first time if they don't
know anything about it. And ifyou're doing that with your plants, that's
exactly what you're doing. If you'retaking them from inside where they've been perfect,
and all of a sudden you takethem outside, put them in the
(05:08):
ground and say there you go.Right, And if you are lucky enough
to live in a warm tropical environment, this may not be that much of
an issue if you can actually raiseyour seedlings outside. But we're talking those
transplants that are being protected inside,are growing inside that have to eventually go
into the flower beds or gardens outside. Yes, and so hardening off is
usually a process for us, andit really should be for transplants that you
(05:31):
raised yourself of a couple of weeks, two to three weeks. It really
depends on your weather. The moreyou can harden a plant off and prepare
for the outdoors, the better.But for us, I would say on
average, it's about three weeks.Sometimes it's a little longer if it's a
nicer spring, and how it goes. But you know that process starts when
plants get to be about three tofour weeks old. You know, you've
(05:54):
grown them inside for a while.They're starting to grow up a little bit,
they're getting stronger. You have themunder the lights. In some cases
maybe they're grating too tall for it, and the weather outside is starting to
warm, Mary to what fifty fiftyfive sixty degrees a side day here and
there, definitely want to put themout of a lease it's a round fifty
five or above. Yeah, exactly, especially that very first time. So
(06:15):
what you're going to do with yourplants is you're going to take them outside.
And this is where we have toreally kind of get into the specifics
of well, what do you dowhen you're outside and and you know,
where do you put them? Andthat's what we're going to talk about right
now, because that's really the importantpart. Okay, Mary, So first
day, what do we do,Well, you basically want to take your
plants outside, allow them to geta little bit of sunlight, but just
(06:35):
a few hours at the most.You know, you've got to really work
your way up to transitioning these plantsto the outdoors. So on day one,
do you take them straight out andput them right out in the middle
of the sun. No, exactly, you want to put them in a
protected area that they get a littlebit of indirect sunlight. Not if it's
a very hot day. Don't putthem right in the sunlight. When it's
eighty five ninety degrees. Yeah,for us, and for many people,
(06:59):
covered back porch, a screened inporch, something where there's not going to
be a lot of wind and alittle bit of that. I guess filtered
light would be the proper way tosay it. But chosolutely right. If
you sit them out there and theygo from young to that hot, hot
sun, it could be trouble forthem really quickly. So not to mention
they're going to dry out very quicklyas well. Exactly, So three four,
maybe even five hours if it's stillnice and the sun's not crushing down
(07:21):
them that first day, and thenyou just want to keep doing that.
Remember we're starting this process at aboutfour weeks of age, because you want
to have three to four weeks beforethey go out. For most people at
seven to eight weeks. I knowseed packets always say six weeks. They're
never big enough. You want yourplants a little bigger, so we always
say, you know, try togrow them to eight weeks. So this
is about four weeks old your seedlingsare, and you're getting them out for
(07:45):
the first I want to say,what three to five days, maybe even
the first week. Just a littlebit longer each day. Yeah, I
just want to do a progression everysingle day, just a little bit longer.
However, if you run into avery cold day, all of a
sudden, there's a cold snap,like we're gonna get snow tonight, you
know, we don't want to putthem outside. Yeah, And that's a
great topic that people always ask usquestions, like, well, if I've
(08:05):
been giving my plants outside outside,outside, do I have to bring them
right in and shove them under thelights to day. I don't do that
if your plants are getting big,especially late in the process. We've had
moments before where we've had that coldsnap at the middle of May and we've
brought our plants back indoors, satthem in natural light. They're not going
to grow like they were when theywere seedlings and grow to the light for
what two three days, never hadour lights back on them, and they're
(08:28):
going to be fine. They can'tgo weeks like that, but you're okay
to bring them back inside. Youdo not want to try to cover them
up outside. Get them back indoorsif that's happening, especially in that first
week, right, absolutely, that'llhelp protect them and then you can get
them back out again here, youknow, when the weather breaks again.
