Hardening off your crops

[Laura Hillier]

Hi Everyone,

Here in the GYO office we have been discussing hardening off - and those annoying occasions where we've moved carefully tended crops outside and then promptly forgotten! So we were just wondering how necessary you think the process is? Do you always harden off? Also, have you found any difference in strength between crops given a more gradual integration to the outside world and those that haven't?

Answers may be edited and published in the May issue of Grow Your Own.

Laura

[Aberdeenplotter]

I started off some overwintering onions and some garlic in cellpaks way back when with the intention of planting them outside when there was a break in the weather. Well the break in the weather never materialised, in fact it got worse and so these onions and garlic are presently taking up valuable space on the greenhouse benches. The weather has perked up a bit these last few days and but I wouldn't dream of planting my onions and garlic out without hardening them off first. Moving straight from a warm sheltered environment to the cold outdoors would undoubtedly cause a check in the growth (which could possibly lead to the plants being permanently stunted or to them bolting later.)

I have had the plants outside for a day or two recently but these fine days have been interspersed with howling gales so It's been a bit of a trial. Wind has dropped today though and the sun is shining
again so my plants are out sunbathing although they will be taken in again later. If we get a few mild nights I will leave them out and then hopefully get them into the ground - 3 months later than usual

[AllInContainers]

I have no cold frame nor greenhouse. I am also quite ruthless with my plants. Once I think the time is right for them to move from windowsill to outdoors, they go straight out - no cloches, no coming back in at night, no bobble hat and scarf - nothing! I also tend to have surplus plants growing in case of failure, so if they can't hack the change (or I've mistimed it) and they keel over, I'll put something else in their place

[binley100]

I have a halfway house whjch is a blowaway outside the back door. Sheltered position and close enough just nip out to open or close .

[catgirl]

Honestly? I'm too lazy! All the moving outside, then inside, then outside again... The most I'll do is move plants from a warm windowsill into the greenhouse for a few days before putting them into the raised beds. However I do make sure that the day I put them out is mild and sunny enough to not shock them too much.

[Bill HH]

Well i shall let you know. Today I planted my potatoes in containers and they had to be in the GH, so out went containers of onions (sets) and garlic that I planted in boxes last November. I am sure I heard swearing when I stuck my head out of the back door earlier.

[sparrow100]

I do it for things that I am bothered about (like sweetcorn), or where the temperature difference between the flat and outside is fairly big, but I have to be careful at the beginning of the year. I only have a shared north-facing balcony and that regularly gets visited by curious jackdaws. So far they've pulled up loads of my broadies, despite netting defences. Later on in the year I think they get bored and don't bother my seedlings so much.

I've just got a greenhouse, so when I've put this giant jigsaw together I'll have a better place to put things.

[SoulBroNo1]

I have no cold frame nor greenhouse. I am also quite ruthless with my plants. Once I think the time is right for them to move from windowsill to outdoors, they go straight out - no cloches, no coming back in at night, no bobble hat and scarf - nothing! I also tend to have surplus plants growing in case of failure, so if they can't hack the change (or I've mistimed it) and they keel over, I'll put something else in their place

Haha, I don't know why, but this made me laugh.

Do you have kids?

[Penellype]

I use my propagator to start off virtually everything as the attrition rate for seedlings due to slugs in my dark, damp garden is horrific. How I harden them off depends a lot on how hardy they are. Currently things like leeks and cabbages are moved into the unheated growhouse once they have convinced me they are growing (true leaves appearing) and they will stay there until the space is needed for something else, when they will be moved either to outdoor shelving or into their final positions. More delicate plants such as tomatoes, courgettes etc are treated with a lot more care, so once they start to go out I choose a warm day, and introduce ventilation slowly and carefully, always covering them up if cold is forecast. I have various pieces of fleece, bubble wrap etc which I use for this as well as blowaway greenhouse covers which can be useful for late frosts when the plants are quite big.

Bedding plants get much less cossetting. I buy them from the garden centre, preferably when frost is not forecast, put them on shelves outside for a few days, then plant them. This plan didn't work all that well last year when there simply wasn't a warm enough day to tempt me to buy until all the local places had run out of lobelia, but apart from that I have never lost bedding plants to cold.

[Veggielot]

I am a little impatient and can't always wait to be able to sow direct so start a lot off in pots. This does tend to mean I run out of space in my potting greenhouse so I need to harden off my seedlings to make the most of the space. The advantage for me is that I can keep an eye on my plants even when I can't get down my plot.

[Scarlet]

I couldn't just chuck my tender plants out without hardening them off first! They really do suffer. One year I forgot to get my plants in from the GH and I lost most of my peppers, it's really upsetting to see all your hard work gone over in a cold night.
I use those very long watering trays that fit perfectly on the GH bench (about 4ft long) I keep all my tender plants on those. In the morning before we leave for school 7.30 I get my boys and / or my OH to make several trips from the house up to the GH and in the evening they get them back in. They do moan and whinge a little...

If the temperature isn't forecast too cold I will lay fleece or newspapers over the tops

[AllInContainers]

Haha, I don't know why, but this made me laugh.

Do you have kids?

Where on earth did that question come from? Why do you ask? Do you expect me to have spares ones of those growing on the windowsill too?

[Bill HH]

I have a friend back in the midlands who runs a nursery and sells bedding plants on a market stall in Redditch. He kneels by his bed every night at this time of year praying for a late frost. If all the plants he sold in Feb/March get hit, he can sell them all another lot. Its like winning the lottery for him. And it happens a lot.

[snakeshack]

Really tender plants like chillies and tomatoes go into a cold frame and are gradually acclimatised over a week .Everything else is planted out after risk of frost either under fleece or bottomless water cooler bottles until they are obviously putting on new growth then protection is removed


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[shellyanne1987]

This is my first year growing my own and I've just gradually hardened off my early pea plants, my 2 year old was my reminder constantly asking if the peas where ok outside they've been in the ground a few days now and still looking good so I'm hoping I've done well


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