Curing spring fever on a snowy April day

It’s pitiful outside and our spring fever is raging

Spring fever makes it hard not to think about all our garden leaf babies when we’re stuck inside. The columbine is sprouted and leafy and all the garden centers (like Lowes and Home Depot) are advertising sales for “Spring Black Friday”. Fortunately, some of the seeds we planted in a flat in February need some real attention… Well not emergency attention, but some of those little sprouts are big enough to transplant to jiffy pots. Stand back we know what to do!

Let’s call this a beginner’s guide

Sorry fanatics, it’s not likely we’re going to cover new territory here. Watch this space though, we’ll have some of the advanced stuff too. Oh and while you’re here, head over to the forum and make a suggestion for something you’d like us to cover in the blog. Any-hoe… This article is more your level 3 home gardener type article. What is a level 3 gardener? (don’t take this seriously we’re making this up as we go along). Here’s how we the levels of gardener.

At level zero, people buy you plants as gifts and you try to remember to water them, but they die in around a month or so.  The fact that you try and feel bad that the plant became mulch, identifies you as having the heart of a gardener. It’s okay – nothing lasts forever. Don’t weep on the flowers there’s too much salt in your tears and you’ll just end up killing again. Keep reading our blog and forums and we’ll get you through it.

The more advanced levels:

1. You can keep a spider plant alive and have planted marigolds or inpatients in your garden
2. Indoor plants survive you being on vacation for two weeks and you actively visit the garden center looking for new ideas
3. Vegetables from your garden become part of your food supply
4. You plant what other people refer to “sticks” or “twigs” knowing exactly what they will look like with the rest of the landscape in that spot in three years
5. Every seed from every fruit or vegetable gets dried tagged and added to your seed box
6. The plants inside your home have “perfect spots” depending on their light and airflow needs and you actively redecorate around them
7. The mad scientist in you kicks in and you start experimenting with rooting hormone, hydroponics and grafting
8. Hypertufa becomes a noun in your vocabulary and you know at least 2 recipes
9. You begin calling plants by their genus and species instead of their common name
10. Vegetarians give you the heebie-jeebies and you consider eating only meat for the rest of your life. Who in their right mind would eat a plant?

A lot of people start new seeds inside to get a break from spring fever, even if they don’t know tall fescue from Kentucky 51. Otherwise, Home Depot and Lowes wouldn’t sell a ton of seed starting flat kits over by they big Burpee seed display, right?

So, what did we plant this year?

Well, it’s not a secret, but to save time, we won’t go into full inventory just yet.  For now let’s just focus on what was ready for transplant.

1. Ox heart tomatoes – A friend gave us some left over seeds last year and we finally had an opportunity to plant them
2. Basil – We have full on BAGS of basil seeds. one plant makes LOADS of seeds if you let it and collecting them is easy
3. Peppers –  We’re not exactly sure of the variety. These were sweet and a little spicy slender peppers that sort of look like banana peppers…

The other plants are still too little and we just thinned them out a little to give them more room.

What’s the process?

Planting in a flat is pretty easy.   Just follow the instructions for the planter flat (it varies depending on what you get) and then make sure there’s enough light and water.  Different seeds have different planting requirements though. If you’re just starting out we recommend buying packets from the display at the store and reading the side of the packet. It really is enough to get you started. The packet will tell you how deep to plant in the dirt and how much sun is needed and about how long it will take for the seeds to sprout.  BE PATIENT sometimes seeds can be a little stubborn. If you’re like us, your spring fever will start to kick in around January 15th. There are lots of sites online to tell you what you can plant when.  These days, we usually don’t really get started til the first week of February anyway.

From there, its pretty much waiting. This can also contribute to your spring fever, but it’s worth it. Depending on the timing, you may be able to put your plants directly into the garden.  If not, especially like now with the messed up New Jersey weather this April, you’ll need to transplant – YAY!

First you need to get the plant out of the flat. One at a time, go slow.  Did you ever see a fast plant? The easiest way we’ve found to separate the whole root ball from the planter flat is to fully saturate the dirt with water. Give the flat a good soak in room temperature water…. Did we mention you’re going to need some room for this and that it has the potential to get dirt everywhere? Yea, well… that… anyway, after they’re good and soaked gently squeeze the bottom of each cell in the planter flat and roll it in your fingers a little to loosen the dirt from the sides of the cell.  Grab the seedling by the stem, GENTLY and very very gently slide it out of the cell… GENTLY!!! If it doesn’t slide, give that cell another squeeze or consider using a spoon to loosen the dirt from the sides of the cell.

After that it’s easy, just replant the seed baby into a jiffy pot with a little more dirt and give it a good soaking.  LABEL your jiffy pots! especially if you’re planting similar things with multiple varieties like peppers and eggplants.

Enjoy your leaf babies and if you have any questions post a comment in the forums!