I didn't harden off veggie transplants in new garden!

17 years ago

My 8 yr old son & I were so excited to plant today & I totally forgot about hardening plants off outside first. Except for a few tomato & cucumber plants that I bought last week & had them sitting outside underneath a slatted patio cover, we bought a lot transplants today & planted them today. We planted: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, carrots, pumpkins, squash, zucchini, peas, spinach, herbs, strawberries, & will plant seeds this week.

Are they doomed?!

We built raised beds last weekend. My second veggie garden ever.

Four beds 10'x4' each, a "patch" on the ground 8'x8', & two tractor tires for pumpkins. We filled with a mix from a soil company of compost, planting mix, peat moss & cow manure. It's seems like the mix should be richer (especially for the price of 7 yards!) it has a lot of small rocks in it. Topped it off with organic fish type fertilizer.

If anyone has done this before, what, if anything, happened to your plants? My son helped weed, rototill, build the boxes, fill the boxes & did all the planting & watering today with me. I would hate for his first experience to be a drag because of my newbiness.

I guess there's nothing to do but wait & see? Thanks!

Comments (4)

digit
17 years ago
Singcharlene, I took a look at your weather forecast there in Castle Rock and after tonight's thunderstorms it just looks clear and HOT.

If the storm doesn't adequately soak the ground, make sure your soil is good and wet. Dehydration is a major threat for your new plant starts.

Then, sometime tomorrow you need to give those tender plants some protection from a very hot sun. The easiest way that I know of is to take a double page from the newspaper and pull it into a cone shape with the top open. Pin it to the ground with soil or rocks. You can leave it mostly open on the north side just make sure that it shades the plant thru the heat of midday. ThatÂs all you are trying to do Â provide some shade. Night-time temperatures of 50 are really fine.

If your plants came from outdoor racks at the garden center, you are ahead of the game but you can be sure that they havenÂt been out there long. Further, damage to the roots will make your 85 degree weather tough on them.

Are you really at 6,400 feet?? The high altitude makes for an intensity of sunlight which is likely to burn your skin and your plants.

Your garden will probably be fine but any babying you do for your plants at this young and tender age is likely to be worth the effort.

HereÂs wishing you and yours the Best of Luck!

Steve
singcharlene
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks Steve. That was great advice. I love this forum!!

I went out this morning and all the plants were perky & happy. I watered lightly again. It's been partly cloudy off & on today & as it gets warmer some look stressed--mostly the smallest plants.

We have a stack of those plastic white patio chairs so I turned them upside down over some plants and it made a sturdy shade tent. I didn't have enough so I stacked tree branches that we just cut from winter storm damage across the rest of the raised beds.

We really are at 6500 elevation maybe a little lower like 6200 I thought. Denver is 5280. I've spent a lot of time here throughout my life as much of my family lives here but we just moved here from Calif. & the sun is much more intense. The clouds seem so low & when there's a full moon it looks like you could reach out & touch it. It makes for nice winters though because the snow melts within a day or two. 40 degrees one day & 70 the next. It's a trip-we really like it here so far.

Thanks again!
Charlene
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digit
17 years ago
There you go, Charlene, lawn chairs . . . branches . . . cardboard . . . the odd garden gnome. One trick to vegetable gardening is trying to not allow it too turn into this weird environment that the neighbors look at and shake their heads. The problem is that we are all collectors of "useful" things . . . storm doors . . . balls of twine . . .

I've gotten around my natural collector issues by insisting that garden space is just too precious for anything except plants. That way, everything that takes up room and isn't a plant, in time, gets carried back to a carport that you could no more get a car in than donkeys can fly.

Any creativity (collector's fantasy) is saved for trellising. There the goal is to have the trellis entirely obscured by plants - without it collapsing.

IÂm hundreds of miles north of your home but can imagine, and have visited, that high country with all the sunshine. Around here, getting above 2,500 feet jeopardizes the opportunity of gardening. IÂd just need to replace it with "scrap." Happy Gardening.

Steve
bpgreen
17 years ago
I planted a tomato last weekend or the weekend before that, also without hardening. I just forgot and/or assumed it had already been hardened. Some of the leaves burned a bit, but I put down a bunch of mulch and kept it watered, and it's putting out new growth, so I think it'll be ok.

I didn't harden off veggie transplants in new garden!

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I didn't harden off veggie transplants in new garden!

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singcharlene
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