Now the Garden Season has Started with The First Transplants in The Garden

 Early to mid April happens to be the best time to start transplanting cool weather plants into the garden.  If you are using cold frames or placing row covers over your plants you can even start transplanting much sooner.  This is also a great way to extend the garden season especially in areas that are much cooler such as in northern states.  I like to do the first tiling sometime in April and do enough for adding all my springtime crops.

 

 This year I have decided on growing spinach, lettuce, potatoes, onions, and sun king broccoli which should be able to withstand the hot months and produce a decent crop.  I am still working on whether I should grow peas and or radishes.  Most likely I will plant pea because I bought a whole packet of seeds in the beginning of the year and would be a waste not to use them.

Even though these are normally springtime plants I can still plant them later and use them for a fall time crop instead.  Normally I plant kale and broccoli for a fall crop, but I decided that I would use them for a springtime crop instead.  I want to see if I can get a much better crop during the spring or if the fall is where I should keep my kale and broccoli plants.

This week was the perfect time to get my spinach and kale into the garden and the weather is still cool enough that they should be able to provide some great leaves for consumption.  I still have my lettuce and broccoli growing in pots outside, but they are not quite ready for planting.  I still have some time before the hot weather comes around and ends the spring season.  I would say in less than a month I will be putting my lettuce into the garden.  

 

I still have seeds that need to be planted indoors including many flowers that include cosmos, statice, calendula, amaranthus, queen annes lace, and some more wildflowers.  I already have six containers of both dill and alyssum at the moment, but I need to start growing many of the other flowers that I need to support my garden and plants.  I will hopefully start getting them planted indoors and placing them under lights this week.

What’s Left of My Spring Crops That Need to be Transplanted?

This week I actually started placing my spring crops into the garden.  I have plenty of plants that I think I should get a decent crop as long as the weather cooperates for the time being.  Spinach was the first plants that I needed to get into the garden.  They were starting to get a little bit pot bound and running out of room within the container.  Some leaves were also starting to fall which means they need to get into the garden right away. 

 Next I decided on placing the Brassica plants that I planted into the garden.  Unfortunately I lost track of which container had cabbage, broccoli, and brussel sprouts.  Since these plants all look the same when they are young it is very difficult to tell at the moment what they are.  In a couple of weeks they should start to take shape and I can tell you exactly what plants I added into the garden.

Next I wanted to get a new type of lettuce into the garden.  As you know I planted a large crop of lettuce seeds this season in an effort to make up from last year.  I planted seven different varieties of lettuce I was planning on having a great crop as long as they sprouted.  Some did not sprout which was disappointing, but I still have plenty of lettuce plants that did sprout which I hope to place in the garden very soon.

Once I get all my spring crops into the garden I will then start my summer tilling and get my corn, beans, and carrots planted right away.  I need to get them into the ground in the beginning of May and we are now getting close to mid May which means I must start planting them as soon as possible.  I am hoping to get them into the soil this weekend, but I am not sure if I can accomplish this with the time I have.

Almost Done with All the Transplants in the Garden

I am just about finished with all the transplants that I will be adding to the garden.  All I have left is some dill, wildflowers, statice, alyssum, and various other flowers that I need to get outside real soon.  With vegetables and fruits finally planted from seed or transplanted into the garden from containers, I can now focus on weeding and caring for my plants.  I am just looking for the first harvest from my garden this season.

It looks like some of the first harvests of the season will come from either my lettuce plants or some other spring crop.  Radishes don’t take long to mature and they were planted in the ground a couple of months ago along with my pea plants.  These are just some of the harvests I have to look forward to this year.



The only flowers I transplanted into the garden this week were my cilantro and cosmos flowers.  These plants I started growing back in April and took quite awhile for them to germinate and grow in the containers that I provided them.  They survived this whole time and it was way overdue to plant them in the ground.  It seems like they all took to the soil and with the rain today should definitely help them out greatly.



Rhubarb was another plant that had been grown in pots and was eventually destined to be added into the garden.  I gave them a spot with plenty of room since they have very large roots and need plenty of feeding.  I don’t plan on harvesting any of the stems this season, but hopefully with some good care this year and a cold winter I should have a small harvest next season. 



Last but not least I wanted to mention some of the seeds that were planted and which ones have shown signs of germinating.  Squash was the first since they don’t take long to germinate.  This includes both zucchini and pumpkin plants.  Some cucumbers were in the mix beginning to sprout.  Sunflowers were the other seeds that are starting to grow in the garden.  All that I am waiting for are carrots and a couple of melon seeds that I added a week ago.

