Roots
Cucumber seedlings being potted up
As I plant out the vegetable patch of the Market Garden, I’m realizing how similar the planting process is to making art. I always tell my students not to skip steps in their creative process and the same holds true for gardening, especially when you are starting from seeds!
As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs we had a rocky start with our seedlings, three starts to be exact! Now that I’ve slowed down a bit, my seedlings are flourishing. Many of them are ready to be potted up into larger containers.
I am learning that the purpose of this step is to give the roots an opportunity to develop. This is important because the seedling grows stronger as their roots expand and multiply. This seems like a no brainer, but I came to this revelation when I was potting up my cucumbers and thought back to the Mignonette flowers, I hastily planted out a few weeks back. At the time, I thought the flowers looked big and were ready to go into the ground. However, when I separated them to plant their roots looked fragile.
Looking at the cucumbers, I see now why it is so important to not skip the potting up stage. Although their roots are not as delicate looking as the Mignonettes, they are not ready for the ground just yet. As I continue my gardening journey, learning new things every day, I am developing a process. When a set of plants are ready to be potted up, I wash the containers in a combination of bleach, soap, and water, then rinse them in clean water and set them out to dry. I then move the plants from the seed trays, separating any that might have more than one seed in a plug and plant them in a slightly larger container. When these plants are ready to go into the ground, I repeat the above process and reuse the containers. If I have any plants that are overly stressed or downright dead, I remove them from the hoop house, and rewash the pots. At some point, I will probably have to invest in more containers but for now this process seems to be working. Eventually, the number of vegetables and flowers to be repotted will start to decrease as I get more and more into the ground. I will continue to monitor the plants and hopefully, the market garden will start to fill out.
It is both humbling and exciting to see the garden grow. I’m learning a lot from these little seedlings and their stages of development. Like art, it is all about the journey. I am again reminded of the importance of slowing down, don’t skip any steps and take the time to nourish the roots! Plants are much like people in that regard I think!