Yeah, So as as each daygoes by and as the weather allows,
you know, let them out alittle more and a little more, and
(08:52):
you know you want to keep lettingthem grow. You're going to see in
that first week once they hit theoutdoor air, it is unbelievable how much
they will start to take off.You don't really want to get them a
natural rain that first week. Youknow, you stole them protected because they
can really beat them down when they'reyoung like that. But just getting them
out it's going to really help.And then you know, that's kind of
(09:13):
leads to our question of the week, which we should probably get you right
now and then take a break.Why don't we ask the question and then
when we come back from the break, we'll answer it. That sounds great.
So this week's question comes from Stacyfrom Toronto, Canada. I always
struggle with where to put my plantsto harden them off. How can I
get them outside to get sunlight withoutgetting them when whipped? All right,
that's a great, great question,Stacy, And when we come back from
(09:35):
our break, we'll answer that andfinish up our topic on how to harden
off plants. Okay, we areback and we are answering the question of
the week, which was Stacy fromToronto, Canada, and she asked again,
you know, I always struggle withwhere to put my plants to harden
them off, and how can Iget them outside to get sunlight without getting
them win whipped. And this isprobably the single biggest issue for plants,
(09:56):
and we mentioned it earlier, isthe wind early on because these plants their
stems, their main stems, they'rejust not strong. No, they're not,
and they can break off very quicklyand really damage the plants. Yeah,
and they haven't been used to anytype of wind activity at all,
so they're just frail. And soit's a great question. Those first week
we talked about, you know,you put them in a protected area on
a porch. They're getting some naturallight. But now it's time. Now
(10:18):
it's time to get them out andget them some real sunlight. Maybe not
you know, twenty four seven yet, but a lot more. But you
can't just sit them out in theyard. And this is where people make
that crucial mistake. There are alot of things you can do. We
do something homemade, and I knowyou're going to talk about that in a
second, but you can get creative. You know, you can turn a
patio table on its side and putthem on the on the wind side so
(10:39):
they're not going to get the directwind before. Yeah, we have done
that before. Make sure it's astrong patio table. I won't go into
details, but if it's not,it could fall on your plants and crush
them. But you can use anything, buckets, anything in front just to
kind of block that wind a littlebit, to surround your plants from getting
that massive quick wind. For us, I know, our key is we
(11:00):
just took some boards. Mare youcan kind of describe what we did,
but it really works well. Right. It's just basically we took four one
by twelve inch boards and we screwedthem together. Basically, basically making a
rectangle shape. And then what wedid we screwed them together. Then we
put all of our flats of vegetables, our flowers, We put them down
inside on the patio, and thatone by twelve rectangle protected from them getting
(11:22):
wind whipped, but allowed the sunlightto come in and so they got a
little bit of wind, but theywere protected from those harsh, harsh winds.
Yeah. And you know one otherthing that really makes that a positive
is you have this ready built incovering device. If you start to keep
your plants out longer and longer andyou're gonna get that cold night in there
later and it's not going to getsuper cold, you can throw a sheet
(11:43):
over that one by twelve and youknow, put a couple of rocks in
each side, and it was perfectfor kind of protecting them. Yeah.
And it's a lot easier to dothat than try and to move them back
inside every time, especially when they'regetting larger and larger. Yeah, it
really is. I mean, andat this point, you know, once
your plants have been out into thesunlight and they've started to be it and
you're gonna have to remember to waterthem more often, to look at them
a little bit more. But oncethey start to toughen up like this,
(12:07):
they're gonna grow fast. They're gonnagrow thicker together and like in that protective
box. We've always liked that becauseit's easy to water them, it's easy
to take care of them. Theonly time you're going to bring them in
now after you know, maybe threeweeks outside or two and a half weeks,
is if you have really bad weatherforecast or heavy rains. Heavy rains
can still damage them. You know, you get a heavy, heavy,
(12:28):
hard rain, it's going to beatthose plants down. They'll get tougher and
tougher with it. But you know, we've we've we've done it before.
You know, you run outside andyou forget and you see it's raining hard.
You want to get them out.But by week three we pretty much
leave ours out around the clock.I would say, unless there's something coming
right less, there's a hard freezethat we can't protect them, we'll leave
them out. And boy, youknow, after the first week of them
being outside, you'll really see achange in the foliage and of the stem
(12:52):
growth. They start to get verybig and they look like those plants that
you purchase right before at the nurseries, right before garden season. I mean,
they really really do. I meanthat is the key to really getting
those plants to get going. Ieven like to put once they've been out
for about a week or two andthey're four or five weeks old, you
know, we'll hit ours with alittle bit of compost. T is one
of the waterings, and it kindof gives them that extra balance of nutrients.
