Page 20 - Brandon Sun - Your Home your Way (2019)

20 THE BRANDON SUN • YOUR HOME YOUR WAY • THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2019

Give your flower and veggie seedlings some tough love

Seedlings raised on win-
dowsills or in greenhouses
have been coddled to some
degree and aren’t ready to face
the great outdoors. A tempo-
rary period called “hardening
off ” can prepare these plants
for more intense sunlight,
wind and varying tempera-
tures.
Make this transition grad-
ually, over the course of a
week or two. A good place to
harden off seedlings is in a
somewhat sheltered spot out-
doors, such as in a cold-frame
(basically an open-bottomed
box with a clear, removable
cover) or near a wall in dap-
pled shade. Or offer the seed-
lings full exposure for limited,
but increasing, periods.
ACCLIMATION TO
TEMPERATURE
The changes that lower
temperatures during the hard-
ening-off period will induce
in coddled seedlings depend
on the nature of the seedlings
themselves.
Seedlings of cabbage, let-
tuce, snapdragon, pansy and
other plants that can eventu-
ally laugh off cold even well Gradual exposure of seedlings to outdoor conditions readies them for eventual planting out in the garden.
below freezing develop that (The Associated Press)
tolerance for cold by building
up sugars in their cells. Cold AVOID SUNBURN turn darker green. And sto- Movement of plants has
also changes the composition Even in the absence of mata, which are the tiny pores yet another effect: It slows
of their cell membranes. cold, outdoor sunlight — in leaves through which wa- stem elongation, which con-
Seedlings of tomatoes, which can be as much as 10 ter is lost and carbon dioxide tributes to that stocky, lush
marigolds, zinnias and oth- times more intense than light and oxygen are exchanged, green look that shows a plant
er plants that cannot tolerate streaming through a sunny, become more quickly able to has been well hardened off.
temperatures much below south-facing window — can open and close in response to So blow on, shake or gen-
freezing suffer from so-called injure coddled seedlings’ changing conditions. tly brush your seedlings regu-
chilling injury even at tem- leaves. larly to toughen them up and
peratures below 50 degrees F. Gradual exposure to more SHELTER FROM WIND encourage them to become
Changes in plant membranes intense light, beginning in Stomatal response also stocky plants better able to
from chilling injury interfere dappled shade or with just a plays a role in a plant’s gradu- handle the real world of the
with sunlight driving photo- few hours each day in full sun, al adaptation to wind. During garden. That, along with
synthesis, so instead damag- thickens cell walls, fibres, and the hardening-off period, spending a week or so out-
ing toxins build up in leaves. cuticles on both existing and plants become able to re- doors in a sheltered spot or
As a tomato or other new leaves. spond more quickly to drying for only part of each day, will
warmth-loving plant becomes With increasing light ex- winds by closing their sto- ease your seedlings’ transition
hardened off through gradual posure, chloroplasts, the mata. Even movement of the to the garden so they hardly
exposure to cooler tempera- green, light-trapping energy plant, whether from wind or know they’ve been moved.
tures, it becomes better able factories in leaves, also move anything else, plays a role in Which is as it should be.
to repair and prevent such around and align themselves making stomata more respon-
damage. in such a way that the leaves sive. » The Associated Press