Starting the Fall Vegetable Garden with Transplants

Life is full of choices. For many crops backyard vegetable gardeners must choose between starting with seeds and starting with transplants.  You can have a successful garden either way but seeds and transplants both have their advantages and disadvantages and you should consider them before you make up your mind about which is best for you.

One of the biggest advantages transplants offers is an early start with your garden.   Transplants are grown in protected seed flats or seed beds and they're started before the weather is suitable for planting directly in the garden.  Whether you start your own transplants or buy them at your garden center, you 'll be several weeks ahead of gardeners who start with seed.

Using transplants allow you to choose only the best seed bed you'll have many more than you really need.  If you're buying transplants at the garden center you can pick and choose from what's available.  Either way, you can select only the strongest and healthiest looking plants to go in your garden.

It's easier to start from transplants especially if you only want a few plants.  For something like a window-box, containers, raised bed or small garden patch, transplants are much more practical than starting from seed.

Finally, with transplants you avoid seedling decay problems.  Diseases are easier to control in a seed flat than in the garden, the seed flat is better for germination and seedling growth.

The main disadvantage in using transplants is that the cost would mount up quickly if you bought plants for a large garden.  Also some crops are hard to transplant successfully.  Turnips, carrots, mustard and similar crops are better started from seeds.

Setting the transplants in the garden in a simple matter.  If you're raising your own they should be ready to plant when they're 4 to 6 weeks old.  Transplants you buy at a garden center are uaualy ready to set out immediately.  In either case, as I've already suggested, select only strong, vigorous, disease-free plants of the recommended variety to put in your garden.

Be careful not to disturb the roots of the plants in a box or flat, cut the soil into squares like brownies before transplanting.  With individual containers moisten the soil before removing the plant.  Some transplants are grown in peat pellets.  These are inserted directly into the soil.  So don 't try to remove the plants from them. 

Make sure the soil in which you will be transplanting has adequate moisture.  Once you have placed the transplants in the hole continue to irrigate to maintain adequate soil moisture.

To help the transplants get off to a quick start, apply  a starter fertilizer solution.  You can buy these ready mixed or make your own.  For best results purchase a fertilizer concentrate, a 20-20-20 or 10-20-10 or similar formulations and mix according to directions.  Apply about one pint to each plant.

For more information on this subject contact your local garden center or Cooperative Extension Office @ 639-3200 or 229-2909.