Spring has well and truly arrived, which means lots is happening in the garden. There's also much to get done, but one of the most important tasks concerns your young plants.
Whilst you're sorting out the garden this spring, you'll have the delight of seeing your plants starting to thrive in the warmer, sunnier weather. Even more so, the younger plants you may be growing in your greenhouse will begin to establish themselves and be ready for potting out. So, before you start on your May gardening jobs, this one crucial task needs to be ticked off first.
Sharing his wisdom on BBC's Gardeners World, Monty Don explains that now is the time to harden off seedlings and young plants before permanently placing them in your garden.
This hand trowel does it all, from cutting through root balls to using the fishtail tip to lift rooted weeds. There's even a twine-cutting notch that doubles up as a bottle opener.
This popular mix from Miracle-Gro can be used to plant flowers and seedlings in containers. It includes coir, which is great for absorbing water and keeping plants hydrated.
These pots are ideal for filling with younger plants and can be easily moved around to more sheltered areas of your garden whilst you harden the plants off.
"The potting shed and the greenhouse are my happy place. Taking plants on this journey, from seed to full high-performance out in the garden. So you have seeds that are sown, and you get a seed tray full of seedlings like that, and then you prick them out, and they look something along these lines, into individual plugs," starts Monty.
Sowing your own seeds is a great way to keep costs down in the garden and a sustainable practice that benefits your space's ecosystem. You just need to know how to make sure they survive and thrive long enough to become established plants.
"And at some stage, a lot of them are potted on. But before they can go outside, even if they’re not tender plants, they need hardening off, and hardening off is something I really want to make clear, because it’s actually terribly important," stresses Monty.
To ensure your plant is supported as it grows, it'll need to be gently introduced to the outdoor conditions. That way, they're more likely to survive any harsher weather or unwelcome pests.
"You need to acclimatise the plant to life outside in the big bad world. And if you sow your seeds on a windowsill, that’s fine. The next stage could be just sort of outside the back door or around the corner by a shed where it's out of the worst of the weather," recommends Monty.
Even if you buy young plants from the garden centre, Monty says it's best to harden them off for at least a week in a slightly protected spot in your garden. That way, they have the best chance at becoming long-term additions for you to enjoy.
Knowing how often you should be watering your seedlings will also help massively with their growth and establishment. When plants are young they are particularly vulnerable so it's best to take real care with their maintenance at this stage.
