The typical growing season may have ended, but we’re not done yet. Let the good times roll by bringing select crops indoors.
Cold crops can keep growing. Let your carrots, seasonal squash, lettuce, kale and many varieties of onion live out their best days in the ground!
Heat sensitive herbs on the other hand, should be protected at all costs. Place them in your sunniest, most predictably warm window avoiding drafts and vents if possible. Beyond making sure these grows have the same access to sunlight as they had outdoors, there are some strong points to consider before beginning the transplant process.
WHEN TO TRANSPLANT
Transplanting should happen before the end of the growing season truly comes (at the latest, about 2-3 weeks before the first frost prediction date specific to your location). Though of course there are limits to what you can transplant from patch to pot.
WHAT TO TRANSPLANT
DO NOT replant, but rather bring the planters indoors for:
These plants are VERY sensitive in terms of their root systems. Let these happy plants lie and live in place!
HOW TO TRANSPLANT
- Pick a vessel with drainage options and an appropriate dish. Make sure the pot has about 6 quarts or more for every 12 inches of green that is to be transplanted.
- Set aside potting soil suitable for your munchable move-ins.
- If plants are staked or caged, move the plant and the apparatus together, ensuring the add-in is now buried lower into the earth than in the original space.
- Gently remove the plant from the earth.
- Lay a soil base to fill 1/3 of the vessel, and place the plant carefully into the vessel, adding soil to secure the transplant upright.
- Water lightly and allow plants to adjust outdoors before moving them inside.
HOT TIPS:
- Never take the strength of your roots for granted when transplanting. Be kind and use a light hand when pulling away dirt for the roots rather than pulling roots from the dirt. This ensures the complex below the surface structures your grows spent a ton of energy on will go forward and support your indoor continuation of the season.
- Be wary of your soil composition. All nitrates are not equal! Research the best blend for your plants referencing their Latin names rather than their common names for the most exact recommendations.
While there are a great many variables to gardening, let alone introducing all new (potentially scary!) variables, we can always guarantee an end to the growing season. Making the choice to live and let live, or prolong your season is an independent step forward ripe with opportunity. From all of us here at Modern Sprout, we’re proud of how far you’ve come.
Happy Cultivating!
The Modern Sprout Team
