How to Harden Off Your Plants & Why

Hey, Friends!  This week's episode is all about the sometimes tricky, sometimes annoying, but always super important task of hardening off your plants.  Learn what hardening off is, and how we have come to do it so that it doesn't consume our entire lives during one of the busiest times of the year.  Do we have feelings about it?  Of course!  But sometimes you gotta grumble and get it done anyways.  Join us this week, save your beautiful plants from being scorched, and get ready for garden season!  It's go-time, friends!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi, I'm Monica with Lulu the A Fields. And I'm Cassie with Coppertop Gardens. And I'm Bailey with How Home and Garden. We have been cultivating our gardens and farms for years now, but something really special was sewed when we met and began working together.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

Our shared passion for growing the best local flowers and food has made us realize the impact it's had in not only our own homes, but also in our local community.

SPEAKER_03 0:22

We are the gals who grow, and we can't wait to inspire you to grow too. Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to another week of Gals Who Grow. This week we are all here because we are planning to do this really soon. We thought we would talk about hardening off. Which is um my least favorite topic, I think, of the entire spring. Arguably one of the most important. And I hate it. But it's important, and so therefore, we're gonna talk about it. So let's hit him with scary and like also draining, but it's another Bailey's definition of hardening off. Bailey's definition of hardening off is get ready to be sick of growing. No, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

It is I explained this to someone the other day, actually yesterday. Well, what'd you tell them? Because my my starts went out the door. The one the grow kits that I sold went out the door this week. Yes. And I was like, what do I do? They're like, well, we need to harden them off a little bit. They've been hardened off a little bit, but the way I explained it to her is like, you're going on spring break and you don't want to get burnt. So you visit the tanning bed a couple of times. But you don't go for the full 20 minutes. Maybe you only go for 10 the first time. Look, okay, I do not go tanning anymore. This is high school Monica speaking right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:51

I was like, I've never been tanning before, so you're gonna have to explain it to me.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Did you like put the little sticker on your belly to make the little outline? Yeah, I did.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

I always had a heart on my right hand. Oh my god. Those were the days, man. Or a palm tree. I never really did the bunny.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

I don't think I did either. You didn't went to the tanning bed? I did before before spring break because I'm pale. You ladies. So not anymore.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

A handful of our listeners might have experiences before, but you don't go for the full 20 minutes. You go for like maybe only 10, and then you increase it to 15, and then you do, then you do the 20, and then you're like, okay, maybe I can spend a half day in the sun on my first day with sunscreen. Yeah. Uh in Florida. Yeah. But I can't go the whole 16 hours beer in my hand, no sunscreen. Like, that's a Friday spring break activity. Okay. So harding off is doing the same thing for our plants. And what happens if you don't do that?

SPEAKER_02 3:03

They'll burn and die.

SPEAKER_03 3:06

And all of your hard work from weeks prior is burned nothing. Oh guys, I'm so awful at this. I'm gonna be very real with you. I because of uh being at a desk job from nine to five, leaving my house at or I'm at a desk from eight to five. I don't know why I said nine. I was like, sir. Yeah, no, no. I leave my house at 7.30 in the morning and I get home at 5.30, and I um have to, in order to harden them off, have to take my plants out before I leave at 7.30 in the morning when it's still dark right now, and put them out on my porch. And I put them out on a place where it only gets sun until noon, and then it's shaded. But then when I get home, I have to bring them all back in. So one year we had literally bring them back in. So what? You think that they're okay to stay out?

SPEAKER_01 4:03

If they're not getting sunlight, they're okay to stay out. Are you sure? If it's not freezing, as long as it's not freezing.

SPEAKER_03 4:09

Well, yeah, so that's part of it. Sometimes our days are warm enough for like tomatoes to go outside, but they can't stay out overnight. So like one year we grew for one of the first peony festivals we all did together. Joey and I um planted like, I don't know, 90 tomato plants. And we would carry them out in the morning and then have to carry them back in at night. And it was like 40 trays, right? So like we're like going out, and it was like halfway down our sidewalk. Like our sidewalk is sort of long, it is very big. And we literally would just like carry them out and place them one after the other, and then you're like having to water, and then bring I would always carry them out in the morning, then water them all, and then just the watering is what scares me.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Yeah, mine are more likely to die of thirst than they are to get burned. So what like I what I do is just take them out because I'm I'm putting them on my front porch, which is south facing. You have also put them out your little rolling rack. Oh, yeah, that thing's out of commission.

