Plants can sense changes in the seasons. For example, in the fall, when the days start to get shorter, the trees sense that there is less sunlight. The plant is stimulated, and it sends messages telling the leaves to change colors and fall off and plants then go into dormancy. This is an example of photoperiodism, the reaction of plants, to the length of day or night.
Well, Spring is the most active and most important season for gardening. Plants wake up from their sleeping period that is the dormancy or inactive period of winter. Applying these Five steps and tips just before they start their active period really makes a lot of difference and helps them grow and yield better in the coming days.
5: CLEAN UP YOUR GARDEN : This should be your first task, especially if you do not do this regularly. You may see a lot of debris like fallen leaves, twigs, dirt and other garbage. This should be done first because neat and clean garden makes a perfect scene.
4: WEED REMOVAL: Early Spring weeds can be a nuisance. They can be a real problem and steal your plants nutrients from soil and can result in stunted growth of your plants. Head out into the garden and start pulling those weeds. Make sure you pluck them at the root level. This is really important to stop them from growing back again. Use different weed removal garden tools depending on the size of your garden.
3: FERTILIZERS AND SOIL PREPARATION: Winter season can make your soil hard and compact. You need not repot your plants completely into a fresh new potting mix. Just till the top 1 or 2 inches of soil carefully without damaging your plant roots. Then, You can apply fertilizer over this or remove this soil if it’s too compact or if it’s not much compacted, then remove this soil and mix it with compost like decomposed cow dung powder or vermicompost – one or two handfuls of it depending on the size of your container or the plant. Mix it thoroughly with this top soil and add it back to the plant. Well, this is a one time task to improvise the top soil.
Then regarding fertilizing your plants, Make sure you add at least one handful of compost like decomposed cow or horse dung or vermicompost per plant atleast once every 15 days. Spring season is the most important time the growth of your plant picks up, and fertilizing your plants is really important at this stage.
2: PRUNING – That’s trimming or cutting your plant branches. For most summer plants this is the best time to prune them, even hard pruning your older plants can be done at this time. Pruning encourages the plants to grow well and makes them bushy as the plant grows. You can check a detailed post on how to prune, types of pruning with important concepts of pruning.
1: START PLANTING NEW SEEDS OR PLANTS: Depending on the zone your live, you can start sowing your seeds like – summer vegetables or flowering plants for summer in this season.
Seeds are magic to gardens. Tuck them in soil, add a little water and you’re on the way to a beautiful bloom or a tasty harvest. Whether you are a beginner or an expert gardener, you will certainly improve your success by avoiding these common errors that will be discussed shortly.
Germinating seeds is infact a simple process. But when seeds do not sprout, you feel disheartened and infact some loose their interest in gardening. But you should always take time to evaluate or diagnose the problem. Why didn’t my seeds germinate?
Here are the 7 FATAL MISTAKES or Answers to Seed Germination Problems.
- YOU ARE USING NON-VIABLE OR OLD SEEDS: If your
seeds have not sprouted within the appropriate number days, then most likely or
the most common reason could be the seeds are not viable.
Always check the expiry date or best before date on the seed packet and also purchase seeds from reliable sources.
This Seed viability issue can even be due to improper storage of seeds like in moisture which can cause them to rot or mold.
Here are two simple hacks to test whether your seed is viable. First method is: - Simply Pour the Seeds in a container of water and if the seeds are floating, they are not viable. Just discard them and choose only those sunk to the bottom.
- Checking seed viability using a wet toilet paper method. Pour some seeds on a wet toilet paper and keep it in a zip lock bag for 24 to 48 hours and see for sprouting to check viability.
- Another important point to remember is the Seed Pod Maturity, specially if you are growing from seeds from a fruit or vegetable. A fruit or vegetable develops from a flower after pollination and fertilization process and is nothing but a seed pod. In my previous episode, the seeds from green bell pepper did not germinate but those from the yellow and red pepper germinated to nearly 100%. The capsicum or bell pepper gradually matures from green color to yellow, orange and then finally Red. Hope this answers the question!
- WRONG PLANTING TECHNIQUE: Planting your seeds too deep can cause problems with sprouting. So, What is the ideal depth for sowing seeds? The rule of thumb is to plant seeds at a depth equal to two times or max three times their width. It’s better to plant seeds too shallow than too deep. You should also avoid pressing down on top of your seeds after you plant them.
- BAD SEED STARTING POTTING MIX OR SOIL: This is a very important factor for success rate. Starting seeds in garden soil alone is not recommended because this soil is too compacted and the seeds cannot sprout. Also if it contains large pieces of stones, wood and stuff like that, can prevent the seeds from sprouting freely. And moreover this soil is full of harmful pathogens that can affect seed germination and also the health of the seedling. Many gardeners suggest baking this soil in oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes to kill most weeds and pathogens. But this will also kill the beneficial microorganisms like mychorrhizae and pseudomonas from the soil. So, it’s always better to prepare your own seed starting mix without using garden soil. One such recipe, you can follow is:
- Cocopeat or peat moss – 70% + Compost like decomposed cowdung or Vermicompost 30%. This is more that sufficient and the best seed starting mix. You can optionally add stuff like perlite and fine grade vermiculite into this mixture.
- Alternately you can also use seed starting coco peat pellets which can be directly transplanted into soil when the seedling are ready for transplant.
- WRONG TEMPERATURE AND WRONG SEASON: This is another common mistake most of us commit. Planting by the season depending on the zone you live in is really important, because the temperature is a very important factor for seed germination. Temperatures that are too high or too low can cause problems germinating seeds. So, try to follow the planting calendar of the zone you live in.
- IMPROPER WATERING: Seed germination is highly dependent on watering. If it’s too dry, they fail to sprout! And too wet they will rot in the dirt. Seeds need to be moderately moist to sprout and this is infact difficult to assess. Also very young seedlings are even more tender and can die due to improper watering. The best trick to water these is using a bottom tray method. Just keep the bottom tray filled with water and do not water from top. If the potting medium is dry, it starts to absorb water through the drainage holes and this process goes on and is completely safe method of watering seeds and tender seedlings.
- DIRTY OR UNSTERILE CONTAINERS OR SEED TRAYS: For a better success rate in seed germination, its always wise to use a fresh new container or thoroughly clean the old containers before adding the potting mix. Fungal and mold infections are the most common infection from dirty containers. If infection occurs you will notice a fuzzy growth on the top of the planting medium. You may also see that a seed sprouts, but then rots at its base and falls over. This is called damping off and is caused by a fungal infection in your soil.
To clean your old containers, You can use hydrogen peroxide or even use your kitchen baking soda – like 1 tablespoon per litre of water and clean the containers with this solution. Or simply clean it with soap and water or even a diluted bleaching powder.
- ROLE OF SUNLIGHT: Do Seeds require sunlight to germinate? For most of the seeds, sunlight is not required for sprouting of the seeds. Dark, damp and warm conditions are best for the sprouting stage of germination. But once the seeds germinate and two new tiny leaves are out, they need sunlight. You must follow the “Hardening Off” Method which means a gradual exposure to sunlight, like 1 hour for the first day, 2 hours for the second, 3 hrs for the third and so on to provide full sun exposure.