It's my favorite time of year, and these seedlings are on their way out of the greenhouse and into the gardening beds.

But first we have to harden them off.

But what's hardening off you, ask?

I'm Tracy Barnett and welcome to Garden Party.

Today we are going to be talking about seedlings and how to harden them off.

But hardening off is the technique and process of acclimating these seedlings to the outside world, acclimating them to the sunlight, to the wind, to just nature itself.

So these cayenne pepper plants have been growing since just the end of January.

And they are just about perfect to put in the garden soil.

But you can't just take seedlings out of the greenhouse and throw them into the soil, because they are literally just going to be so shocked, wilted down, dying, shocked!

So be sure when you bring them out to give them ample amount of water.

And what we're going to do is we're going to start them out in the complete shade at first.

Gradually each day we're going to add 1 to 2 hours of sunlight up until we reach seven hours of sunlight, which is typical for any kind of vegetable plant.

There are a few things to consider when you are moving your plants outside to harden them off.

One is you don't want to put them out in any kind of inclement weather.

And that includes a day that's going to be super, super windy.

So I'll also keep my little mister on hand and I will miss them throughout the day as they are outside, because that just kind of rejuvenates the leaves, gives them a little bit more life Another thing to consider when you are hardening your plants off is you don't want to put your plants and any kind of harm's way in terms of pest.

So don't put this anywhere that they might have ants on them, which might sting or bite the leaves, slugs, snails and be sure and not forget them over night these little seedlings.

They can not take those cold, nightly temps.

You're going to want to harden your seedlings off for 7 to 12 days.

So just make sure to incorporate that into your gardening schedule so you have ample time to get them acclimated and ready to be tucked in and cozy.

in the garden beds.

Let's put them in some dirt.

Hardening off is the second most important step to actually planting the seeds to start the seedlings and hardening off is basically acclimating our little baby plants into the big bad world outside.

if you don't harden off your seedlings, what's going to happen is one the leaves are all going to burn, the stem will burn.

And the stems themselves, once they are damaged, whether it be by wind or sun, they just can't support the plant anymore.

So it's going to pull all of this nutrients back and it's just going to wilt.

and die.

you know, another thing is strong winds can be just as hard on seedlings as the sun.

Pests also are the other thing when you're hardening off and after you plant them, you have to look for it.

Just make sure they're not eaten up in a, in a night's time.

Like some of my peppers were last year Our seedlings have sufficiently been hardened off.

And they are mature enough to go directly into the garden bed.

I've already amended my soil and pulled up any weeds, debris.

I've also loosened it and turned it over and added some soil amendments, some organic fertilizer, and also a little bit of chicken poop here and there and some compost.

when you are getting ready to plant, be sure and take a good look at your seedlings.

I looked at them in their little cute faces, and I can see that I have some mature leaves here on my pepper plant, and I also have a really good healthy stalk.

It shows no sign of discoloration.

It's not falling over, it's not rotted.

So I'm going to loosen up my plant here, and I'm going to take a look at the roots.

So the roots are sufficiently holding the dirt together.

They are not wound repeatedly around the bottom of the pot there.

So that means that these roots are healthy and perfectly grown in and ready for soil.

So dig a hole just a tiny bit deeper than you would imagine.

Now for a pepper plant, you just want a hole.

Big enough just to come right there to the crown of the plant.

I'm actually going to double that because I'm going to add a little bit of good old chicken dirt in there.

Add any kind of fully rotted compost that you might have on hand, any kind of really rich soil, any kind of fertilizers.

Just going to go right on and with my hands, let's break it up there.

And I'm just going to kind of work that into the soil Now, pepper plants are just like tomato plants and both are really deep rooters.

They like ample room to send those roots down, feed on a ton of moisture, and they're also calcium loving plants as well.

So when our handy dandy eggshells work perfectly to give that a little bit of a boost.

So I'm going to break those up just a little bit.

And we really want the dirt when we're planting seedlings to be very aerated, very easy to grab.