SPEAKER_03 5:14

It was that was the dream, Monica. I think about it all the time. Do you want a a little rack? No, because I don't have a pavement. Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

I need to get that thing set back up. But I I do have a rolling rack, which is nice.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

Cause then she just rolls it out of her garage into the sun and then roll it back in.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

And like that, I need to get that set back up. But that's not what I'm doing right now. Everything has been out because all of the cold tolerant stuff has been out for a while. Um, but I'll just like it's kind of like second, I kinda do it like I don't even really think about it because it's like, oh yeah, I should harden this off. And then I put it out at like three o'clock in the afternoon and it gets a little bit of sun. Yeah. And then it goes all night, and as long as it's not freezing, then it just stays out all night. And then it and then it gets a little bit of sun. So when you say, and then I bring it in like I don't know, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:10

We're not worried about the like I mean, I I guess my thing is like my plant has been in 70 degree house, and I put it outside, and then what if it drops down to 40 at night? Is that true? It depends on what kind of plant. What are you putting out? That it that part. I mean cold hardy things, but I was like, I'm worried about it because it's only been in 70 degrees.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

No, they're fine.

SPEAKER_02 6:32

Yeah, I've never had an issue with it.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

They don't even want to be in 70 degrees.

SPEAKER_03 6:37

No, they don't. They don't have to have that's what they have, Monica, because that's what I live in.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

I so okay, I'll tell you how I harden mine off. Well, okay, by the book hardening off says what? Five to seven days of gradual gradual increases in sunlight time. Who the hell has time for that?

SPEAKER_03 7:02

No, but you can do that. Don't talk to me. No, just kidding.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

You can talk to me. I'll be very envious of you. She'll be jealous. So, yeah, none of us do that, basically. Um, my front porch is my hardening off zone because my house faces east, which is kind of perfect. I have like a little overhang on my front porch.

SPEAKER_03 7:23

Which my house faces east too, Cassie.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:26

But I don't feel that way.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

Ah, do you feel this way? Man, I just, you know, I'm a little harsh on my plants sometimes, I think. It's more like a only the strongest.

SPEAKER_03 7:40

She's like, it's really ideal because it puts them through a boot camp.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

It does. Let's see who survives. I do. So I I usually harden them off fully within a three-day period. I'm not gonna lie. And I don't touch them during the after they go off, they don't come back in.

SPEAKER_03 8:05

Okay, so maybe I've been doing hardening off wrong because I have been carrying them in and out every day. So you know how much hardening off mine get? One day, maybe two. Yeah. And then I'm like, you know what? Yeah, I think you got enough.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

So I will only pay attention to nighttime temperatures if I'm hardening off like my tomatoes or my peppers. Yeah. Something like that. If it's literally anything else, you're gonna sit out on the porch and I hope you like it. Um I even did that last year with my plant sale plants. Like, I'm not even kidding. Like, I'm just like, figure it out.

SPEAKER_03 8:39

Guys, I've gotten out of bed once because I was like, oh my gosh, I left them out on the porch.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Oh yeah, I didn't.

SPEAKER_03 8:44

And then came down and brought everything in.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

I mean, so on my porch, it gets like morning sun until noon, and then it doesn't, and then they're fine. And then day three, I'm like, all right, kick them out into the yard, then they're full blast until I get them in the ground or where they're going. I haven't lost anything like that ever.

SPEAKER_03 9:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

Never have I lost anything.

SPEAKER_03 9:10

I hardened things off for two days and then I just planted them out just now.

SPEAKER_02 9:13

I mean, I think the five to seven days is way too safe, and it takes entirely too much energy and effort. Like, it shouldn't be that hard.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

You can also look and see what the UV UV is for the day. Because that might be that might be your issue, is like, is it like full blast UV? Uh what is that called?

SPEAKER_03 9:34

It's not that I lose them hardening off. It's that I lose them once I plant them out, even if I did it. That's weird. Because I don't well, I think I don't let them actually harden off.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

So I do leave them outside for like I do leave them outside for like a week, but I don't bring them back and forth for like days.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Are the plants big enough when you're planting them out?

SPEAKER_03 9:55

Yeah. I lost half my snap dragons. What? What? Yeah. They it got too cold. They snapped them. They looked at all dead. Joey was like, what the hell happened there? And I was like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

When did you plant them?

SPEAKER_03 10:11

Um couple weeks ago.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

Don't don't do anything with them because they very well might come back.

SPEAKER_03 10:17

I know. I'm not. I'm leaving them. But I wanted to start more. I messaged you guys and was like, Can I start more? I did.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:23

I did. I'm gonna do it. I think I'm gonna actually try and successive zoo them. So like I'm gonna look at like their names and do like, you know, how there's like the Opus three or whatever and follow the like one, two, three.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Can you write that down for me?

SPEAKER_03 10:38

Of what?

SPEAKER_01 10:38

That I'm going to successive zoo or that how you how you do with that? Because I'm always so confused.

