Despite the fickle weather in May, I managed to get my homegrown annuals in the ground at the normal time. The near-freeze we had a week earlier almost gave me a heart attack, and it caused me to rush the hardening off process of my seedlings, but it all worked out.
Hardening off is when you take plants that you’ve grown in the house under lights or in a sunny window and introduce them to the outdoors for the first time. Indoor-grown plants can’t handle the full strength of the sun. The leaves will burn and the plants might even curl up and die due to loss of moisture. You have to set new plants in the shade or dappled sunlight for a few hours their first day outside and then gradually give them more sun each day until they’ve toughened up. I usually like to give my plants 7 days of hardening off, but this year I crammed it to 5 so I could get started and beat the rainy/stormy weather pattern that would be arriving in a few days.
I took a photo of one of my flowerbeds a day before the rainy weather started. Then I took another photo 4 days later after we’d had almost an inch of rain. You can see a difference in plant growth over that short time, but I was particularly impressed with the little zinnias I planted. You can see them to the right of the red celosias. They nearly doubled in size in just 4 days!
This time of year my mom and I both regularly “walk the perimeter” of our flowerbeds nervously looking for animal and insect attacks or damage from wind or rain. So far I’ve lost one marigold to a cutworm, one salvia plant disappeared mysteriously without a trace (aliens!) and another salvia got snapped off in a heavy downpour but was salvageable. That’s a pretty good score.
I do fret for a few weeks while the plants are small, but it’s also an exciting time as thousands of flower buds start to swell and burst into brightly-colored flowers. I never know what amazing things I might see or smell when I step into my backyard this time of year, and that’s what makes gardening worth all the work!
2 comments
Must feel great to have plants hardened off and planted. Mine are still under lights. While we’ve had a few days about 9 degrees C, there are frost warnings most nights. Hoping to start the hardening off next week, even though the temperatures are forecasted to be only slightly better. I have 12 Sahara this year. A few have began to bud. I saved 6 Tigereye Rudbeckia. They are flowering under the lights. My other Rudbeckias are doing well. .
I am growing 4 Dalias , but far too many Rudbeckias. Have to get some plants at the nursery, but not nearly as many as you have. Oh yes, I have a variety of Calendulas that are doing well. I am especially interested in Neon. Have a good growing season. Will be in contact later with a a brief note re my planting. James
Hang in there, James! It shouldn’t be long now! We’ve had so much rain lately that I actually lost a couple of plants because they got too wet. I had a really beefy rudbeckia that overwintered and I was anticipating a really good display of blooms from it, but the leaves turned yellow and the plant rotted away. I also lost a calibrichoa plant that I bought at a nursery. It was growing in a pot. My annuals all still look good. They have quadrupled in size and some are starting to show buds. The bugs and weeds are going to be the challenging factors this year, I think. Good luck with your hardening off and planting!
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