(13:16):
Whether it's flowers or vegetable plants,it really sends them up and upward.
I mean, we've had plants thatare an inch to an inch and
a half tall, like some ofour Halopenia plants that grow slower. Once
we get them outdoors. It isamazing to watch how quickly they go right.
And we'll get the question often ofhow long or what temperature does it
need to be to keep my plansout overnight? Yeah, you know,
once they've been out for three weeks, if the forecast calls for something,
(13:39):
I would say anything cooler than fortyfive, I still like to at least
cover them at that point or getthem in, because this is the thing
you can't nothing against. Whether ornot you can't rely on, you can't
rely on them because I've I've wokenup before when the temperature was supposed to
be forty five and I look atthe thermometer and it's thirty six. And
(14:01):
you do you get terrified. Yougo out and you're checking these plants and
you're doing whatever. Now, rememberif you do happen to make a mistake
and get some frost, if youcan get out there early and apply water
to them and get the frost offthem and get them protected, it's the
sunlight that's going to come out onthat frost that kills them off. That's
a great point. Yeah, soyou can, but it still stunts them.
So you know, just be Ialways like to err on the side
(14:24):
of caution with that and get themout there that way. So that's transplants,
and it doesn't matter if it's flowers. It doesn't matter if it's vegetable
plants. So let's cover the othersubject Mary, when we talk about Okay,
I don't grow my own plants,but I go to a nursery and
pick my plants up. People manytimes think I don't have to do anything.
Well, there's a couple rules ofthumb here. Again, if you're
(14:46):
picking them up inside a store andthey're not outside at all, and they
haven't been outside, chances are theyhaven't been hardened off very well. Right.
And also that's a great point.But also the plants that are outdoors
and they are solved together so tightly, Yes, those are being protected because
there's so many plants around them.So those individual plants may struggle when you
(15:07):
first put them outside. Yeah,So what I like to tell people do
is I always feel like it's agood idea to purchase your plants a week
or two before you're ready to plantthem. And people are like, well,
what you know, why am Idoing that? Well, first of
all, two reasons. You getbetter selection. I mean, if you
really do, if you wait tillthe last minutes, it's the old saying,
there's not as much left there andthey've been picked over. So you
(15:28):
can pick the best of plants andyou can get them home and you can
give them that one to two weeksat that point of kind of that hardening
off process. If it's nice out, absolutely leave them out. Still protect
them. Very great point about youknow, being crammed together. They're protected
from wind there. But when youbring a single flat home and you lay
it out, it's not so youhave to you have to protect them,
but that extra week or two,that's the critical mistake people make of bringing
(15:50):
those plants home and throwing them inthe ground. You know, it's that
tomato plant that's just all of asudden by itself out in the garden getting
pounded with rain and it's not usedto it, and so you have to
be really careful that you do.And if you're just buying a few plants,
not a whole flat, you know, when you're buying them in the
two cup containers or four cup containers, you just really be careful because if
you put them outside and even asmall one comes by, they're going to
(16:11):
topple over real quick. So makesure that you support them so that they
can't fall over. And no matterwhat you're hardening off and getting it ready
for size really will make a differencebased upon how strong the plant's going to
be. You know, if you'rebuying some weak transplants at a nursery because
they were half off, you're gonnawant to coddle them a little bit and
get them stronger. If it's abig beefy plant that's been outside for a
(16:33):
little while, it's going to needa little bit less time to get ready
for it. The only exception tothis role is late in the season.
You know, you get into Juneand the temperature rarely, if ever,
goes below fifty and most all ofthese plants at nurseries when they go on
clearance, where are they clearanced thatthey're outside? Yeah, they're outside,
and so yes, you can takethose home and plant them. In fact,
you want to do that to getthem out of their cramp soil by
(16:56):
that point. But it's really thinkingback to right now that critical stage,
and I think people underestimate how muchthat can do for a plant. You
know, what happens early in thegrowing season really does dictate what's going to
happen to your plants, whether it'sflowers getting lots of blooms being healthy,
or vegetable plants getting lots of produce. If a plant struggles early, it
(17:18):
often leads to big issues later on. For what you're looking for. We've
given a delay crop, a delaycrop, and a reduction in the crop.