SPEAKER_03 10:44

What the I think it's pretty much if it's a one, it they go first. If it's a two, it's that simple. Three, third, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 10:52

And then I know uh certain varieties are like the can deal with hotter temperatures. Potomac is a hotter temperature, so it can go later. So is it a four? It's not a four, I don't think. I think it's just uh considered a three. They just don't have a three on the name. What's a four? I don't uh that's the one that can bloom in fall. So it's like ones that could have a hotter start, maybe, and then like it cooler.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

I've got I've got madam's and potomic.

SPEAKER_03 11:17

So my potomics have always done well, and that's what yeah. What died? Madam? Um, I honestly don't know, but it was one variety of the ones I started. So I wonder if it was a potomic. Oh. Because it might have gotten just a little too cold.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

That's one yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:35

That could have been it. Really? Because I did it last year.

SPEAKER_02 11:38

I've always planted mine in raised beds.

SPEAKER_03 11:40

Yeah, but I planted all mine in in raised bed last the same raised bed.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

We got a really cold snap though. I know we did. But we we got down to 23.

SPEAKER_03 11:49

I think we did, I think we did last year. I planted mine out even earlier last year, and they did great, but I think part of it was I did not harden them off very much.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

Oh. I think too, with the hardening off, the sun is one challenge, which I honestly, if they're not getting direct sun for most of the day, wherever you're setting them, I think it's the least bit of challenge. You also have to think about if it how windy it is, and are you remembering to water them? Yeah, you have to because the wind dries them out like no tomorrow.

SPEAKER_03 12:20

But it's good for them because technically it's good for them, yes. On my shelves, they don't dry out. But when I get them outside and they start to dry out, I can notice that they start to do better.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

They stiffen up, they get stronger. Like it's definitely good for them, but it you can't just put them out there and forget about them. Like it sounds like I just kick them outside and say, suck it up, soldiers, but I'm still checking them. Yeah, and you have to water them.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Yeah, but I will say the hardening off process for me this year has been easier because I wasn't putting out little baby soil blocks. Yes, soil blocks are tough to harden off. But I'm switching back to soil blocks. We'll talk about that another time. But they are tough, they are tough to harden off because they're so small, they're so tiny, they dry out so fast. Tiny weather tiny. I also noticed that the plants that I put like on the soil, like on the ground versus like my concrete on my front porch, are doing better because there's like there is that heat and moisture from the ground. Gotcha. So I don't know if that's something that would be helpful. I feel like if you put them right up against your house.

SPEAKER_03 13:28

I mean, like I truly I don't have an issue with lit like I don't lose them when they're in their trays on the porch. But I think they do need to plant them out.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Stay out longer. Yeah, probably. I think maybe I do. Protected longer. I mean, some of my stuff has been out for like two weeks. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

Like then, mine will live outside for like yeah, sometimes a couple weeks if I haven't had time to get to them. So I they do have time to acclimate. I just don't baby them like the definitions of hardening off says to do. I guess.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

I will say I've seen someone put um like frost cloth or like shade cloth over them. But yeah, I've never done that.

SPEAKER_03 14:09

Okay. Well, I'm gonna do it the way that you guys are saying and just put them out there and let them grow out there. Let them acclimate. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

It's more yeah, it's more like an acclimate. And then they're gonna get they're getting bigger too. Like I tried to pop out, I will say, like, my I lost a lot of straw flour this year because they were so small. Oh, really? And I like should have just let them get bigger.

SPEAKER_03 14:30

Mine, I just planted out mine, but they were pretty big, so I was feeling like gosh, I gotta get them out.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

My issue is like I only have so much grow rack space, and so I'm like, oh, you are cold tolerant, you're big enough. Like, go out, tie. And then if I rush the process from getting them from my front porch to in the ground, then then they die. I die. They die. I die because they die.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

I die. So dramatic.

SPEAKER_03 14:59

And that's when I die. Literally, like, yeah, that's honestly, I think what I'm doing. I think I put them out too quickly because part of it is I get to Wednesday in my week, and then I go, like, okay, what am I doing this weekend? Oh, I'll have some time on Friday. I want to plant out those things. Oh no, they haven't been hardening off. I should put them out. So I put them out for Thursday and Friday, and then I go like, nah, time to go, time to go into the garden, and I just don't think it's long enough.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

I will say you need to know which is which is able to go out and which is not. That is important. So, for example, I went away last weekend for a long weekend, and Brandon was responsible for my plant babies. And that's I think that's when it got pretty cold one night. And so I was like, yes, everything, just go ahead and bring everything. Everything probably would have been fine, but I was like, bring everything in. And he had let my he had put my mahogany splendor out, and mahogany splendor can take zero cold. Yeah. It's like a uh tomato, isn't it? Yeah, it's like a tomato or a pepper. And I came home and those were like they were so beautiful. They were big and they were like in I had potted them up. They looked so good, and yeah, he had left them. He had let them go outside when they couldn't even go outside at all. Cause we like 50 degrees is not good for them. Are they dead? They're like trying to come back. I plucked off all the dead dead stuff, and yeah. I mean, they're not dead, but they're not their best.

