Hardening Off

I plan to start hardening off most of my seedlings this weekend for planting next weekend or at the beginning of June depending on the forecast shows.

Typically I move everything from the grow lights in the basement to the window upstairs in the office for couple of days.  In the evenings I put them on my front porch for a couple of hours.  The sun is very intense here and the brick gets pretty warm and it is sheltered somewhat from direct wind.  I have found that just two or three evenings of 3 hours each is enough to prepare them for a full day.  I’m not sure how my Italian tomatoes will react so I will have to play-it-by-ear.

After two or three days of this I will move them to the front of the garage door.  This location permits me to easily slip them outside in the morning and inside at night (in case it gets cool) without lugging them in and out of the house.  Although Homer and Cosmo sniff the plants they pretty much leave them alone at this point.

Cold Frames

I used to use a cold frame made of scrap wood and plastic (not glass).  It worked great but no matter where I put it or how well I fortified it, mice would move in, make nests and have a field day nibbling on tender seedlings.  A disturbing side-effect was the fact that Homer and Cosmo would smell and hunt for the mice….it is never pleasant to clean up dog puke let alone puke containing a dead mouse – trust me, it’s gross.  I no longer use a cold frame but I may try again sometime in the future.