I mean, we've had plants before. I still remember we had six
tometo plants. You know what we'rehuman. We left them out and we
shouldn't have, and it got cold. They didn't frost, but they were
never the same. No, theydefinitely got stunned and it took almost all
(17:41):
summer for them to recover, andeven our yield that year was a little
bit lower than what we usually had. It is so just air on the
side of caution, get those plantsready, harden them off, and it's
really not a scary process. Youreally can't go wrong. Just just don't
leave them unprotected, give them alittle bit more each day, a little
bit more of a leash, andwhen it gets warmer, you're you're ready
(18:02):
to roll, and your plans willbe ready to roll as well. I
think that pretty much covers it fortoday. Yes, it's it's it's exciting,
can you say it. It's soexciting garden seasons here? I know,
and we are, and you knowwe're gonna have a lot more topics
on the garden in the coming weeks, and on flowers and hanging baskets and
everything. And we get excited aboutit too the closer it gets. So
I guess it's that time. Mary. Remember whatever you do, find the
(18:22):
fun and gardening and grow something beautiful. Until next week, everyone happy gardening.
We hope you've enjoyed this episode.Subscribe to the Simple Garden podcast on
iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify,or most of your favorite podcast apps.
You can also head over to simpleGarden life dot com where you can listen
and read all of the show notesto every episode and if you have any
questions, any ideas for show topics, or if you want to share your
(18:45):
favorite garden tip, email us atthe farm at owgarden dot com. Until
next time, Thanks everyone,
Welcome to the Simple Garden Life podcast, a program dedicated to keeping the yard
of gardening simple, fun and alwaysrewarding. Now Here are your hosts,
Jim and Mary Competti. Hello andwelcome everybody to Simple Garden Life. I'm
your host Jim Competti along with myco host Mary Competti, and today's subject
is hardening off plants. Mary,that's something that's really really important for the
(00:24):
health of your plants, for youngseedlings in the beginning of garden season.
Absolutely, it really makes me excitedbecause that means we're actually getting close to
planting season. I'll tell you itdoesn't always feel that way with the rain
and the cold that we have.But it's been crazy spring here so far
this year. But isn't every springreally when you think about it. I
mean, there's no doubt about itthat you think it's going to be better
(00:45):
than the year before, but itjust never works out that way. And
this year is he's to be draggingon and on winter does in the spring
itself, just lots of rain,But we're gonna get close someday, that's
right. So before we get intoour subject today, I do want to
remind everybody that you can always emailus at the farm at owgarden dot com
with your questions show topics if youwant to talk about show topics, but
(01:07):
we do answer everyone. We tryto get back with everyone with a couple
of days. Gets a little harderthese days and we get a lot more
emails come garden season. But it'sfun for us too, you know.
It gives us a chance to connectto people and we look forward to that.
But more importantly, it allows usto you know, stay in touch
with our listeners and readers to theblog of Overal Garden Farms and this is
my garden and all of our otherwebsites, so it's it's it's really a
(01:30):
positive thing for us, it is, and we get a lot of good
questions that lead to a lot ofgreat topics that we write about, so
we enjoy reading those every morning.That's right. And you can also maybe
get featured on our podcast because wedo a question of the week and we
have one today actually from Canada thatwe'll get to later in the podcast.
But let's get back to hardening allplants and why it is so important.
You know, it's really one ofthe most important things you can do in
(01:51):
the spring to get your vegetable andflower plants off to a great start.
You just can't take your plants andgo outside and put them in the ground
and expect good things to happen fromthat easy indoor life to the outdoor life.
You know, whether you raise yourown plants from seed indoors or as
we talked about, purchase transplants froma local nursery or greenhouse. Preparing them
properly for planting day, Boy,it's crucial to their health early on and
(02:14):
if they're going to bloom well orperform well in the garden. Yeah,
and when done correctly, it reallysets the stage for plants to take hold,
established and grow very fast, that'sright. And when they're not done
that way, the shock and thestress can really injure and stunt damage them
in some cases. And we've hadthis happen to us before, you know,
just it can happen to anybody.It can kill a plant if it's
not properly ready to be outside.You know. The hardening off is a
(02:39):
confusing topic for some people. Theyreally sometimes don't know what it means and
they don't really understand Okay, whatdoes what does that whole process mean?
