Yesterday’s rain had me in the kitchen baking! There is a fresh batch of cardamom cookies, dark chocolate biscotti, and maple applesauce granola (oats, pecans, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and dried cranberries with coconut oil, maple syrup, applesauce and cinnamon). All of these need to be packaged and labeled this morning, but they’re available.
Did you order plants?
A gentle reminder that your plant order needs to be picked up this week between Thursday and Sunday. Please let me know what day and you can set a time or just message me in advance that day. There are lots of orders, regular daily tasks, bed prep, planting, and more taking place during those pick up days, so it will be helpful to have the orders grouped by pick up day. Oh boy – this is going to be an action packed week, much like the weekend was!
Planting Tips:
Your plants have been conditioned to sun, gentle breezes, and all types of temperatures. They’re ready to plant. When you get your plants home, place them in a spot with dappled shade and sun, and try to keep them out of the wind until you can plant them. In those small containers, they will dry out quickly because the roots are soaking up all the moisture they can get to keep fueling that lush green growth.
Planting your peppers and tomatoes for the best head start means digging a deep hole and planting about half of the plant into the soil. You read that correctly. Half. In the ground. Here’s they quick “why” of it:
1. Deep planting puts the root ball where there is more consistent moisture, so if the top dries a bit the roots still have moisture available.
2. Leaving a shorter plant above the soil line makes it sturdier and avoids so much wind damage or moisture loss from wind.
3. Especially on tomatoes, those hairy roots along the stems will grow into true roots and your plants will have a great root structure very early. This gives the plants a head start and should yield a happy, productive plant.
What to do at planting:
Put all the compost mix from your plant’s pot into the hole with the plant. This is a natural fertilizer and the peat moss helps hold moisture at the root level.
Put a stake next to the plant and use a soft tie to fasten the plant to the stake (think strips of soft, stretchy fabric). Tying takes some time, but this keeps your plant upright in any weather, prevents the new growth from bending and snapping off. I can tell you that finding the top growth of a plant snapped off and baking on top of the soil is like a gut punch. So, tie them up! For taller pepper and tomato varieties, I use a tall stake and they usually get 2 or 3 ties through the early part of the season.
For tall plants, consider a support of some kind. It needs to be sturdy. Please, don’t waste your money on those $1 flimsy “tomato cages”. Build something strong, buy something sturdy, read about the Florida Weave method or use several stakes around your plants. Something needs to give the plants some support if you expect good fruit harvests and clean foliage.
Water your plants deeply. How do you know what that is? Dig down next to the root area and see if it is damp. Not drenched, but has moisture for the roots. You could also use a clean dowel rod (or something similar) and stick it down to where the water needs to meet the roots and pull it back out to see if it is wet. This is just like testing a cake to see if it’s done. It’s so much better to water deeply and do it less often than to water lightly and do it daily. Remember this; you want deep roots, and the roots will go where the water is. Deep watering can be tricky, so test several plants and adjust your watering. You can do several light passes if your soil needs time to take in the water, but ultimately, the water needs to get deep into the soil.
OK, the last thing about watering. I attended a webinar presented by the North Dakota State University, and the plant expert (I forget the actual title, but it included a PHD in plants of some nature) confirmed that the number one reason for blossom end rot (BER) is inconsistent water. All of the nutrients, including calcium, must be mixed in the soil’s water for the roots to drink them into the plant. Here’s a quick way to think of this one: The cause is the inability of the plant to get the calcium and the effect is a calcium deficiency (BER). So, make doubly sure you are watering deeply so the nutrients become dissolved in the water that the roots drink. If you’re growing in containers, water them slowly to soak the soil ( sip, sip, sip – not gulp, gulp, gulp) and keep watering until it seeps from the bottom of the planter.
Well, that’s enough typing for the day. It’s time to put the plants outside and get the kitchen ready for packaging. Hope you have a great day!