How to sow summer vegetables and protect transplants with our garden expert: Elly Keen
Summer vegetable sowing & transplanting
The beginning of spring is ‘itchingly’ close. You may feel tempted to start sowing your summer veggies now (end of winter) but it is important to take note of your last frost date before doing so. Generally speaking, Labour Weekend is when most people aim to have summer veggies ready for transplanting but your last frost date may be before or even after this date, so do your research.
I have been sowing chillies, capsicum and dahlia on a heat mat indoors. These seeds should be started 9 weeks before the last frost date as they are slow to get started and need an extra long season to fruit. I sow into trays which are then placed inside a clear container. This keeps the warmth in and humidity up, however it is important to remove the lid as soon as you see the seeds germinate. This will help to give plenty of light to avoid legginess, and also avoid ‘damping-off’: a mould that causes the seedlings to rot.
I’m also transplanting lots of seedlings into the garden this week to get a jumpstart on spring. I’ve already transplanted my peas and sweet peas, and they have settled into the garden and are putting on good growth. Seeds I started in June/July such as spinach, silverbeet and coriander are ready for transfer now too as well as some purchased spring onion seedlings.
Starting seeds on heat mat
How to protect seedings in the garden
When I was first starting out gardening, I would pop things into the garden eagerly without netting, only to find half would get ripped out by birds or cats. It took me three years to cotton on that if I protected my newly transferred seedlings with a cloche, I would have greater success. I now use an array of different materials to protect my precious seedlings.
Things like cloche tunnels, tubs, plastic bottles, or even underplanting more established plants is an effective way of protecting your seedlings.
Cloche tunnels are a good investment as they can be reused in the autumn when cabbage white butterflies are prevalent.
Sistema tubs flipped upside down is another hack I’ve discovered, and it works particularly well in the wintertime, trapping heat and acting as a mini greenhouse. It’s important to remove them during unseasonably warm days, and make sure the seedlings underneath are getting adequate watering.
Cut in half milk bottles do the same thing on a smaller scale. I’ve found this to be effective at preventing slug/snail damage on new transplants.
Lastly, planting seedlings underneath more established plants helps to maximise space and also give a little shelter from hard frosts or damaging hail that can be common during the end of winter and into the beginning of spring.
Once your seedlings become a little more established, rooted and growing nicely in the garden you may remove the cloche.
