Kitchen Garden Forum

The general advice is always to gradually introduce 'tender' plants to the 'outside' over what seems to me to be inordinately long lengths of time. But given the variability of our climate and constraints on time, etc., how many people actually do that? And how practical is it?

I always do this! tomatoes grown indoors on a windowsill are now going outdoors into the greenhouse during the day, but back in at night, probably for the next 2 or three weeks. likewise things germinated in the greenhouse, start to go out during the day and back under cover at night. Then they might go into the cold frame for a week or so before going out. It might seem like a lot of work, but in my experience many plants will 'survive' a cold shock but they will crop poorly as a result.

I try to harden off as much as possible, but without a permanent greenhouse, it's quite difficult. (I only have one of these little 4 shelved things with a plastic cover). Tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers which are germinated inside, go onto a sunny patio during the day and come in at night (or into the plastic shelter) but climbing beans are more difficult. I grow them in a single row up against and fence and rig up a length of fleece which I pull down over them at night or on chilly days. I do think hardened off plants perform better but sometimes a shortage of space means you have to put some stuff outside and just hope for the best.

I was going to suggest more or less the same thing. Our dining room table is covered with newspaper and the seedlings come out of the grenhouse / Multigrow frames into the house at night.

Once the plants are a bit bigger and we get a few warmer days, they go outside in the daytime, or on the multigrow with the cover removed, but are covered up at night or, if the forecast is for frost, brought into the house. I'd advise from exp[erience doing what you can to shelter them from strong wind, even to the extent of keeping them indoors.

About a week before you intend to plant, keep them outside all day and all night except, again, if a frost is forecast. The plants should by now be sturdy enopugh to tolerate lowish temperatures.

My Italians plant their toms religiously on May 19. Why 19th? Search me. Almost invariably we then get a couple of days of late May frosts, which may burnthe leaves a bit but doesn't seem to do much harm otherwise; perhaps the nights are sufficiently short. I put mine out during half term, but really I would prefer to wait until June. Nowadays I stagger the sowing and planting, so some of the earliest sown will indeed be going out during the final week of May.

Pardon the lecture - this is all from experience, not from any extra knowledge.

mike

My tender plants progress from house to slightly heated greenhouse to outside under cloche to outside without cloche (with double fleece covering on cold nights) to outside with fleece covering when necessary. It's a real kerfuffle but otherwise they would presumably succumb or at least suffer in some way.

I try as much as possible to delay sowing until the last minute but this year the weather has been particularly trying.

I always do this, like the others. Its usually this sequence from March/April to the end of May depending on the weather - windowsill, heated frame, unheated frame, cloche and then they're on their own. For tender plants I don't think that there is any alternative to this palaver. I've found that if there is any early check to their growth they will sulk and never ever produce really well.

John

I feel that hardening off if made more difficult because plants are raised and kept at too high a temperature. With the exceptions of Tomatoes, Peppers and Aubergines which should never ever be at a temperature less than 10C.
My normal seeds are sown in a tunnel that has only netting at both ends and therefore can get quite cold. Beans are grown in the same tunnel now but a fleece protection is rigged up to shield them.
Once my Parsnips have germinated in the house they are planted into loo roll centres and placed in the tunnel immediately. This may check them for a couple of days but no harm is done.
I take it that my plants are actually grown in quite hard conditions and are planted out direct from the tunnel without any of them actually having been outside before.
Beans and Tomatoes are not planted outside here until the end of the first week in June because of late frosts.
Because of the regime I use I do not get stretched plants.
With Courgette and others of the squash family I generally do the kitchen tissue bit, as with Parsnips, and as signs of germination takes place they are sown into 7cm square pots in the tunnel.
They generally grow away happily and cannot remember the last time I lost one.
With the Squash family the radicle will appear by the side of the scar and should then be sown scar down as with beans.
JB.

Johnboy sorry to show my ignorance and Iknow that this is an older posts but what do you mean by this?

With the Squash family the radicle will appear by the side of the scar and should then be sown scar down as with beans

hi catherine, jb obviously hasnt seenyour post yet. the scar is the mark on the seed where it was attached to the parent plant whilst growing and the radicle is the first growing bit to appear through the seed coat, i think it usually developes into the roots of the new plant., usually followed by another bit (plumial? its a long time since o level biology)which grows upwards. hope this helps