How to Harden Off Tomato and Flower Starts

It’s almost May. Our garden beds are ready and the weather is warming up.  Before you actually plant, it’s important to take your time when it comes to moving your new seedlings to the great outdoors. This applies whether you grew your own vegetables and flowers from seed or bought them from our greenhouse. Moving your plants from the house or greenhouse directly into the garden without giving them time to adjust will mean you’ll lose most, if not all of them. At the very least, you’ll set the plants back weeks due to transplant shock. This slow transition from indoors to the outside is called “hardening off”. Hardening off plants gradually exposes them to outdoor light, wind and temperatures. The process is easy, but it takes time. In fact, you should plan on a week or so to get your immature plants ready to transplant into the garden. 

On the first day, pick a sheltered, shady spot under a tree or on the patio and leave them there for 3 or 4 hours. Bring them in that night. The second day, leave them out 5 or 6 hours, the third day 6 or 7 hours. On the fourth day, set your plants in a place where they will receive morning sun. Morning sun is not as harsh as afternoon sun. This will help your plants adjust to direct sunlight. Gradually increase sunlight exposure over the next few days. After 7 or 8 days, your plants should be ready for the outdoors. Even then, you'll want to keep an eye on the forecast. The average last day of frost is May 10, but this can vary greatly. Be prepared to bring your plants back in if the night time temperatures fall.

N-sulate is a frost blanket that will help protect your plants at night. If plants are small enough, throw a box or bucket over them to keep the frost off. Make sure you keep your plants watered during this hardening off process. Being outside means they will dry out faster, so keep an eye on the watering. Finally, when you’re ready to plant, pick a cloudy day. This will help your plants make the transition from container to the garden even easier.   

Worm Composting Basics  

  

Worm composting involves using worms to recycle food scraps into rich garden soil amendments called vermicompost or worm compost. Composting with worms offers many advantages. Done right, vermicomposting is clean, doesn't smell, doesn't take up a lot of space and doesn't cost a lot of money to get started. Begin by selecting a container to hold your worms. 

You can purchase a commercially-made worm composter or make one yourself, using an opaque bin with a lid, such as this 5-gallon storage tote. Prepare the container by drilling a series of holes in the sides, bottom and the lid. This will allow the bin to "breathe" and drain properly. 

Next, add three to four inches of bedding. Shredded newspaper is a good choice. Once shredded, soak the newspaper in water, then wring it out. The bedding should be as wet as a damp sponge. Add a cup of compost or garden soil to the bed. This helps the worms digestive process. 

Now you're ready to add your composting worms. Buy red wiggler worms: Eisenia foetida. Red wigglers can eat about half of their weight in food every day. This means if you start with a pound of worms, you'll be able to feed them one half of a pound of food scraps every day.  As your worms settle in to their new home, they will begin to reproduce and build up the worm population. Red wiggler worm eggs (called cocoons) are smaller than a grain of rice and can be difficult to spot in your bin.  It takes about 23 days for a cocoon to hatch. 

The newly hatched worms resemble white threads, but even at this stage, they're ready to go to work. Start by burying some food scraps in the bedding. Your worms will eat a variety of food, including fruit and vegetable peels, coffee grounds, egg shells and tea bags. They love melon rinds! Avoid meat or dairy products. Place your worm bin in a warm spot out of direct sunlight. Put the container inside of a tray or pan to catch any liquids that might drain out. Check on your worm bin daily. If you catch the worms trying to escape, it means the bedding is to wet. Cut down on the food and crack the lid to let more air in. In a short time, your worms will have transformed leftover table scraps into rich compost, which you can use to enrich and improve your garden soil.  

  

How to Start a Patio Vegetable Garden 

  You don’t need a large space to start your own Victory Garden. Most crops can be grown in containers on your patio, balcony or deck. The keys to successful vegetable gardening in containers are: deciding what you want to grow, choosing the right container for your crops and planting your container properly. When you’re making a decision about what to grow, plan to plant crops you’re most likely to pick, prepare and eat.  Take into consideration there are three overlapping growing seasons: early, mid and late (spring, summer and fall). Early season includes leafy greens such as lettuce, spinach, cabbage and kale. Mid-season crops are planted after last frost. Tomatoes, peppers are mid-season crops. Late season plantings would be kale, collards, lettuce, cool weather crops similar to spring season.  Once you've determined which tomatoes and vegetables you want to grow, it’s time to choose a container. Balcony and patio vegetable gardening containers include planters, hanging baskets, flower pots, fabric grow bags and self-contained systems such as Earth Boxes.  

Clay pots add a more natural softer look and are still a favorite of gardeners everywhere. Ceramic pottery is available in many colors and offers a "finished" look.  It’s important to choose a container that drains.  It’s also important to match the container size to the crops you want to grow. Cooking herbs and leafy vegetables such as spinach and kale can be grown in shallow pots. Tomato and peppers need more space. 