Lots of Transplanting and Lots of Seed Planting

This week was a week full of seed planting and transplanting of many plants and seeds.  I began with obviously seeds that were made for cooler and spring type weather such as broccoli, spinach, and lettuce.  I wanted to get as many seeds into the ground as possible before the warm and hotter weather arrives which should come in a couple of months or so.  Two full rows of seeds should provide a good amount vegetables if they all sprout.

Transplanting both flowers, broccoli, and brussel sprouts I had to finish today.  I started with my flowers since they are much easier to transplant into the ground.  I placed them in between the two rows above and between the two rows of corn that I planted a couple of days ago.

Above is just some dill that I have planted into the garden and I also put both alyssum and wildflowers into the garden as well.  Some of them between corn rows and some between my spring crop rows.

Although it is still spring it was time to get as many corn seeds into the garden as possible.  Two full rows will provide enough corn that I need to enjoy when they start producing some time July and into August weather permitting. 

Thinning out plants is an important part of gardening and that is what I did with my radishes and my pea plants that I had planted back in April.  They were starting to crowd each other and that will cause some issues in the future if you do not remove all the plants but one in a bunch.  I plant the seeds in bunches and if they all sprout they will crowd up all around each other and that is when you start thinning them out.

The last thing I did today was getting all of my transplanted broccoli and brussel sprouts into the garden right next to my spring crop.  I wasn't sure if I was going to plant them today, but I decided that getting them into the garden as soon as possible was the best possible way to get them out of the way.  This way I don't have to think about them later on and is one less plant that I need to transplant into the garden.

So far this is all I have done in the past week and hope to get some more plants into the garden with the next couple of weeks or so.  I will probably start planting some of my squash seeds indoors including pumpkins and zucchini.  I also have some flowers that need to get outside in the near future once they get a little bit bigger.  I have been placing my tomatoes, melons, eggplant, and peppers outside to harden them off in order to get used to the weather.  It was a little cool today so I left them inside for the moment and hope to put them back outside this week again.

What Plants Are Next for Transplanting?

It looks like this weekend has been quite productive with adding three types of plants into the garden.  This doesn't sound like much, but with over twenty tomato plants, twelve squash plants, and a dozen melon plants it makes for a long weekend.  Today I was able to finish the melons and squash transplanting.

A couple of days ago when I had finished tilling I wanted to get as many tomato plants into the ground as possible.  Since I had many tomato plants to add to the garden I wanted to get the hardest plants over with.  It only took about four hours to plant all my tomato plants into the ground.

My melons had been in peat pots for quite a long time and they probably wouldn't have last that much longer in these containers.  That is when I decided to plant them right after my tomatoes.  This includes all my
melons such as watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew.

Right after doing my melon plants squash plants were next.  The two squash plants that I grew this season were pumpkins and zucchini.  These are the only two squash plants worth growing.

Dill, Alyssum, and Wildflower Plants Ready for Transplanting

It was time for my flowers to be placed into the garden now that the weather is warming up in the beginning month of May.  This is the month that I usually start planting most of my plants that I have started indoors.  Only my flowers are ready for now and all my other plants will have to wait for a little bit more warmer temperatures.

My dill, alyssum, and wildflowers have been outside for quite some time and it was about time to place them right into the garden soil.  It doesn't take that long to transplant them and once they are in the garden you don't have to do much with them for the rest of the season.  You may have to occasionally water and weed them, but nothing too time consuming.

All my lettuce is finally in the ground as well so I don't have to worry about transplanting them anymore and can now focus on possibly harvesting some of the leaves from a few of them.  The ones I planted today I will not harvest for another few weeks and most likely by the end of May.

A Few Vegetable and Fruit Plants Added to My Garden

This week was about transplanting almost everything that I had grown indoors this past spring and late Winter.  It was finally time to get them in the ground especially with the warm weather that we have been experiencing.  This is not good for my onions or spinach, but it is definitely good for my melons and tomatoes.

I am just about done with my fruits and vegetables and all that is left is a couple of squash transplants and some seeds that I need to plant.  I should be done by tomorrow as long as the weather holds up and I don't waste anytime.  Here are some of the transplants I got in the ground this week.

I would suggest visiting my website for the full list of plants that I was able to get into the garden this week.

Getting Lettuce, Flowers, and Seeds Added to the Garden

The very first thing after tilling the garden is getting as many plants as you can into the garden in order for them to get accustomed to the soil quickly.  Lettuce was the first plants I got into the garden and they were easy because I didn't have to take them out of the containers because peat pots can go right into the soil.  The plant roots will go right through them very easily.

Next up were my flowers.  I like to plant them in between rows throughout the garden.  I placed my alyssum and dill along the borders of the garden so that they are not in the way of my plants and still have plenty of room to grow.

