The Organic Lemon

Depending on what you planted and when, your seedlings may need to be planted in a larger pot before you transplant them outside in your garden. When your seedlings first sprout up, you will see two leaves emerge - these are called cotyledons.  The cotyledons are actually a part of the seed and act as a food source for the sprouting seedling. As your seedlings continue to grow, you will begin to see the first “true leaves” start to form. These tend to look very different from the cotyledons. Here is a picture of the cotyledons with the true leaves just as they are beginning to emerge:

Once your seedlings have true leaf growth, the plant is actively photosynthesizing. Eventually the cotyledons will wither and fall off and the true leaves take over.

Since I like to use the seed pellets when I first plant my seedlings, I transplant them into a larger container after the plant has established good true leaf growth. I like to use organic potting soil and Cow Pots. There are several types of pots you can transplant your seedings into. Try to choose something that falls apart fairly easily when wet so that you go not have to disturb the plant roots when you transplant them into your garden. Cow Pots are great because not only do they fall apart easily but they also provide fertilizer for your plants. Another great, more affordable option is newspaper. You can form tubes of newspaper to a variety of sizes and close off the bottom by folding it over. If you want to get a precise size each time, you can buy or make a wooded mold for your newspaper pots. Here is a picture of newspaper pot makers sold at Burpee:

They can be a little pricey though so, if you are interested, here is a link to a blog that gives you instructions on how to make your own from PVC pipe at a much more affordable price: http://survivalfarm.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/3-newspaper-pot-maker-designed-and-built-by-cindy-dorfsmith/

However, if the weather is warm and the danger of a frost has past, you can skip the whole transplanting into a pot and just plant your seedlings outside in the garden. There are some plants that can handle a little cold weather too. For example, last year I planted some kale and collard green seedings outdoors. There were several morning frosts but the seedlings survived. Tomatoes, on the other hand, need warm weather and could not handle a frost. I usually wait until mid-May to plant the tomatoes outside. Make sure you know what tolerance your plants have for the cold before you transplant anything outside! In the meantime, make room for your warm weather seedlings under the grow lights in their new, larger containers  until the weather warms up a bit more!

Happy Transplanting!

If you live in the North East, I don’t have to tell you how ridiculously warm it has been this past week. It is mid-March and the Daffodils and Magnolia flowers are already blossoming. The first day of spring was sunny in the 70′s with a very foggy morning.

I am wishing I started  my seeds even earlier this year because they would be doing great! I planted some collard and kale seeds on the 20th and, a couple of days later now, they have already sprouted. Today I am going to plant some spinach, kale and collard greens outside in the raised garden beds to get them established. Last year I planted them out there in March (when it still felt like March) and they survived though the late frost we had. I bought extra seeds, I’ll take my changes planting outside in March again, especially with this ridiculously warm weather we are having.

In te meantime, the tomato plants and leeks are chugging away under the grow lights, my eggplants finally sprouted and a few cubanelle peppers but I am still waiting on my red peppers to sprout. It is also time to start thinking about planting my other summer crops – zucchini, yellow squash and cucumbers. These can be planted directly outside after the last frost but I like to start them earlier indoors. April is right around the corner too. Usually it is cool and rainy – perfect weather for planting the lettuce outside. We’ll have to see what kind of April we are going to have. I bought extra lettuce seeds because I had my heart set on a lot of lettuce this year. Hopefully it will do alright in this warmer weather trend we are having.

Knowing what plant hardiness zone you are in is very important when it comes to gardening. Every type of plant has its own zone, a.k.a. the temperature/climate that it grows the best in.

When you buy a plant, the zone number is usually listed on the tag somewhere. If not, you can always look up online or ask someone what zone the plant is in that you want to buy. Zones let you know what the Plant Hardiness is or, how well that particular plant can tolerate the cold.  Basically, you want to make sure you are not going to waste a lot of money by purchasing plants that LOVE warm weather when you live in an area that has very cold winters. The plants will most likely wither away from the cold. If you are dying to harvest your own lemons in the dead of winter and you live in Zone 5, make sure you have  a nice sunny, warm cozy spot in your house or in a greenhouse to relocate the plant during the winter months.

Also, interestingly enough, the USDA just modified the plant hardiness zones recently. (Many thanks to http://lostartofsimpleliving.wordpress.com/ for bringing this to my attention)

The change isn’t major but it is enough to make it noteworthy. It seems things are warming up a bit…

So, if you want to see if or how your zone area changed or you never knew what your zone area was, have a look at the map below or go to  http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/ where you can click on the individual states to get a closer look:

The seeds are beginning to sprout!

I have had them all sitting by a warm window that has direct sunlight. The first to sprout, interestingly enough, was one of the Cherokee Purple tomato plants. One sprouted a week after I planted it and it has been cranking with growth even since. All the other Cherokee Purples haven’t even broken through the soil surface yet. It will be interesting to see how this early bird tomato plant does! They are pretty leggy (meaning they have a very long stem) but I have never had a problem with leggy tomato plants not producing well. I didn’t expect them to sprout so fast and did not get them under a grow light fast enough!

Cherokee Purple Tomato Plant

The other early sprouts are the Anna Russian Tomato plants that just broke through yesterday and the leeks which broke through a few days ago.

Anna Russian Tomato Plant

Leeks

Still waiting on the peppers and eggplants and the rest of the Cherokee Purples!

Time to move the sprouts under the grow lights. My grow light of choice it the Hydrofarm Grow Light System

It doesn’t take up too much space and it is easy to adjust the height of the lamp as the plants grow. It is all I need for now and it helps give the seedlings that extra light that they need to grow well (and not get too leggy).