I guess we should really start offwith that, like what does hardening off
vegetable and flower plants mean? Right? And you know, basically we're talking
about prepare your plants to be livingoutdoors. So you know, just like
(03:00):
we don't like to be outdoors whenit's cold outside or raining, you know,
we've got to get our plants readyfor the outdoors. And sometimes,
you know, spring planting season,it's very tricky for plants because they're going
to be in different elements that theyever wore in. That's right, and
let's let's cover that subject first.So for a seedling and a transplant,
whether you raise it at home inyour house with some lights over top of
(03:21):
it, or and that's the bestway, by the way, not in
a window sill, but if youhave it in a window sill, or
whether it's in a greenhouse where they'rein that controlled environment. You have to
really think about the seedling's life upto the point before it goes outdoors.
We always like to talk about itlike a child that's very spoiled because it
gets absolutely everything it needs. Whenit needs water, the bright amount of
(03:42):
light. There are zero winds.The last time I check thunderstorms don't develop
inside a house. So you know, the seedlings at that point are very
very just protected, protected and sheltered. It's right, I mean they really
are. I mean you don't haveyou know, instant frost or that temperature
drop. And really one of thebiggest things we'll talk about protecting these plants
(04:03):
is wind. You know, whenyour plants first go from the inside to
the outside, they've never experienced that, and it can really be detrimental to
a plant. Yeah, getting plants, transplants ready for just the mother's nature's
elements is really crucial here. Yeah, So you know, when a plant
goes outside for the first time,and especially in the springtime, it's not
going to go out to seventy twodegrees and sonny every single day and sixty
(04:25):
at night and perfect. It's goingto have days where you might even have
to cover it because the temperature getsdown to thirty six or thirty five.
And then it's going to have somedays. I pray for these days right
now where it might actually get abovesunnty degrees or seventy five degrees and sonny
and be a little bit hot onit. And again it's not used to
that inside, so hardening off.What hardening off is is this process of
(04:46):
preparing or toughening up these young plantsso that when they go out to deal
with those extremes, they've had alittle bit of experience. You know,
you can't just throw somebody to thewolves for the first time if they don't
know anything about it. And ifyou're doing that with your plants, that's
exactly what you're doing. If you'retaking them from inside where they've been perfect,
and all of a sudden you takethem outside, put them in the
(05:08):
ground and say there you go.Right, And if you are lucky enough
to live in a warm tropical environment, this may not be that much of
an issue if you can actually raiseyour seedlings outside. But we're talking those
transplants that are being protected inside,are growing inside that have to eventually go
into the flower beds or gardens outside. Yes, and so hardening off is
usually a process for us, andit really should be for transplants that you
(05:31):
raised yourself of a couple of weeks, two to three weeks. It really
depends on your weather. The moreyou can harden a plant off and prepare
for the outdoors, the better.But for us, I would say on
average, it's about three weeks.Sometimes it's a little longer if it's a
nicer spring, and how it goes. But you know that process starts when
plants get to be about three tofour weeks old. You know, you've
(05:54):
grown them inside for a while.They're starting to grow up a little bit,
they're getting stronger. You have themunder the lights. In some cases
maybe they're grating too tall for it, and the weather outside is starting to
warm, Mary to what fifty fiftyfive sixty degrees a side day here and
there, definitely want to put themout of a lease it's a round fifty
five or above. Yeah, exactly, especially that very first time. So
(06:15):
what you're going to do with yourplants is you're going to take them outside.
