(upbeat music) >>Today, we are going to be up-potting.

It is a beautiful day out here in Virginia, wonderful weather, and we're gonna spend some time outside.

Gardening is an amazingly healthy way to get time outdoors, and you get the added benefit of having all this beautiful produce.

So today, we're gonna start working with cucumbers, some gourds and some Okinawan okra.

They're a little bit stressed because they've been in these tiny little seed cells for too long.

So the first thing we're actually going to do is kind of assess what is going on with these and trim off the not so healthy looking leaves.

You want to start with a tool that is clean.

You can use something as simple as a little bit of rubbing alcohol, or some hydrogen peroxide, and just wipe it off with a clean towel, because we don't want to transfer diseases directly to these plants while we're trying to take care of them.

So I'm gonna just look at one of these little guys, and very carefully and closely, snip that off, clean them up a little bit nice.

And basically, we're just gonna put this potting soil little bit down in there, plop it in, In this potting soil, I do have some phosphorus and that'll help the root growth.

And basically, that's all you need to do.

So these guys will probably sit out for another week or two, get a little bit bigger, a little sturdier and healthier, and then they will be transplanted into our garden to enjoy all summer long.

This guy's not too bad.

He's a little bit yellowed, so we will snip him.

These little paper pots are great, because they're biodegradable, but they do dry out pretty quickly compared to the reusable cells.

So I'm just gonna plop this whole thing all the way down in there, give him a little more potting mix, and some of those good nutrients.

And, voila.

These guys, because they have been stressed out in here, they do have some not so great looking leaves.

I am not gonna cut those off though, because we only have a couple leaves on each one of these.

And leaves are the solar panels of the plant.

They provide the energy to the plant to grow.

And overall, they're not too terrible looking.

They'll recover from this damage and have probably pretty great robust growth.

And theyll be so much happier in this new potting soil with more room to grow, more room to spread their roots.

So since we're adding more soil, I am going to water these in, and encourage them to spread their little roots.

And I want to encourage you to try this at home.

Growing your own food is a really great, healthy way to get outside, spend time in nature, and they have the added benefit of providing you with good, healthy food for your kitchen where you control everything that goes into those plants.

Happy gardening.