Hardening off your seedlings is an important step in growing your own plants from seed. You spend weeks tending to these little guys and you want to make the transition to the outdoors as easy on them as you can.
How to harden off seedlings.
There are a few different ways to do this and not one way is really better then another. The way I harden off seedlings is relatively easy. I say relatively easy because no matter how I look at it…it takes a little time.
Steps to harden off seedlings
- Wait until your last frost.
- Make sure your seedlings are well watered each morning.
- Day 1. Move all your seedling out to a sheltered area for an hour or two. I move them all into my garage and open the garage door.
- After a few hours have passed move the seedlings back indoors. I move them back into the garage and close the door.
- Check the trays to see if you need to rewater.
- On days 2 and 3 repeat the steps above only add another hour for the seedlings to be outside.
- Day 4 They should be able to handle half a day outside of the sheltered area
- For day 5 repeat day 4
- Day 6 Move seedlings outside for the whole day. Feed seedlings with an organic fertilizer.
- Day 7 they should be able to handle the whole day and overnight
I use Alaska fish fertilizer to fertilize my seedlings. It works great for me. It does smell like fish for a little bit after I spray them.
More tips…
Some people like to use a small fan to help harden off seedlings. You can place this fan on oscillating and move the air around. The moving air imitates wind so the seedlings make a stronger stem. This step is done before you move the seedlings outside.
Another tip I like to do is brush my hand over the seedlings every day. This will also help the seedlings to make a stronger stem.
Remember that your young seedlings are really tender. Do not put them out into the sun right away. They will wilt in no time.
What’s happening on the farm.
May is a crazy month. The goal is to get all the seedlings into the ground by May 31st. Usually I would try and have them in a little sooner but last night we had frost and are are delayed a couple of weeks from last year.
The seedlings went out into the garage Monday of last week.
I had issues with robins flying into the garage and stealing my seedlings!
I ended up tying a plastic grocery bag onto a tomato cage to scare them away. It worked!
Most of my dahlia tubers are sprouting in these bulb crates. I did leave some out. I am curious to see if pre-sprouting helps with earlier blooms. I will let you know.
This is my trial tulip bed, I was so excited with how the tulips bloomed in the raised bed.
Tulips. So pretty!! Love them.
I am working on getting the seedlings planted so next week I will share pictures of my field beds. They are looking good. I had to cover my rows last night because of a freeze warning. I am so glad that I did because It would have been so disappointing to have the frost kill my hard work.
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Here is a a little recap from last years growing season.
Spring is finally here…or is it? Today’s forecast in calling for 60’s and tomorrow 40’s with maybe a mix of rain and snow.The weather here in Minnesota keeps us on our toes, especially when you are planning on planting out all those little seedlings you have cared for all these weeks.Having something totally mot in your control makes a person feel quite small.