Yesterday I got some of my corn rows and beans completed.  Once I had setup my bean trellis I could start planting seeds for my beans and corn rows.  I wanted to get my carrot seeds in the ground before it started raining so that it could benefit from a small rain shower.  Sadly I ran out of time and I will have to plant them a little later.  Luckily it doesn't take long for them to grow and then mature for harvesting.  I have plenty of time to plant my carrot seeds.

Time to Finish Transplanting This Week

I thought this week would be the perfect time to finish all my transplanting.  I completed a big chunk this week by adding the last of the tomatoes, some eggplant, peppers, and many different beneficial flowers.  Getting them into the ground was my first priority.

I had let my tomatoes grow long enough in the containers that they were held in and they seemed to not be looking good towards the end.  They were growing, but leaves were starting to curl and new leaves were not growing as fast as they should.  Once I noticed this I placed them in the garden and began transplanting them immediately.

In the photo below you can see how the roots had reached the bottom and could no longer continue to flourish.  This is when you know it is time to place them in the garden soil.

This is what they looked like after placing them in the garden.

They are already starting to look much better now that they have plenty of room to grow.

I also worked on my pepper plants too and they were not going anywhere while they stayed in their peat pots.  When they stop growing or halt their production they need more room to continue and that is exactly what I did with them.

Eggplants are usually last to be added to the garden because they take quite a while to grow in small containers, but once they start producing leaves they take off really fast.  Now that they are in the ground they will grow much faster.

Some flowers were also added including sunflowers this week.  I only added the transplants that I had and will plant some more sunflower seeds because I want to make sure that I have enough in order to attract as many bees as possible.

I added a large container full of cilantro into the ground.  I wasn't sure if it would come out easily, but in the end it actually came out like a large brick similar to what alyssum and dill do.

I love dill and planting as much as possible provides two advantages.  The flowers attract good insects and I can use the leaves for flavoring in many dishes.  There is nothing better than fresh organic dill.

The last flower I added was purple alyssum.  I was able to plant them in large green pots and still have some to plant in the garden.  I have about a couple of containers left after transplanting what I had ready for the garden.

Started Transplanting All My Plants This Week

With the good weather over the past month it was time to start putting them into the ground right away.  The quicker they are placed in the ground the faster they will provide a good harvest hopefully.  This is why I decided to place them in the garden.  I still have not finished with the garden, but I should be complete by next week.

I am aiming for next week because I still have have plants to add to the garden including eggplant, peppers, along with planting corn, beans, and carrots.  There is still plenty to do and I am not sure if I can get this done by the weekend.  That is the earliest that I can get this done and even with good weather I might not get it done that quickly.

So far I have got a couple of alyssum plants in the ground along with squash, cucumbers, and melons.  This includes both watermelon and cantaloupe as well as zucchini and pumpkin squash plants.  I even had time to put some pot bound tomatoes into the ground too.

Here is a cucumber plant added to the garden this week.

Here is a pumpkin and zucchini added to the garden as well.

More Plants Added to Garden This Week

I still have some plants that have not been added to the garden due to the fact that they were planted a little bit later and their roots were not ready to adapt to the new ground soil.  I always wait a certain amount of time before embarking on this task of transplanting.  Once the roots are stable they then are ready to get into the ground as soon as possible.

This week the time had came for some later planted tomaotes, flowers, and herbs. The flowers and herbs were actually placed into the garden after I had the tomatoes in the ground.  I like to plant all the important plants such as fruits and vegetables and then I move on to herbs and flowers.  They are both important and play a crucial role, but the whole point is to have a great harvest.

These are just a couple of images of tomatoes and herbs that I planted this week.  You can get even more when you check out this post today.

Transplanting My Plants Into The Garden This Past Week

I have been extremely busy with the garden and many aspects of it.  For instance this weekend I usually put up the nets for the blueberries along with the strawberries.  They need a net to keep the birds away and so you can salvage your fruit harvest.  They are targets for the birds and putting up a net can be a time consuming and boring process, but it needs to get done.

Along with putting up a net for my fruit plants I also needed to transplant many plants to the garden in their respective holes that were previously dug.  Since putting up nets takes at least a couple of hours I was short on time to get my flowers and vegetable plants where they belong.

Luckily it didn't rain this weekend and there was good weather every day.  Since the weather was good I decided on getting right down to it and planted my tomatoes, sunflowers, alyssum, pumpkins, and zucchini right to the garden soil.

Here is one cherry tomato that I took a picture of marking the first transplant into the garden besides the spinach plants that were done earlier in the season.

A picture of one of the two sunflowers that were placed outside.

Some alyssum that was put into the ground to attract the best insects possible as early as possible.

Last but not least the squash family of plants.