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Growing Tips: Warm Season Seedlings

Nan Fitzgerald

May 17, 2024

Hardening Off and Planting Out: Tomatoes, Eggplants, Peppers, and Basils

Due to the cool spring we've had so far, the warm season seedlings (tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, basils) you've purchased from Nanimal Farm have NOT been fully hardened off (i.e., subjected to gradually increasing amounts of outdoor temperatures, wind, and sunlight). They have had a little time outside, but will benefit from a few hours outside in a semi-sheltered spot each day for the next 2-4 days, ideally. You can plant them in your garden without doing this, but you will likely see them showing signs of transplant shock (wilting, curling leaves, etc.)


  • Nighttime temperatures: These are just now getting into the 50's in midcoast Maine. Tomatoes, peppers, and other warm-loving plants don't respond well to temperatures 50 and below. So when you plant out, keep an eye on nighttime temperatures, and, if the garden is not in a sheltered spot, consider covering them with a light cloth or something like a milk jug if temperatures threaten to go to 50 degrees or below. Just remember to take these covers off the next day, especially if plastic is involved -- it can heat up fast in there.


  • Success with peppers in Zone 6 (ish): Peppers may produce more fruit, and ripen it faster, if grown in containers in the North. Peppers are not necessarily annual plants, though we tend to grow them as such here since they are not cold-hardy. Perennial plants aren't in as much of a hurry to produce flowers/fruits/seeds as annuals are. Your pepper plants, given a whole garden bed, may spend too much of our relatively brief summer weather sending out roots and growing as tall as they can, and not get around to setting and ripening fruit in time for you to have a decent harvest before first frost. When planted in containers, there is a limit to how much root they can put out, which helps signal the plant that it should put its energy into fruiting.


If your soil is already prepared, simply make a hole big enough for the root ball (if your soil is dry, you may want to pre-water the planting hole for large transplants), pop each plant or group of seedlings out of its cell, and gently press into the soil. Make sure the roots are in contact with the garden soil and that there are no large air pockets. It is helpful to have a slight depression in the soil level around the plant to encourage water to be absorbed there.


Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are heavy feeders. You can help your seedlings along by putting a cup or more of extra compost into each planting hole. If adding other amendments, remember that fruit-bearing plants won't benefit from too much nitrogen -- that can lead to all greenery and little fruit.


If your soil is not ready, you may need to pull or hoe some weeds, add amendments (a soil test can be helpful, but organic compost is always helpful), and rake the soil smooth. Your garden may not need a lot of amendments unless you have had issues with successfully growing these vegetables the previous season. A "maintenance" layer of compost can be added to the soil surface in fall or early spring, or just before planting, to replenish your soil's nutrients. I personally use organic compost rather than adding synthetic fertilizers. I also don't till in my compost, but rather rake it in an even layer over the surface, and plant through it. Between water, worms, plant roots, and other soil organisms, the nutrients will be distributed gradually throughout the planting area.

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