Growing Vegetable Seedlings
Part II

There's something very exciting about growing your own food. It makes you feel all "at one with nature" and crap. Sorry about the sailor language, Mom. But honestly ... if ever there was an act to elicit swear words it's growing your own food from a tiny little seed. Here's how to do it.

There's a real feeling of power that comes with growing your own favourite food. If I thought there was a way, I'd try to grow my own hot dogs. But we all know that isn't possible. Hot dogs don't grow on plants, they're grown in Super Happy Magic Land. Ikea.  (if you click on the word Ikea you'll find my post on  how to make the revered Ikea hot dog, plus my beautiful poem in honour of it.)

As you may remember, 3 weeks ago I showed you how to start your own vegetables from seed with just a few plastic cups, some seeding mix and a windowsill. In those 3 short weeks my plants became this:

 

 

{ Sweet Baby Girl }

 

Now that your seedlings have grown their first set of "true" leaves you can replant each of them in their own little pots.  The true leaves are the second set of leaves the plant grows.  The first set of leaves that come out are just practice leaves called the seed leaves.

 

How to Repot Your Seedlings

Gather up some pots.  If you're like me, they might be dirty.

 

Clean with Bleach

If you've ever had a problem with your perfectly healthy seedlings rotting and withering away you could have damping off.  A lot of times this is caused by dirty pots or infected dirt.  Fungus in the pot or dirt takes hold of the tiny little roots and just rots the plant away.  To help avoid this clean your pots.  I spray em with a mixture of a bleach and water.  I put a couple of Tablespoons of bleach in this little spray bottle and fill it with water.  Then I soak the pots and leave them to sit for a half hour or so.

 

 

Wash with Soap

Now wash them all in hot soapy water.

 

 

Fill Pots with Dirt

Fill all your pots with new dirt.  Old dirt can have fungus with can cause damping off.  You can heat your old dirt in the oven to kill the fungus but seriously ... dirt's not that expensive.  Just buy a bag of dirt.

 

 

Pick a pot of Seedlings to separate.

 

 

 

Grasp the leaves.

 

 

Use a Dibber

Gardening supply stores sell things called Dibbers.  They just little pointy tools that make certain tasks easier.  I just use a pencil.  Does the same thing.  Stick your dibber into the dirt, getting it under the stem and roots of the plant and gently pry the plant up while lifting the leaves.  The plant should pull right out if the seedlings aren't too big and tangled.  These Luffah's were too big and tangled.

 

 

You can also very gently remove the plants from their cup.  And I mean *very* gently.  If you dump them out you'll break all their stems and kill the plants.  Lay them down and tease their roots apart with a couple of pencils or dibbers.  Careful not to break the roots.

 

 

Lift it by the Leaves

Only and always lift your seedlings by their leaves.  Never touch the stem.   If you happen to break a leaf off, the plant can grow a new one.  If you break the stem, the plant cannot grow a new one and you will have become a plant murderer.

As you can see, growing the plants in a long cup has given the plant a good, long root system.

 

 

Create a Hole in your Dirt

Using your finger or a dibber create a hole in the dirt that goes almost to the bottom of your pot.

 

 

Drop the Plant in the Dirt.

Again, be careful.  It's a recurring theme in transplanting seedlings.

 

Use your dibber to push the roots down into the dirt.

 

Use the dibber again to push the dirt around the roots so there aren't any air pockets.

Ta Da!   Repotted Seedlings.

Plant your seedlings so that the dirt is at the same level it was in its original container.  An exception to this rule is the tomato plant.  You can plant a tomato plant  deep.  Right up to it's first set of leaves.  And when you replant it outside you can do the same thing again, planting it even deeper.  This'll give you a bigger, better root system.

 

The one disadvantage to repotting you seedlings is the space they take up.  These were once in 3 pots and fit nicely on a windowsill.  You only had 3 pots to drag to the kitchen sink to water.  Now ... you have 10 or 12.  It's gonna be a lot of work.  But you're a farmer now and farmers work hard.  You must now rise with the chickens, unless you're from the city in which case you can rise with the last drunken "Wooooooo" you hear outside your window.  Everyone else just wake up at that point in the night when you have to pee but choose to go back to sleep instead of just peeing even though it keeps you half awake for the rest of your slumber.

 

Imagine the magic of it all! You put a tiny seed in a hospitable environment, fertilize it, take care of it and several months later a beautiful bundle of joy appears.

I wish there was some sort of comparison I could use here but I'm drawin' a blank. The fact that we eat it as soon as it's mature is what's throwing me.

Happy Gardening.