Transplanting Seedlings Into the Garden
Many home-grown plants get their starts in seedling modules or planters. They have to be carefully transplanted into the garden itself before they reach their full potential. Let’s have a look at how to do that!
Whether your seedlings were raised indoors, in a greenhouse, or outside, they will each eventually need to be moved to a flowerbed, container, or vegetable garden. While this isn’t a difficult task, taking the time to learn a few tips will always improve your results.
The hard work of preparing the vegetable bed should be completed before the delicate new plants arrive. Turn, till, or loosen the soil and mix in any necessary amendments such as limestone or compost. Lay down boards on which to walk to avoid compacting the soil, and make sure you have water and mulch ready. If you use plant labels, prepare them too, along with a pencil, markers, stakes, and twine. If your plants will need pest-protection measures such as floating row covers or a wire cloche, prepare those ahead of time as well.
Knowing your plants’ root sensitivity will be important to your success. Roots on young plants are generally tender and break easily, but some are more sensitive than others. Most annual and perennial seedlings are resilient and can handle light root damage, but others are not so forgiving. Those with taproots like poppies, larkspurs, and carrots resent any root disturbance. If a seed packet description advises you to ‘direct sow then thin seedlings,’ there’s a good chance the species doesn’t like transplantation.
Before removing the seedlings, lay your individual pots out where you intend to plant them. Measure out the spacing. Proper spacing often looks wider than you imagine, but the extra room will result in healthier plants. Space rows out in a similar manner.
Even cabbage and broccoli appreciate wide spacing and will reward you with bigger harvests. Flowers can often be planted closer together, but again, it depends on what you’re trying to achieve. In a flower border, larger groupings are often more effective, especially if you arrange dozens of individual plants.
While direct-sow-only flowers can be carefully pre-started in modules and plug trays, it does take some skill and experience to master the transplanting technique. One or two seeds per pot will result in a single plant, and it’s critical to carefully extract the entire root ball without disturbing the roots. When in doubt, always tip a young plant out of its cell by tapping on the bottom or by using a butter knife or flat tool along the edge of the pot to help extract the soil ball in its entirety. It is much like trying to take a cake out of its pan. Many direct-sow-only plants can be transplanted into the garden using this method.
Seed modules are rather foolproof. Moving seedlings from a seedbed, however, can be trickier. Start by lifting small seedlings out carefully with a trowel or even a kitchen fork or teaspoon. Keep an empty seed tray nearby so you have a place to put them – it is easier to transport many seedlings laying on their sides. Separate plants carefully and try to do it as quickly as possible to limit the roots’ exposure to outside elements.
In the case of most young flower plants, it’s good to pinch or prune them once they are set out in the garden. The likes of snapdragons, sweetpeas, or zinnias all benefit from pinching just as they form their third pair of leaves. Estate growers and flower farmers nearly always pinch the primary growing tip on their young seedlings if they want bushier plants and many blooms.
If, on the other hand, the goal is taller stems and longer stalks, seedlings should be set out in a grid and planted closer together. Even in a flower border, closer plants will achieve a completely different effect than those set further apart. A snapdragon left un-pinched may grow a single tall stalk of flowers, but that will come at the cost of future blooms. A pinched plant will produce shorter stalks but a bushier appearance with more flowers.
If possible, try to transplant either early in the morning, in the evening, or on overcast days. In this way, you will avoid the harshest of the sun’s heat and radiation, and it will reduce stress on your new plants.
Newly transplanted seedlings will need water right away. Keep a watering can ready even if it rained just the day before.
If your seedlings are intended for a cut flower garden, they can be placed closer together and set out in rows or grids to help produce long stems. Since you’ll be cutting stems in bulk, the garden’s visual effect isn’t as critical.
If planting flowers into a border or a flowerbed, design is more important. Spacing is key, especially if plants will be growing along with perennials or small shrubs and bulbs. Always consider the fully-grown size of neighboring plants, but also think about your final planting scheme. In a border, one can get much more imaginative as the flowers will need to deliver beauty over a longer time than those in a cut flower bed.
Plant intentionally, always visualizing the final effect. If integrating flower seedlings into a mixed border with perennials, grasses, and small shrubs like roses, be creative, keeping in mind your intended final result.
Some flowers naturally grow in a scattered arrangement, the way they might if their seeds were dispersed in the wild. Matrix plantings are in vogue and appear more natural to the eye. The cloud-like effect of tall wands of flowers scattered randomly among long grasses adds an ethereal quality to your garden, and often can only be achieved by growing many plants at once.
Another planting style is to group solid colors together to create a bulk effect – as if 30 plants are actually all one. Such large swaths make stunning borders, especially if two or three types are repeated within the space. A more traditional method might be to plant 3-5 flowers together in smaller clumps between perennials and grasses. No matter what direction you choose, always plan ahead to be sure you have the space for such exuberance.
Starting seedlings in your home and transplanting them into the garden is a highly efficient way to grow many plants at once, often for less money than a single mature plant at the garden center. Take your time, plan it out, and give a transplant garden a try!