Welcome to part three of our four-part series: The Ultimate Grower's Guide. We're taking all of our knowledge & experience and putting it into this jampacked series for you so you can grow as much food as possible on your farm or in your garden.
0:22 Intro & Recap
1:28 Four BIG Mistakes To Avoid
13:08 Next Steps
Parts 1 and 2 were focused on starting off right. Things like what seeds to buy, what soil to use, when to plant, and getting your seedlings off to the best start possible. Now we're talking about the next steps.
After you've chosen the right seeds and created an optimal growing environment, you get to see your seedlings grow and get ready to be transplanted! When you're planting out, though, it's easy to make big mistakes.
1. PLANT HEALTH 1:51
You need to make sure that your plant has grown enough and is an adequate size before you plant it into your garden. The size depends on your plant, the pot or tray size, and a lot more. Be on the lookout for plants that are happy, healthy, and strong enough to survive the environment you're putting them in.
Consider things like soil quality, pests, time of year, temperatures, etc. If you're bringing a plant out from the greenhouse or inside your home out into the elements, that's a big change!
One way to assess your plant's health is to check out its root system. Usually, you want to be able to see some roots, but you don't want it to have grown so much that's it's getting rootbound. A rootbound plant is going to have trouble unwinding and accessing the moisture & nutrients in the soil that it needs.
2. POOR SOIL 4:36
Another common problem that you need to look out for is the health of your SOIL. This can mean your soil is too hot, too dry, too crowded, too compacted, etc.
If you're following the recommendations from the second video, your seedling is used to light & fluffy soil. You want to mimic that environment in your ground, raised beds, or pots. Over the past five years, we've built up our soil with compost, manure, chips, organic material, beneficial microbes, and more. Gardening is a journey, and your soil health should improve every year as you keep adding to it.
3. WATER 6:55
Before transplanting, water in the hole FIRST. Ideally, you can evenly saturate your soil a day or two beforehand. This is where things like your drip irrigation come in handy! Water is key for your plants and key for the microbes in the ground to stay alive. Keep them protected with mulch too!
4. TIMING 10:03
In this video, we're planting in the morning, and the temperature isn't going to be too high today. We know our plant is going to be able to withstand this big change. If you're transplanting during the summer, especially in warm & dry climates, we recommend planting in the evening, though. You'll also want to consider using a row cover or shade cloth to protect your plants.
After you plant right at the soil level, you may want to give it additional layers of protection like diatomaceous earth to keep snails, pillbugs, etc. from eating your plant. Sluggo is another great organic product. You should only have to do this once, and then your plants will be able to handle future attacks.
After your plant is in the ground, you may need to fertilize more depending on the results of your soil test. Small plants with small root systems need help tapping into nutrients at times. We like to use organic fertilizers like liquid fish emulsion since it's easy to use for us and easy to access for the plant.
Check out more info below and stay tuned for the final part of this series!
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