Skyler It has been an exciting month. All my hard work from late winter is paying off as I planted my garden. I began “hardening” my seedlings outside after the weather began to get warmer and sunnier here in Iowa. This is an important step for your new plants. This processes helps ease their shock of being exposed to the elements, ensuring their survival after being planted in the ground. Depending on the plant I recommend hardening for at least a week.
This process starts by bringing them outside once the weather stays above 50 degrees and the sun is shining. By this point they have already been transplanted into larger containers so hopefully their roots have grown larger and your new seedling are getting stronger and closer to being ready for planting. Just don’t forget to keep watering them daily.
I brought my seedlings outside during the day and brought them back inside overnight, especially if the temperature dropped or the wind and rain picked up. At this point I no longer used my grow lights and started bringing them inside to the kitchen table or the floor in the basement. As the days increase, I started to leave them outside all day and night. And after about 7-10 days of hardening, I started planting!
I also planted my lettuce, carrots, beets, snap peas, cucumber, bush bean, cilantro and dill seeds! Look at them grow!! I cannot wait to eat my first fruit of the season! CHEERS TO SPRING HERE IN IOWA!
