In addition to getting direct sunlight outside vs through a window or from artificial lights, they also are dealing with new temperature swings (day to night), wind stress (flexing & dehydration), and varying moisture levels. Hardening off is a necessary transition for plants because they have to adapt to multiple environmental factors at once. This process is called “hardening off” and it is easy if you follow a few basic steps. There are big differences between the comfortable indoors (house or greenhouse) and the tough world outside so plants need a little help to adapt to those harder conditions outside. Whether you grow your own seedlings (Congratulations!) or buy your garden plants, they will need some preparation for the transition into the “real world” outdoors. It’s also time to start watching for early insect pests, to prune some flowering shrubs, and NOT to fertilize your lawn now. Transplanting into the garden is a major change for plants and taking some care to minimize the stress will help plants get through transplant shock better and increase their growth. Early transplanted tomatoes and pepper will do well, but cool nights have slowed growth so be patient, they will soon get going! Annual flowers like geraniums, petunias, marigolds, nasturtiums, and snapdragons will do well outside now too. It’s time for heat loving plants like basil, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, squash, okra, sweet potatoes, & peppers to be in the ground. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, and salad greens have mostly been planted out. June brings better gardening weather, what a welcome change! Although it’s been dry for Vermont spring, recent rains have created a great time to get new plants into their outdoor homes for the summer.
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