Remember that in the case of annuals that are best sown directly, planting the seeds later that same year may be preferable to storing them until the following spring. Seeds stored in this fashion will generally keep for several years, although their viability is best in the first season. After that, storage in a home refrigerator is ideal. Once the seed has been harvested, it should be left to air dry for several weeks before it is placed in an airtight package and clearly labeled. Generally speaking, when you cannot penetrate a seed with your fingernail, it has sufficiently ripened to harvest. It's a relatively straightforward process the trickiest part is figuring out when the seed has ripened. When you have especially enjoyed any plant, you should consider saving its seed. After thinning, they will require surprisingly little care, as long as you keep an eye on early spring conditions. Survivors should be judiciously thinned, or the seedlings will be far too crowded to reach maturity in your garden. If you grow them in groups, your seedlings will look distinct from weed seedlings. The seeds will lie dormant until the spring. Hardening off means to gradually accustom them to outdoor growing conditions by exposing. The best time to direct sow is from late summer to early winter. Before transplanting, plants need to be hardened off for a week. Of course, if temperatures are predicted to dip really low (into the middle 20os F) you may want to throw a blanket over them that night. After a few days of hardening off, transplants will be prepared to survive chilly nights in the garden. In fact, exposing a plant to direct sunlight and windy, cooler conditions than those to which it is accustomed will result in changes that you can actually feel in the plants physical texture if you run your hand across the top of it. Their cell walls will adapt quickly to weather conditions.
Over three or four days, put the plants outside during the day, then bring them into a sheltered spot at night. If the nursery where you bought them can't guarantee that your plants have already been hardened off, you can do it yourself. But these days, even hardy perennials are commonly grown inside greenhouses and then offered directly for sale. THE KEY TO SURVIVALĬritical to the survival of any plant set out in spring is the period when plants are gradually transitioned from a sheltered growing space to harsher outdoor conditions–usually referred to as hardening off. The plants we grow today as annuals originate in all the u corners of the world, and their needs have a great deal to do with their place of origin. In fact, they are just as complex a group as perennials, with varying requirements of soil, temperature, water, and light. The Memorial Day formula I was brought up on is based on the common assumption that annuals are a universal group of similar plants, with identical needs. To harden off your seedlings, start two weeks before you plan to plant them outside and after all danger of frost has passed.
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