Well, another major milestone down for the season! Our community garden is mostly planted! We still have a little bit of follow up for tomorrow, but the overwhelming bulk of our transplanting is done!
We did decide to take a calculated risk with our squash this year, we have them in the ground! We are still six days to our actual last frost date, so we hmmm’d and hawed about whether to move forward with them. Our ten day forecast has lows of 46F and higher, so that’s looking like we’re pretty safe for even these warm loving veggies. These early Memorial day weekends can definitely go either way for us, we’re certainly hoping we don’t regret our decision!
Since we’ve done the bulk of our in-ground transplanting, let’s talk about our care strategy!
First, it’s important for us to water our plants daily. New transplants don’t have extensive root networks yet, so it’s critical to provide regular access to water. We generally water daily, at least for the first week after transplant. This is especially true if temperatures warm up and also in full-sun conditions, since the plants will transpire at maximum rates in those conditions. Our plants need constant access to water, especially right after transplant.
Next up, transplant shock is a very real thing. When plants radically change their environment (outside and into new soils), it’s quite hard on them. We’ve generally found it best to hit our fresh transplants with a quality water soluble fertilizer soon after the transplant. This ensures the plant has immediate access to all the nutrition it needs to build out new roots and maintain growth during this difficult process. This year, we’ll be doing that within 24 hours of transplant. But, sometime within the first few days is a good target.
We’ve talked about this before, but basic soil and compost require the plant to convert the more complex nutrition into “simpler” food that it can actually eat. This process takes time and more extensive root structures for the plant to accomplish. Likewise, granular fertilizers first have to break down before they can be accessed by the plants. Water soluble fertilizers are immediately available (i.e. they are all ready “edible” food), which means the plants can just start eating right away. We’ll put a link below to a video that we did on the depths of this topic down in the comments, in case you’re curious for more.
Lastly, we always keep some transplants in reserve. Even if you’re a so called “good” gardener, there’s always a degree of chance that one (or more) of your transplants won’t make it. We keep a reserve of transplants “at the ready” in the event that we need to replace any of our plants. They may, or may not, be the same plant.
Our general goal is to keep our gardening spaces at maximum production, if possible. So, if you do end up losing plants to the transplanting process, it isn’t a freak thing that means you’re a bad gardener. It happens sometimes, even to the best growers!
As we left our community garden, we were certain to wish our plants good luck! We know this is quite the transition for them. Where they were once coddled, they’re expected to be on their own now. We raised good plants, though, so we’re confident that they’ll find success in their new home!