And this is where we have toreally kind of get into the specifics
of well, what do you dowhen you're outside and and you know,
where do you put them? Andthat's what we're going to talk about right
now, because that's really the importantpart. Okay, Mary, So first
day, what do we do,Well, you basically want to take your
plants outside, allow them to geta little bit of sunlight, but just
(06:35):
a few hours at the most.You know, you've got to really work
your way up to transitioning these plantsto the outdoors. So on day one,
do you take them straight out andput them right out in the middle
of the sun. No, exactly, you want to put them in a
protected area that they get a littlebit of indirect sunlight. Not if it's
a very hot day. Don't putthem right in the sunlight. When it's
eighty five ninety degrees. Yeah,for us, and for many people,
(06:59):
covered back porch, a screened inporch, something where there's not going to
be a lot of wind and alittle bit of that. I guess filtered
light would be the proper way tosay it. But chosolutely right. If
you sit them out there and theygo from young to that hot, hot
sun, it could be trouble forthem really quickly. So not to mention
they're going to dry out very quicklyas well. Exactly, So three four,
maybe even five hours if it's stillnice and the sun's not crushing down
(07:21):
them that first day, and thenyou just want to keep doing that.
Remember we're starting this process at aboutfour weeks of age, because you want
to have three to four weeks beforethey go out. For most people at
seven to eight weeks. I knowseed packets always say six weeks. They're
never big enough. You want yourplants a little bigger, so we always
say, you know, try togrow them to eight weeks. So this
is about four weeks old your seedlingsare, and you're getting them out for
(07:45):
the first I want to say,what three to five days, maybe even
the first week. Just a littlebit longer each day. Yeah, I
just want to do a progression everysingle day, just a little bit longer.
However, if you run into avery cold day, all of a
sudden, there's a cold snap,like we're gonna get snow tonight, you
know, we don't want to putthem outside. Yeah, And that's a
great topic that people always ask usquestions, like, well, if I've
(08:05):
been giving my plants outside outside,outside, do I have to bring them
right in and shove them under thelights to day. I don't do that
if your plants are getting big,especially late in the process. We've had
moments before where we've had that coldsnap at the middle of May and we've
brought our plants back indoors, satthem in natural light. They're not going
to grow like they were when theywere seedlings and grow to the light for
what two three days, never hadour lights back on them, and they're
(08:28):
going to be fine. They can'tgo weeks like that, but you're okay
to bring them back inside. Youdo not want to try to cover them
up outside. Get them back indoorsif that's happening, especially in that first
week, right, absolutely, that'llhelp protect them and then you can get
them back out again here, youknow, when the weather breaks again.
Yeah, So as as each daygoes by and as the weather allows,
you know, let them out alittle more and a little more, and
(08:52):
you know you want to keep lettingthem grow. You're going to see in
that first week once they hit theoutdoor air, it is unbelievable how much
they will start to take off.You don't really want to get them a
natural rain that first week. Youknow, you stole them protected because they
can really beat them down when they'reyoung like that. But just getting them
out it's going to really help.And then you know, that's kind of
(09:13):
leads to our question of the week, which we should probably get you right
now and then take a break.Why don't we ask the question and then
when we come back from the break, we'll answer it. That sounds great.
So this week's question comes from Stacyfrom Toronto, Canada. I always
struggle with where to put my plantsto harden them off. How can I
get them outside to get sunlight withoutgetting them when whipped? All right,
that's a great, great question,Stacy, And when we come back from
(09:35):
our break, we'll answer that andfinish up our topic on how to harden
off plants. Okay, we areback and we are answering the question of
the week, which was Stacy fromToronto, Canada, and she asked again,
you know, I always struggle withwhere to put my plants to harden
them off, and how can Iget them outside to get sunlight without getting
them win whipped. And this isprobably the single biggest issue for plants,
(09:56):
and we mentioned it earlier, isthe wind early on because these plants their
stems, their main stems, they'rejust not strong. No, they're not,
and they can break off very quicklyand really damage the plants. Yeah,
and they haven't been used to anytype of wind activity at all,
so they're just frail. And soit's a great question. Those first week
we talked about, you know,you put them in a protected area on
a porch. They're getting some naturallight. But now it's time. Now
(10:18):
it's time to get them out andget them some real sunlight. Maybe not
you know, twenty four seven yet, but a lot more. But you
can't just sit them out in theyard. And this is where people make
that crucial mistake. There are alot of things you can do. We
do something homemade, and I knowyou're going to talk about that in a
second, but you can get creative. You know, you can turn a
patio table on its side and putthem on the on the wind side so
(10:39):
they're not going to get the directwind before. Yeah, we have done
that before. Make sure it's astrong patio table. I won't go into
details, but if it's not,it could fall on your plants and crush
them. But you can use anything, buckets, anything in front just to
kind of block that wind a littlebit, to surround your plants from getting
that massive quick wind. For us, I know, our key is we
(11:00):
just took some boards. Mare youcan kind of describe what we did,
but it really works well. Right. It's just basically we took four one
by twelve inch boards and we screwedthem together. Basically, basically making a
rectangle shape. And then what wedid we screwed them together. Then we
put all of our flats of vegetables, our flowers, We put them down
inside on the patio, and thatone by twelve rectangle protected from them getting
(11:22):
wind whipped, but allowed the sunlightto come in and so they got a
little bit of wind, but theywere protected from those harsh, harsh winds.
