Summer is here!

Hello fellow gardeners!

Now is an excellent time for seed sowing and a great chance to try growing some new fruit, herbs and vegetables in the garden. Many popular plants are perfect for sowing now, so why not try growing Basil, Coriander, or even Watermelons from seed if you haven’t before.

It's Warming Up

As it is now really warming up it can be a great time to get some replacement summer plants going. It also means many popular varieties should germinate readily on a warm windowsill, which is great for new gardeners.

Don’t forget that your existing plants will start to require a little more water to cope with the hotter days now, so keep the garden from drying out by watering regularly.

When growing from seed you can sometimes find you end up with a few more plants than you need, but it’s a much better problem than not having enough plants and spending a small fortune on seedlings.

Soon enough your harvests will start coming in thick and fast and you won’t know what to do with it all. Just remember to sow some more seeds too, as successional sowing is an often forgotten about trick in gardening that will ensure you have a continuous supply of healthy productive plants.

Maintaining Fast Growing Seedlings

If you aren’t able to get your tray grown seedlings into the garden as fast as you would like, you might be best to carefully transplant your happy hungry plants into larger pots and containers, so they don’t outgrow their existing homes and turn into sad struggling plants.

Don’t be afraid to transplant seedlings into larger containers more than once if needed, as it is much better than losing your plants altogether to a slow miserable death.

Tomatoes for example grow very fast once the conditions are warm enough and they’re underway, and so they can easily outgrow a small container in a few weeks.

A key sign your seedlings are overdue for transplanting can be when they start to require a large amount of water, or they start losing colour. Prevention is always the best in gardening, and ideally you want to maintain your plants in a healthy luscious state.

When plants start to struggle it can be a long road to recovery and productivity is typically heavily knocked backwards. Once your plants get large they will undoubtedly struggle if they remain in small containers, which typically limits their success in the long term.

By far the simplest and easiest solution to a root bound plant is to re-home it.

Transplanting For Success

Transplanting into more soil means there is greater space available to hold water for your seedlings, which typically means less watering required by you to maintain them in a happy healthy condition.

During summer the evening hours can be a great time to transplant and thin seedlings, as once the heat of the day has passed the cooler temperatures and reduced light will reduce the amount of stress placed on your plants (and you too – phew!).

For those with limited space but keen to grow their own food, some popular vegetables that can be grown in large pots and containers include Cherry Tomatoes, Basil, Beet, Coriander, Peas, and Spring Onion.

When transplanting a handy trick is to soak the roots in some diluted seaweed tonic, to help reduce transplant shock and help your plants to establish in their new home.

After transplanting water your plants in to help settle the roots into place and give them all a good drink.

Happy growing!