I found that transplating things was NOT easy. The plants were all tangled up and my lettuce, chard, bachelor buttons, etc did NOT come out of the milk jugs well. I think I already killed half the plants! Not exactly a tragedy since I can grow more, but is this common? I also had very limited success with transplating the cucumbers growing out of the water bottles (one in each bottle). I am a bit frustrated by this. The milk jugs grew so well!!!

Help me out with how to do a better job with the transplanting...ANY tips are welcome! I have four jugs of sunflowers that are already growing out of the top and I need to move those tomorrow.

What are experiences at the next level for us newbies?

I don't transplant as young as some so may have more roots, but I find the soil has to be more of a 'medium wet' Ladyrose.....too wet and the weight of the soil will pull it away from fragile roots, too dry and it falls off. I water pots a day or two before I'm going to take them out of the pots and transplant - but could see where that would vary for a grower trying to plant in warm windy weather like I don't have ....where pots could dry out more quickly.

I had hoped to reuse the milk jugs but cutting them away when I transplanted beets today had much more success. One of the problems is that I don't have a "hunk o seeds". There were 6-9 plants in each jug and they were LARGE. In fact they looked kinda leggy to me which I think is not good.

Anyone else with some other tips? All you seasoned WSers, please help us newbies! Thanks so much!

I like to reuse containers also, and the 1 & 2 LTR bottle are very easy to rinse and re-use. Make sure they have straight sides - if the side of the bottle is contoured, it is much more difficult to extract the seedlings! Milk jugs can be re-used if they are cut around the middle with a hinge, but the seedlings are a little more difficult to get out, and the plastic becomes brittle and breaks down more quickly than the bottles.

Some plants are so easy to direct sow that dealing with containers and transplanting is unnecessary hassle. Transplanting can also set the growth back. I always direct sow Cucumbers - very easy and they fruit relatively quickly.

I have a whole bunch of sunflowers that are outgrowing their jugs as you can see--these need to be transplanted but I am scared to. They are quite leggy and the stems are growing sideways!

My sister is learning how to garden, when I say that I mean she just doesn't know how to plant or grow from seed or save seed, BUT believe it or not she taught me something that I use and I notice it really helps. She digs her hole, then fills the hole with water, then puts the plant in then fills with dirt. I still have to pat it down and continue to add dirt till it is solid enough. Though I noticed when trying this way it didn't take the 4 to 5 days to a few weeks it did with planting then watering for the plant to perk up.

The cages are protection against my chickens and the birds. They are just bended wire and I use them over my alliums, my other plants, etc. My husband bended these "bridges" to give my plants a bit of a chance to grow before they are attacked. There is just enough room under there for some lettuces to grow(18" wide). I also drape bird netting over the bridges to protect the smallest seedlings.

I also use this cage over some of my veggies too. This cage sits on my raised beds but also served as an outdoor playpen/brooder for my teen pullets when they were just being introduced to the older hens. I put this cage right beside my bigger run for a month so they could look at eachother before being integrated. Right now its the only thing saving my tiny patch of lettuces!

My cucumbers barely protected against the velociraptors dirt bathing behind the trellis!

Somehow this short 18" wire fencing around the bottom of teepee is protecting my shell peas and kale inside the ring! I think I'm playing with fire here--it will only take one chicken a second to hop this and decimate the small plants.

I too am in my first year of WSing and am learning learning learning! Looked this morning at the beets and I do believe they are somewhat a bit perkier! Crossing my fingers!!!

Karen

Your WS transplants look pretty good. I think they will be ok. I agree with Karen that you could try to plant them out when they're a bit smaller next time, or sow fewer seeds per container. The roots would be easier to deal with and less transplant shock.