Yeah. And you know one otherthing that really makes that a positive
is you have this ready built incovering device. If you start to keep
your plants out longer and longer andyou're gonna get that cold night in there
later and it's not going to getsuper cold, you can throw a sheet
(11:43):
over that one by twelve and youknow, put a couple of rocks in
each side, and it was perfectfor kind of protecting them. Yeah.
And it's a lot easier to dothat than try and to move them back
inside every time, especially when they'regetting larger and larger. Yeah, it
really is. I mean, andat this point, you know, once
your plants have been out into thesunlight and they've started to be it and
you're gonna have to remember to waterthem more often, to look at them
a little bit more. But oncethey start to toughen up like this,
(12:07):
they're gonna grow fast. They're gonnagrow thicker together and like in that protective
box. We've always liked that becauseit's easy to water them, it's easy
to take care of them. Theonly time you're going to bring them in
now after you know, maybe threeweeks outside or two and a half weeks,
is if you have really bad weatherforecast or heavy rains. Heavy rains
can still damage them. You know, you get a heavy, heavy,
(12:28):
hard rain, it's going to beatthose plants down. They'll get tougher and
tougher with it. But you know, we've we've we've done it before.
You know, you run outside andyou forget and you see it's raining hard.
You want to get them out.But by week three we pretty much
leave ours out around the clock.I would say, unless there's something coming
right less, there's a hard freezethat we can't protect them, we'll leave
them out. And boy, youknow, after the first week of them
being outside, you'll really see achange in the foliage and of the stem
(12:52):
growth. They start to get verybig and they look like those plants that
you purchase right before at the nurseries, right before garden season. I mean,
they really really do. I meanthat is the key to really getting
those plants to get going. Ieven like to put once they've been out
for about a week or two andthey're four or five weeks old, you
know, we'll hit ours with alittle bit of compost. T is one
of the waterings, and it kindof gives them that extra balance of nutrients.
(13:16):
Whether it's flowers or vegetable plants,it really sends them up and upward.
I mean, we've had plants thatare an inch to an inch and
a half tall, like some ofour Halopenia plants that grow slower. Once
we get them outdoors. It isamazing to watch how quickly they go right.
And we'll get the question often ofhow long or what temperature does it
need to be to keep my plansout overnight? Yeah, you know,
once they've been out for three weeks, if the forecast calls for something,
(13:39):
I would say anything cooler than fortyfive, I still like to at least
cover them at that point or getthem in, because this is the thing
you can't nothing against. Whether ornot you can't rely on, you can't
rely on them because I've I've wokenup before when the temperature was supposed to
be forty five and I look atthe thermometer and it's thirty six. And
(14:01):
you do you get terrified. Yougo out and you're checking these plants and
you're doing whatever. Now, rememberif you do happen to make a mistake
and get some frost, if youcan get out there early and apply water
to them and get the frost offthem and get them protected, it's the
sunlight that's going to come out onthat frost that kills them off. That's
a great point. Yeah, soyou can, but it still stunts them.
So you know, just be Ialways like to err on the side
(14:24):
of caution with that and get themout there that way. So that's transplants,
and it doesn't matter if it's flowers. It doesn't matter if it's vegetable
plants. So let's cover the othersubject Mary, when we talk about Okay,
I don't grow my own plants,but I go to a nursery and
pick my plants up. People manytimes think I don't have to do anything.
