Hardening off your crops

[sammy_roser]

Well at this time of year I go from my bedroom windowsill to the mini wooden greenhouse in the garden. When it comes time to move them from that to the outside worlds I put them in a sheltered spot in the garden as I think other then frost it's the wind that does the most damage. I then promptly forget about them for a few days! Everything so far has survived although some has needed a while to recover.

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Like "Scarlet" I would never dream of "Throwing" my plants outside without getting them accustomed to the big wide world! All that time planting n nurturing! I'd be gutted to lose em! Mine do window sill south facing, windowsill North facing, n when looking good n healthy, out to the insulated coldframes!

Ain't sheeted polystyrene good stuff? Never fails for me!

[planetologist]

I just have the one woodstove, so my indoor sown plants are frost free year round, but that's about it. So in my experience, going from an unheated windowsill to outside at this time of year is not a problem. But doing that in May makes seedlings visibly unhappy and they also tend to go reddish (i.e. they produce photoprotective pigments), showing that it's excess light and presumably particularly UV, because glass is opaque to UV. And indeed, when I put the seedlings outdoors where they get less than half a day of direct sunlight for ~3 days before going into full sun they are fine. Has anyone with central heating tried to distinguish whether hardening off is for light rather than temperature?

[SoulBroNo1]

Do you mean they are exposed to more light when they are outside?

[MrsCordial]

It's the stage I like least as I just can't get organised to put things out in the morning then bring them all back in. I'd rather waiit til the weather is okay (ha ha) then take my chances. I plant more or less everything under an old milk or pop bottle cloche at first so they get some protection.

[wbmkk]

However I do make sure that the day I put them out is mild and sunny enough to not shock them too much.

I quite often wait for a spell of rain before I put out plants. That way they get well watered and there is less chance of them drying out.

I've often actually been planting in the rain*

Planting out on a sunny day may be great for the gardener, but maybe less great for the plants.

* I wash the car in the rain too .... saves me from having to rinse it

[Penellype]

I put a tray of nasturtiums out this morning having had them in the growhouse for a couple of weeks. When I next looked out of the window it was hammering down and had flattened the poor things. Hopefully they will recover, but it does show how much more hazardous it is out in the elements than in a protected environment even if the door has been left open 24/7.

[Shadylane]

I'm terrible at hardening off. I never have time in a morning, so I often start at the weekend and then think 'oh sod it, they'll be right.' They get a bit, but not as much as they'd like. The onions that I started in trays of compost got naff all.

[MrsCordial]

The other problem I have is our hen - she roams free so unless I make 73 trips back and forth to the (fenced) veg patch with everything, I can't protect it from her.

[Dynamo]

I've got some lovely healthy cabbages growing in pots in the greenhouse but every time I take them out to harden off outside they wilt all over. Proper soft buggers they are lol. I'll try them outside again tomorrow and Wednesday and see if they fare any better.

[Ja9]

I do tend to harden off in my cold frame for a couple of weeks after plants come out of the greenhouse. Can get to be a problem at this time of year as I tend to run out of space and couldn't just leave plants on the ground outside during the day as the wild rabbits like them too much. I got some cheap staging which I put outside and put plants on the second shelf,using the top shelf to support a layer of fleece that I can fold back on sunny days.( In the winter it's good to store the winter squashes.)