So, as we approach mere weeks to when our first plants will be in the ground, let’s talk about a fundamental shift to our strategy that occurs around this time.
In the early days of our indoor garden, we had relatively long term objectives to keep our plants indoors and under grow lights. But, once we start heating our greenhouse in the shoulder season, our primary objective is to get as many plants into that greenhouse, as soon as possible.
At this stage, we pretty much want to go immediately from the initial transplant into hardening off. In years past, we’d give our plants a day to recover after that transplant. The logic here was that transplant was pretty harsh on the seedling and we try to be “nice” plant parents. But, this year, we’re choosing to immediately go into hardening off, with only a thorough watering in between that transplant! We’re giving them the boot!
This is probably one of the bigger differences between experienced and newer gardeners. Growers with many seasons under their belts understand how robust and resilient those plants can be, so long as the basics are dialed in. (e.g. watering, environment, nutrition) Whereas newer gardeners are much more cautious with their plants, fearing that anything they might do could spell their plant’s demise.
Certainly, there are things you can do that will damage your plants. We’ve pretty much done all of them! But, you’d be surprised how resilient those seedlings can be and how much they’ll actually tolerate. Especially if they’re not lacking in any of their most basic requirements.
The gist is we’re now at that “conveyor belt” stage of indoor growing. Where we’re really just looking to our indoor garden for continued germination and a little bit of support while we’re in the hardening off phases. Oh, and caring for those super sensitive peppers and any other warm loving things we’re not yet brave enough to put into the greenhouse!
Oh! We’re also starting to plan out our actual garden implementation plan, assuming we get favorable weather. Dates are being set! We’ll hopefully be prepping our first beds in a couple of weeks, which is just wild to think about. We’re also at the end of our seeding, with only a couple fast growing stragglers like sunflower and cucumber remaining. Our 2025 garden is getting real, fast!