Well, there's a couple rules ofthumb here. Again, if you're
(14:46):
picking them up inside a store andthey're not outside at all, and they
haven't been outside, chances are theyhaven't been hardened off very well. Right.
And also that's a great point.But also the plants that are outdoors
and they are solved together so tightly, Yes, those are being protected because
there's so many plants around them.So those individual plants may struggle when you
(15:07):
first put them outside. Yeah,So what I like to tell people do
is I always feel like it's agood idea to purchase your plants a week
or two before you're ready to plantthem. And people are like, well,
what you know, why am Idoing that? Well, first of
all, two reasons. You getbetter selection. I mean, if you
really do, if you wait tillthe last minutes, it's the old saying,
there's not as much left there andthey've been picked over. So you
(15:28):
can pick the best of plants andyou can get them home and you can
give them that one to two weeksat that point of kind of that hardening
off process. If it's nice out, absolutely leave them out. Still protect
them. Very great point about youknow, being crammed together. They're protected
from wind there. But when youbring a single flat home and you lay
it out, it's not so youhave to you have to protect them,
but that extra week or two,that's the critical mistake people make of bringing
(15:50):
those plants home and throwing them inthe ground. You know, it's that
tomato plant that's just all of asudden by itself out in the garden getting
pounded with rain and it's not usedto it, and so you have to
be really careful that you do.And if you're just buying a few plants,
not a whole flat, you know, when you're buying them in the
two cup containers or four cup containers, you just really be careful because if
you put them outside and even asmall one comes by, they're going to
(16:11):
topple over real quick. So makesure that you support them so that they
can't fall over. And no matterwhat you're hardening off and getting it ready
for size really will make a differencebased upon how strong the plant's going to
be. You know, if you'rebuying some weak transplants at a nursery because
they were half off, you're gonnawant to coddle them a little bit and
get them stronger. If it's abig beefy plant that's been outside for a
(16:33):
little while, it's going to needa little bit less time to get ready
for it. The only exception tothis role is late in the season.
You know, you get into Juneand the temperature rarely, if ever,
goes below fifty and most all ofthese plants at nurseries when they go on
clearance, where are they clearanced thatthey're outside? Yeah, they're outside,
and so yes, you can takethose home and plant them. In fact,
you want to do that to getthem out of their cramp soil by
(16:56):
that point. But it's really thinkingback to right now that critical stage,
and I think people underestimate how muchthat can do for a plant. You
know, what happens early in thegrowing season really does dictate what's going to
happen to your plants, whether it'sflowers getting lots of blooms being healthy,
or vegetable plants getting lots of produce. If a plant struggles early, it
(17:18):
often leads to big issues later on. For what you're looking for. We've
given a delay crop, a delaycrop, and a reduction in the crop.
I mean, we've had plants before. I still remember we had six
tometo plants. You know what we'rehuman. We left them out and we
shouldn't have, and it got cold. They didn't frost, but they were
never the same. No, theydefinitely got stunned and it took almost all
(17:41):
summer for them to recover, andeven our yield that year was a little
bit lower than what we usually had. It is so just air on the
side of caution, get those plantsready, harden them off, and it's
really not a scary process. Youreally can't go wrong. Just just don't
leave them unprotected, give them alittle bit more each day, a little
bit more of a leash, andwhen it gets warmer, you're you're ready
(18:02):
to roll, and your plans willbe ready to roll as well. I
think that pretty much covers it fortoday. Yes, it's it's it's exciting,
can you say it. It's soexciting garden seasons here? I know,
and we are, and you knowwe're gonna have a lot more topics
on the garden in the coming weeks, and on flowers and hanging baskets and
everything. And we get excited aboutit too the closer it gets. So
I guess it's that time. Mary. Remember whatever you do, find the
(18:22):
fun and gardening and grow something beautiful. Until next week, everyone happy gardening.
We hope you've enjoyed this episode.Subscribe to the Simple Garden podcast on
iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify,or most of your favorite podcast apps.
You can also head over to simpleGarden life dot com where you can listen
and read all of the show notesto every episode and if you have any
questions, any ideas for show topics, or if you want to share your
(18:45):
favorite garden tip, email us atthe farm at owgarden dot com. Until
next time, Thanks everyone,
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