When you water the seedling in, the soil will settle in around the rootball nicely. Gently rake your fingers through the soil around the seedling to even out the surface for watering.ĭo NOT firm or pat the soil around the plant.
Then just let the soil fall back in around the rootball. As you pull and lift, follow right behind your hand with the seedling to insert your transplant. To transplant, just dig your hand in, scoop and lift the soil toward you. You can watch Dan do do this in our latest YouTube video! This lifting and turning helps break up the soil, leaving it loose and ready for transplanting. Then stab the fork back in and turn again. Our ‘fork method’ is to dig in, lift, and turn the soil upside down. Using a fork leaves the soil a lot more loose. A fork reduces that effect with much smaller surfaces slicing into the ground. even a small trowel is less slicing through the soil with a solid surface- less surface = less smearing. Smearing and compacting the soil are the most destructive of good soil tilth.
As you’re pressing backwards, the soil behind the trowel is being compacted. Consider the smearing and compacting effect as you drive the trowel into the ground and then press it back to lift the trowel out of the ground. Think of the smeared surface as a wall, making it harder for roots to get through. When the soil is wetter than ideal, we like to use a small potato fork rather than a spade or even a small trowel. But with as much rainfall as we’ve had recently, a plant auger wasn't a good idea 'cuz it can smear the soil, destroying the structure and creating hard clods. When we transplanted our cold tolerant crops we used the plant auger to prepare the ground. A cloudy day is a good option too but even then- late in the day is always a better bet 'cuz a cloudy day can turn to sun! We transplant late in the day, usually after 5 pm when the sun is not so strong. They needed out!! And we were more than happy to get it done! We’ve been holding those transplants in the greenhouse for what feels like forever! They’ve been growing like weeds and really outgrowing their containers. We clearly needed to hold them a bit longer before planting outdoors. The peppers and tomatoes were not lovin' the cool temps outside. We were expecting more challenging weather and cool temperatures. And our family garden is COMPLETE! The last of the transplants are all tucked in!Īfter we transplanted the cold tolerant crops out of the hay bale cold frame enclosure (it's what we use for hardening plants off), we decided to move all the heat lovers into the greenhouse.
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