SPEAKER_03 16:37

Yeah, so there's definitely things like I like I just planted out straw flour and crespidia. Um there's definitely things that like, and like Snapdragons can go out and um I Monty he's not done with frosts. I just watch Gardener's World. If anybody is, it's like mine addiction. He just so direct sewed uh Scabiosa into his beds, and he was like, Yeah, for the next month we're still gonna have frosts. But I was like, Oh.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Wait, I play I my my scabiosa have been outside for a long time now.

SPEAKER_03 17:08

You do you direct so?

SPEAKER_01 17:10

No, the plants. Oh. They can take they can I know they can take a little frost.

SPEAKER_03 17:15

I just hadn't thought about direct sowing. In my mind, I was like, a little tiny seedling's gonna get snapped.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Oh no. Because they're so low to the ground. Like the ground is giving a lot of things.

SPEAKER_03 17:25

That's gonna be some heat.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Like, what do they say if the dandelions are blooming, your soil temp is at least 50? And they are a blooming. They are a bloomin', they are blooming hard. So that's kind of like that's gonna generate heat. It's gonna be warmer closer to the ground. So they'll be good point. Okay. Well, but I've never direct sewed my scabbiosa. Now I kind of like, oh, I know. Uh-huh. They come back, they reseed them. So I know how that before.

SPEAKER_03 17:53

I saw them do it. I was like, you know, my grow rock is very tight right now. Got not a lot of space, and um, I wanted to start those, so maybe I try it. Start them outside.

unknown 18:04

Try it.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Might as well.

SPEAKER_03 18:06

Yeah. So yeah, just definitely look, don't put out your tomatoes and peppers. They cannot go out until it's 50 degrees at night or above 50 degrees during the day.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Wait until after Mother's Day with those. That's what I was saying.

SPEAKER_03 18:21

I always put them in before Mother's Day with those. That's because I run out of space and I don't want to be dealing with them. So I put them out as soon as it is consistently above 50 degrees at night. I put them out.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Okay. Yeah. I think it's supposed to get down so on the day of recording, it's supposed to get down to 27 a Monday. I know. So most everything should be kind of okay. Just make sure. Double check. I'm nervous about the things that have come out so far. No, because remember, soil temperatures 50. I'm worried about shrubs and oh no, no. I think it will be 27 for like it will touch 27 and then it'll go. I think it's only if it's cold.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

If it's cold like that for like hours, then you're looking at damage, but I don't think we're gonna have a problem.

unknown 19:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

Yeah. Yeah. So don't stress out about it. Bless his heart.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Yesterday, Joey was like, I mean, cut any daffodils that you want to cut, though. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:16

Joey was like, You're gonna plant seedlings out? It's gonna get down to 27 on Monday. And I was like, For 2.5. I mean, that's a good point, but I want them out.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

No, I try to think it'll be okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:29

Okay. It'll be okay. You guys say so. I'm believing again.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

Again, with the with the growing rununculus, that's what they say. They're like, if it's gonna be, you know, in the too cold zone for like six to eight hours, that's too long. If it's less than that, you're fine. Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

Yeah, it's it's just as much about like the longevity of it being how long it has to be. Because again, that soil temp is gonna protect them during that cold so it'll be it'll be nice and foggy in the morning on Tuesday.

SPEAKER_03 20:00

Okay, okay. Well, that's definitely makes me feel better. Yeah. So yeah, in the future I'm hardening off the easier way and um for longer if I can come to the dark side. I can do it.

SPEAKER_02 20:12

Just neglect a moment.

SPEAKER_03 20:14

Next year I'm gonna be like, so I'm very lucky that my house space is east and it's the best situation for hardening off plants, and it's super easy.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

And yeah, I can do it on a south thing. Hardening off is my favorite thing. I can't put mine on the east side or the west side because I will just forget about them.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

Yeah, you have to put them where you can see them. Absolutely. But the most important thing is that you do it. Yes. Because if you don't, you will regret it. Yeah. And die. No, she's gonna die. Well, on that note, uh see you next time.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

See you next week. Bye. Hey, thanks for listening to our podcast. If you want to follow us on social, find us at the Gals Who Grow Podcast on Instagram and follow us on Spotify or your favorite podcast app.