Self-watering systems such as Earth Box™ take a lot of the guess work out of growing tomatoes and vegetables. Now that you've selected your container, choose a quality potting soil to grow your vegetables, herbs and tomatoes in. High grade potting soils are light and airy, do not contain clay, garden soil or water retention crystals.

 We recommend The Flower Bin Potting Soil Mix and Happy Frog Potting Soil. Don’t let the lack of space stop you from growing fresh vegetables and tomatoes.  You have a lot of options when it comes to container size and shape. If you have questions about starting and growing your patio garden, we’ll be glad to help you. 

  

  

Selecting Summer Blooming Bulbs

Bulbs planted in late spring will produce some of the most dramatic colors in your summer and fall garden. You can tuck summer-blooming bulbs among your perennials or create a dedicated summer bulb garden.  Most summer and fall blooming bulbs can be grown in containers and will liven up your porch or deck. Summer blooming bulbs are available now and include canna lilies, dahlias, Asiatic and Oriental lilies, gladiolus and tuberous begonias. 

Asiatic lilies are the hardiest of all the lily hybrids.  If you planted some last year you may see them poking through the ground already. Once they are established in your garden, they'll produce showy blooms for many years. Asiatic lilies spread very quickly. Oriental lilies will generally survive the winter. Oriental lilies won't spread as rapidly as Asiatic lilies, but they tend to be more fragrant. 

Canna lilies feature attractive green, bronze or variegated foliage, in addition to their flowers.  Cannas do well in garden beds and containers. The canna “bulb” is actually a rhizome. 

 Dahlias are grown from tubers and come in a wide variety of colors. Dahlias will bring color to your garden in late summer and early fall. Dahlia blooms are especially attractive to pollinators. 

For more late summer and fall color, plant Gladiolus.

 Tuberous begonias make incredible displays of color in a shady spot on your patio. They can be planted in containers, hanging baskets and directly in the garden. Summer bulbs tend to sell out early, so it’s best to shop now to get the best selection. 

Take the First Step to a Great Lawn

Having a great lawn year after year begins with the idea that the best defense against weeds and diseases is a strong, healthy lawn. Best practices for building a healthy lawn include core aeration, twice a year application of humates and Revive, fertilizing four times a year, mowing at a higher setting and mowing more frequently and watering for longer periods of time and less frequently. An important aspect of best lawn practices is to use products that feed your lawn and help prevent weeds from showing up in the first place. 

ferti•lome's For All Seasons II supplies nutrients to your grass and helps prevent weeds. ferti•lome's For All Seasons II works by preventing seedlings from establishing roots.  It's important to note that For All Seasons II, just like every pre-emergent acts the same with all seeds, not just crabgrass and other weed seeds. If you're planning to over-seed your lawn this spring, you don't want to use For All Seasons II. Instead, use ferti•lome's New Lawn Starter to get your new grass off to a good start. Timing is important when applying For All Seasons II. Pre-emergents need to be applied before the ground temperatures get warm enough for seeds to start sprouting. Typically, this is around mid-April. Once applied, you'll need to water the lawn in order to activate the pre-emergent. ferti•lome's For All Seasons II is part of The Flower Bin's 4-Step lawn care program. Buying the 4-step program qualifies for a twenty percent cost savings to you. Keeping weeds from getting started means less yard maintenance for you and a great lawn all season long.  

Now’s the time to grow your own food.

 Thinking of starting a vegetable garden? Growing your own vegetables is rewarding in many ways. You have a supply of fresh ingredients for meals and you have the peace of mind knowing exactly what’s in the food you’re consuming. Here are some ideas to help you successfully cultivate your tomato and vegetable crops. First of all, decide what you want to grow. Plan to plant crops you’re most likely to pick, prepare and eat.  Next decide what types of garden beds you want. For most of us, this means a traditional in-ground garden, however you do have the option of growing in raised beds and/or containers. Bear in mind that a successful vegetable garden will need lots of sun, so you’ll want to choose a location where your garden will receive at least seven to eight hours of sunlight.  Once you’ve selected the garden site, it’s time to work on the soil.  Healthy soil is the key to your garden’s productivity. Most of our soils are heavy, clay-based. The only way to grow crops successfully is to add organic material to your existing soil. This is called amending the soil. Our high-quality organic soil amendments are produced locally and come bagged for your convenience. If you’re re-opening an existing bed, spread two to three inches of organic amendments on the surface of your garden bed and work it in eight to ten inches. 

For a new bed add four to six inches of organic material and work it in ten to twelve inches. A single bag of Earth Essentials Sheep, Peat and Compost will cover ten square feet, two inches deep. 

This is also a good time to add some organic fertilizer. Organic fertilizers will carry the OMRI seal on the bag. OMRI stands for Organic Material Review Institute. Products with the OMRI seal have gone through rigorous testing to assure the ingredients are organic. Place a small amount of organic fertilizer in the bottom of each row or planting hole, so the roots of your new plants can grow into it. Whether it’s an herb garden on the kitchen window sill or tomatoes in a raised bed, cultivating your own food is essential to your physical and emotional well-being.