Hardening veggies outdoors - question about low temps

Hello all,

I'm looking to harden some of my more temperature sensitive plants to the outdoors (since that's ultimately where they're going). Everything is is pots (well, 2'x8"x8" windowsill planters). In two weeks, I plan on getting everything outside in its permanent location in two weeks. Before that, I need to do some hardening.

What I'm growing that needs to be hardened:

Planter 1:

Oregano
Italian Flat Basil
Cilantro
Chives
Thyme

Planter 2:

All peppers:

Jalapeno
Serrano
Cayenne

Planter 3:

2x Orange Habanero

Tonight, it's supposed to get down to 45 degrees. Tomorrow it's supposed to be light rain after noon, and Sunday is thunderstorms (and the plants will be inside for that). Should the planters be okay outside for the night (all plants appear strong - and I still need to cull a few peppers plants, perhaps this could separate the strong from the weak).

Ultimately, I'm looking to have everything permanently outside in two weeks time. The plants have already been sunlight hardened, just not adverse weather hardened.

Of the plants I have outside already (and were store bought transplants, and were hardened before I bought them) are strawberries, three varieties of tomatoes, and rosemary.

Edit: I should note that the oldest of the above plants in question is about 5 weeks old - growing strong, but still basically seedlings. Of the peppers, all are only 4 weeks old, except for two of the jalapenos, and two store bought (and likely already hardened - they were rescued from Walmart's Garden Department - a.k.a. The Horticultural Holocaust, and even going strong there, nevermind the bone dry soil and vastly undersized pot) orange habeneros. I'm just hoping that I haven't gotten the habies too used to a pampered environment by keeping them inside (and at 68-70 degrees) at night.

This message was edited Apr 23, 2010 9:26 PM

Do you have a wall that you can place your planters against? A wall holds heat and should provide higher overnight temperatures for your transplants.

I've been acclimating my transplants to the outside over the last week. They will go in the garden tomorrow. The ones I set last weekend are doing well in their permanent positions.

I still have seedlings in the house under lights just in case we get a late frost that wipes out the ones in the garden.

These are melon transplants.

Honey,

Thanks for the advice!

I don't have a wall that I can weather against other than the rear wall of my house, which gets lousy light due to an overhang and a tree. I know where in the yard that I'd like to plant everything, but can't plant anything in the ground since I rent. Right now, everything (except the tomatoes in their topsy turvy planter) are weathered outdoors on the 5' wide garden table in my back yard.

I'll be out of town for the next week and having a "goddess in the garden" friend take care of things while I'm gone. I'll mention to her that I'm looking to harden plants for outdoor planting, and heeding any of her advice.

I'm just looking for additional input, like yours (thank you!). I'm new to gardening, and really excited that I'm actually off to a good start this year. I just need to learn how to turn my good start into a good harvest. Advice such as yours helps a lot!

Enjoy your vacation. I hope your garden goddess takes good care of your babies while you're away.

I've been gardening for almost 60 years and am always willing to help a new-gardener. It keeps memories alive for me :)

Honey, I may have many future questions for you. This is the first year I've been able to grow anything - mainly because I did a little reading and paid attention. I'm working on a fairly small crop this year, but I'm enjoying it enough that I seriously want to expand big time next year. As long as I'm living at this address, I think I'm going to become a container growing champion. Once I get back, I'll be building the outdoor tables to put pots on (so as to not kill grass).

Actually, one question that you might be able to answer - of my peppers, it's been pretty easy to cull most of the seedlings back to one plant. However, with two of my jalapeno plants that were planted in the same Jiffy seed starter pod, both are looking VERY strong, and, even at this early stage, both look to be potentially strong producers. They're about 5 weeks old now, and will be about 7 weeks old when I'm able to re-pot them. Do you have any advice for separating them from the same pod, or, provided they're fertilized/watered enough, can both be strong producers with stems nearly touching? Below is a picture of said seedlings.

I would not try to grow them together. If you were not going away, I would suggest dividing them now, before their roots become too entangled. However, you will have to wait until you return and hope for the best. Ultimately, you may have to pinch off one to save the other.

Personally, I set individual seeds in 3oz plastic Solo cups to avoid these dilemmas.

These are California Wonder at two weeks.

Honey, individual germination is my plan for next year. As it was, this year, I doubted my ability to grow anything, and had to separate 45 pepper plants from two planters - most before they even thought about their first true leaves. Fortunately, they were still so young that I only had the one main root to worry about when replanting.

All pepper plants besides the ones I posted above are proving easy to decide which to cull as they grow older. I'm down to 26 now, and will likely be down a few more tomorrow, and should easily be down to my desired 15 once I return from vacation. The below picture is from roughly a week ago, and before the first round of culling. The pictures I took today don't show a good overview of the entire pepper planter.

Honey,

Today I tried the separation of both plants. One went back into the space that was left in the original planter, and the other went into a 4" windowsill pot.

Brief summary below, with photos to follow in the next two posts:

As seen above, two strong plants stemming from the same jiffy planter pod. How to separate them?

Today, I dug them up... the 3"Wx4"D area that I dug up was apparently not big enough for the roots. The roots from both had apparently spread well over 3" wide and over 4" deep. The snaps that issued forth from my transplant shovel were hard to hear.

Ultimately, I was able to separate both plants, but with considerable root loss to both (the gauze on the outside of jiffy pellets is hell for roots, should it need to be stripped off. They have both been replanted (one in the original planter, and one in a new 4" pot). Finally, trauma to each plant was significant. Within minutes of the transplant, both started to wilt (likely due to once having a 4"wide root span, and after transplanting, only having a 1/2" root span). I refused to give up on these little guys... they've been so tough so far.

2.5-3 hours after the (horribly traumatic) transplants, they're doing well. Photos - post transplant - to follow.

The first photo is the transplant back into the original seat in the primary planter. This one came back stronger.

Any suggestions to help along the transplants? They really were nearly nipped at the head, but apparently coming back. Should I have to do something like that again, what should I look for or prevent?

Following is the other survivor of the traumatic transplant. At least, should he survive, he has his own 4" pot to thrive in.

obsidian - you have done everything you can for these two peppers. It's up to them now :)

This is a good learning experience for you, and as you said, next year you'll remember these two little ones, and set seeds in individual pots.

You were very brave to separate your other peppers before their first true leaves had appeared. Most people will tell you this can't be done, but I did the very same thing last year with all the volunteer tomato seedlings that showed up in my garden. I knew that if I didn't get them that young, the roots would be almost impossible to pull apart. I only lost one seedling.

When transplanting very small seedlings, be sure to handle them by their leaves, once the stems are damaged - they're gonners!

For larger transplants, put one finger either side of your plant, turn the pot upside-down, remove the pot (you may have to squeeze it) and very gently turn the plant/soil back over. Then slip the plant into the prepared hole, keeping one hand underneath the whole time. This way, very little disturbance of the roots takes place and the plants don't even know they've been moved.