Transplanting

If you want to transplant successfully, you must begin with healthy plants.

This means that your seedlings should immediately be thinned out wherever they are too close together.

The soil that you are going to use for transplanting must be in good condition. It should have recently been worked deeply and freshly stirred.

It will be easier for plants to put their roots down in soil where the surface has been disturbed recently than in soil that has been compacted.

You should try to transplant when the weather is cloudy or showery.

If it is hot and dry, you should dip the roots of your plants in a creamy mixture of clay and water. This is particularly helpful if you are growing brassicas.

You may also thoroughly water the rows after you plant and then use a hoe to draw the loose soil on each side to the plant stems.

Another way to deal with hot, dry conditions is to fill the hole for the plant with water before you press the soil up to the root.

Soak the bed in which the plants stand with water the day before they are lifted.

Afterwards, loosen the soil with a fork. This will allow you to pull the plants up easily without breaking their roots.

Once the plants are out of the ground, keep the roots and the tops moist, and cover the plants with a wet sack until they are planted.

If you have large plants, it is a good idea to cut the large leaves in half and snip off the end of the taproot. This is especially important when the weather is dry.

When you are working with plants, such as onions, that have a large mass of fine roots, you can shorten the tops by one third and cut the roots to an inch of their base.

This will prevent the plants from falling over, the leaves from wilting and the roots from growing upward.

It also makes it easier to handle the plants.

If you are working with a small number of plants, each of which can be lifted in a ball of soil, you do not have to cut them down this way.

When you are transplanting plants with long stems, you should bury them, slanted, into the ground, and then completely cover the stems with moist soil. Roots will grow all along the buried stems,which will help the plants to remain sturdy as they grow.