Planting
Soaking and Coating
Some seeds can and should be soaked before planting – peas, beans, and corn, for example. This softens the outer seed coat and helps them to germinate faster. Don’t soak coated seeds or you defeat the purpose of the coating because it will soak off.
Legume family seeds, like peas and beans, can be dusted with a rhizobia bacterium inoculant. It forms a symbiotic relationship with the legume and enables the plant to store nitrogen from the air in nodules on its roots, thereby giving it an added boost of nitrogen, even in soils that don’t have a good supply. This isn’t necessary, but can help in poor soils.
Hardening Off
If you bought seedlings or grew your own, they will need to be hardened off before planting. This is because they have been coddled under nice LED lights in a humid, slightly breezy, warm environment their whole lives, and now you are going to stick them into cold soil with harsh sunlight and strong winds. They will not be happy. Leaves will shrivel, plants will simply die, and you will wonder what went wrong. Take the time to harden off your purchases or homegrown efforts. It isn’t worth the money or the time and effort lost to get in a hurry now. Read more on how to harden off your plants here.
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What’s the weather like?
Know the forecast. Don’t plant any cold sensitive plants if the forecast looks to drop below 6°C in the next week. If there is a hard frost called for after planting, you can cover the beds with blankets or upturned buckets to help prevent catastrophe.
Finally, Let’s Plant
Okay, the weather looks promising, it’s the right temperature for what you are planting, you have your seeds soaked and dusted (only legume family), and your plants hardened off, NOW you are ready to plant. Start in the morning, if you can. Afternoon sun can be pretty harsh, not only on the veggies, but on you too!
Marking your rows
To begin, I like to mark out my rows or the areas I am planting in. My dad loved a nice straight row of veggies. I am not quite as fussy, but I do try and keep the garden neat looking. If you want a potager style garden, you can try planting in spirals and geometric shapes. My dad would use string and two sticks to mark a nice straight line, measuring between the sticks to keep them square. A Beautiful, Edible Garden is a great book to check out.
The Beautiful Edible Garden
Grow a beautiful, edible garden that incorporates year round appeal and eye-catching designs. A stylish guide to help you create your own beautiful garden. Also available on Amazon.
Create a row
To create the row use a trowel or something firm, like a stick or dowel, and create a trough at the proper depth for your seed. Each seed package gives you a planting depth and spacing depth. The spacing is for rows and for the individual plants in that row. If you are using the square foot gardening method, then you can ignore the row spacing. Just make sure you can reach into the middle of your bed from the outside on both sides, so you can weed and thin your plants. Also, make sure that when you are making the row, you leave enough soil to push back over the seed to cover it.
Those suckers are tiny!
Some seeds are a real pain to plant. There are a bunch of techniques out there for planting carrot seeds, for example. I like seed tape for carrots – seeds come already spaced on an easy to bury piece of disolvable paper. I find they still need thinning, but they are much easier to plant. Some seeds come coated, which make them thicker and easier to plant, plus some coatings give them a little extra boost.
Sowing your seeds
Once you have your rows created and know how far apart to space the seeds, it’s time to plant. Drop the seeds in at the suggested intervals. I don’t cover them until I am done all of the one veggie/section. This helps me to space the next row at the same interval (if I can see the seed).
The instructions will have you plant closer than the final spacing. This helps to prevent bare spots where seeds don’t germinate. Some seeds get old and aren’t as viable. You can replant seeds in bare spots, also, if some don’t germinate. Some vegetables take longer to germinate than others though, so give them some time before replanting. Check the seed packet for how long it takes the vegetable seed to germinate.
Once all the seeds are in, push the dirt from the side of the furrow onto the seeds and pat it gently. Water gently too, but make sure to soak the ground. All seeds must be kept moist until they germinate, otherwise, frustratingly, they may just sit there and not grow.
Save Your Seeds
If you don’t plant the whole packet of seeds, you can save them for the next year. Mark the year on the package and store them in a cool, dry, dark location. Keep in mind they might not be as ‘fresh’ as new ones. Seeds are pretty inexpensive, so I often just buy new packets. The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible gives you the seed longevity (how long they can be stored) of many common vegetables.
The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible
The classic go to reference book for vegetable gardeners. Detailed instructions on how to grow vegetables, sorted alphabetically. Also available on Amazon.
Mark Your Rows
I don’t know how many times I have planted something and thought I would remember what or where it was, only to later forget. Using markers prevents this and not only will you be able to remember what is in the row, markers show you where your rows are when you are weeding.
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Planting plants
If you have already started seedlings or bedding plants, make sure to water them well before planting. Space the plants according to their mature size – a pumpkin might look small but I can guarantee they need a huge area to spread out in! Don’t crowd your plants together because you need to allow for air flow to prevent disease, such as powdery mildew.
Dig the hole to the same width and depth as the root ball and place your plant gently in the hole. Tomatoes can be planted much deeper than they are in the container, but most plants need to be planted at the same depth. If the plant is root bound you can gently untangle the roots. Not all vegetables like their roots disturbed, however.
Watering
I like to use a rose on my watering can when I first sow my garden. This stops the water from disturbing the soil and uncovering my freshly planted seeds. If you don’t have a watering can, you can use the spray setting on your hose that is the softest. The important part is to keep your seeds moist until they germinate. Later, once your plants are established, it is easier to water with the rose off the can as the water can be directed to the roots, rather than wetting the foliage. Wet leaves can lead to problems like powdery mildew and fungal leaf diseases in some plants.
Water in your seedlings and bedding plants too, but do not water the foliage (leaves) if possible. This helps to prevent disease and burn on the leaves from the sun being magnified by the water droplets.
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