And the reason we want it to be like that is we don't want the ground so hard and so unworked that our roots are just going to kind of stay together.

in the ball that they come out of the pot.

There's a big debate with people, gardeners specifically, who loosened the roots or pull roots away when you're planting a seedling.

So what I like to do is I'll take a look at the roots, just like we did earlier.

And I don't see any dead.

So I'm going to leave this root ball just intact and when I'm planting seedlings, especially peppers and tomatoes, I don't want to get a ton of moisture on the leaves.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to give that a nice soaking here before I cover the roots.

It's going to allow me to make sure that the roots are sufficiently watered.

And it's also going to keep all of that's above ground moisture free.

Bring your dirt around your plant.

It's going to be kind of like a little swamp at first when you're pulling your dirt around it and kind of make a little bit of a mound around your plant.

As you make your way through your row, you will mound up the whole row of pepper plants, vegetables, love to have a little bit of dirt pulled up to the crown.

It really supports them sufficiently.

I'm going to take a little bit of hay here, and I'm just going to mulch around our pepper plant.

Now you can use any kind of leaves or straw or hay, anything you have on hand.

You don't want to cover the ground so much that air can't get through there.

We don't want any kind of molds or any kind of pests to hide under there.

We just want it to hold in a tiny bit of moisture.

So now that our seeds are out in the garden, there's a couple different ways that you can trellis them and also protect them from the elements.

And one of my favorite methods is this little trash can from the dollar store.

It works perfect to shield the plant from roaming chickens, or any other kind of animals that you might have in your yard.

I've taken it and just firmly pressed it into the ground, and then I've just pulled the dirt around the trash can.

another method is I love to save little pieces of debris from my garden as I clip them.

And these are just grapevines, and I'm going to make a little bit of a support.

I love free support, so I love free trellis's and this is one of the best.

So I'm just going to take my grapevine our dirt is already damp, so it goes into the dirt really well.

And I'm just going to take three and I'm going to run them.

I don't even know what direction this is, in this direction.

And then I'm going to do three more that are in the opposite direction.

If that makes any sense.

I'm sure all the kindergartners out there will catch it.

And I'm just going to take our last support here and push that into the ground.

What's great about these supports is if you are planting seedlings that tend to blow around in the wind as they grow, this is going to be a great sport because they can grow up through the support.

It's also great for a lot of smaller vegetables, smaller vegetable seedlings because it keeps them kind of nice, compact and close to the ground.

It's also going to deter any pests, like there's not going to be any dogs or cats run through your bed on top of your plants So, last but not least, let's label our little cayenne pepper here because we don't want to forget it's going to be super delicious later in the season.

And after you get your seedlings all situated, be sure and keep a good eye on your seedlings and water them sufficiently, especially in times of drought or if you had not had any rainfall, they will tend to wilt, especially the first couple days that you've brought them out just because of the wind, the sun.

So keep an eye on them.

Keep them sufficiently moist.

Make sure there's no pests on them.

I check mine a couple times a day.

I've spent a lot of time growing these things and I know you have too, so just keep a check on them, keep an eye out and don't plant before April 15th if you live in Alabama.

If not, your backyard will look like a yard sale covered up in blankets and tarps.

and now's the time to get the rest of these in my row and ready to go.

Everyone's hardened off, ready to go in the ground.

So I'll see you about mid-August, when we're having a little cayenne pepper off this.

be sure.

Keep them sufficiently watered and I'll often just take my little mister.

Well, that was a lackluster stream.

Oh my gosh, sorry.

dig and ample...ample There we go.

Rip all my chest hair off.

Somebody, somebody help.

Can someone tell me I how to spell cayenne?

He he.

E N N E, right ?

Click on down to the description below.

For what?

What are we saying.

Can you tell me about the time that you killed the tiger with your own bare hands.

I remember that time I brought the skull back.

It's at Matt's house.

Where did the third one.

go?

We don't need it, do we?

Do we need it?

I'm an expert.

Well, kinda.

Not really.