It’s March, we have another week of waxing moon, and even as most of us here in the east/northeast are still digging out from under our latest blanket of snow, it is time to start the seedlings for later transplant.
Below the Mason-Dixon line you should have planted potatoes about two weeks ago. If you haven’t done so yet, wait until after the full moon. Yes, that’s old Farmer’s Almanac style planting by Pagan reckonings, but in my experience it’s worked pretty well. Above-ground fruiting plants to be started on the waxing moon, root vegetables and legumes (like peanuts, Jerusalem artichokes, etc.) on the waning moon.
But we all know that some garden plants should be 6 inches tall or taller and well-leafed before transplanting out when the weather warms. Eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, cukes, squash and herbs like basil and parsley should be started indoors and then hardened-off before transplanting. Some also start their bush beans indoors, and even their sunflowers (which this year I plan to grow with the squash and tomatoes for support).
Granny has started heirloom Abe Lincoln tomatoes and collards in a flat, they are up now with only their first set of baby-leaves. This is a good time to prick them out and put them into separate newspaper pots for further development, as their roots are still just a few little strings and they won’t suffer much shock at this point. The video above shows a way of making simple newspaper pots for this purpose. This not only is a good way to recycle your old newspapers, you also get to plant these straight out into the ground when they’re ready. The roots will grow straight through what by then is a soggy double layer of newsprint, and as it disintegrates it adds compost to the garden.
I fill my newspaper pots with potting soil about 2/3 full. carefully prick out the seedling from the flat and hold it gently so its roots just touch the soil, slowly add more potting soil all around to suspend the seedling. VERY gently pack down (not hard) to lend stability, add more soil to just below those first baby leaves. This allows further rootlets to develop from the stem to that point. I then put the pots into a cake pan so they pack together edge-to-edge. This allows me to add the water directly to the cake pan instead of directly onto the seedling, water is drawn upward to the roots. About once a week I add a little bit of organic fish fertilizer to the water too, it helps to develop full leaves and strong roots.
When it’s nearly warm enough to plant out, I put the pans of newspaper pot seedlings out on the porch to learn how to deal with a bit of rain, wind and outdoor buffeting. This is “hardening-off,” and should last about a week before planting out.
Not only do we get an early start on the season’s crops by potting indoors early, we also get the advantage of our crop plants being larger and more easily identified in the beds than any competing weeds – makes it easier to tend. So get started out there, gardeners! Another growing season is quickly upon us!
