When is it warm enough to plant flowers
When to plant?
when to plant is a question that I'm
often asked it's often in relation to a
specific vegetable but it's sometimes
the general question in terms of
gardening and particularly spring
planting now it's a little bit like
asking how long as a piece of string
because there are so many variables
particularly in relation to climate
where you live in the world often your
microclimate in terms of your own home
can make a difference and also in
relation to the specific vegetable which
you're planting each has its own time of
course choosing the right time is really
important because getting the time right
can make the difference between success
and failure
if you plant things too early they often
sit they can stagnate for quite some
weeks or if you plan too late you can
run out of season so getting the time
right there is a perfect window in terms
of planting I think in any area
sometimes it's quite a large window and
others it's quite small so getting that
time right is important particularly
seeds often if you put seeds in the
ground too early they can actually just
rot instead of grow and you've
completely wasted your seed and your
time so what I wanted to give you in
this video was a few tools and some
ideas how to choose when is the right
time to plant in your locality
the first advice that I can give is ask
your neighbor now I know that in today's
world a lot of people don't grow
vegetables and so often your neighbor
may not be growing food and that creates
a problem in the past when everybody
grew it it was simple if you moved into
a new area you just asked your neighbors
when do I plant and they would tell you
but today of course so many people don't
grow their own food so sometimes you
have to work it out for yourself
climate as I said is so important and it
can vary greatly here in Tasmania in
this island we have a number of
different climates we have a coastal
climate where people are right against
the sea and may not even get any frost
we have the other extreme which is the
Alpine climate where you can get snow in
winter and in between that we have what
covers probably the bulk of the island
which is inland a little bit even from
the sea it still
once you rise up into a little bit of
highlands you can get quite a bit of
wind that is cool coming across the
island now if you're in the forest like
I am and more sheltered it creates
another difference so each one of these
areas has its own climate if I ask
somebody down by the sea when they plant
and followed their guide I would
probably get into some trouble because
their planting would be quite a lot
earlier than mine I had a friend that
lived down by the sea he would plant his
Tomatoes at the beginning of September
very early spring the very beginning of
spring here in Tazi I plant mine at the
end of October which is late spring and
if I planted mine in September I would
get a frost which would kill them so
this is where I say you really need very
local advice otherwise you've got to
work it out for yourself
now there's a few ways of doing that now
the first two years the scientific
method and that is to look at the soil
temperature now there are guides on the
internet that will tell you the soil
temperatures that you need for planting
seeds and transplants there are a number
of these around I'll put links to a
couple down below
so I won't actually give you the details
in the video so you can go and look at
those and actually check against what
you want to plant in terms of what soil
temperature should be occasionally you
will even see like this one on a seed
packet where it actually gives you the
soil temperature that's ideal very few
seed packets ours have helpful as that
to measure the soil temperature you're
going to need a probe thermometer
something like this that you can
actually put into the soil and measure
that temperature you want to measure it
in the morning before the Sun has got on
it so that it hasn't been particularly
heated by the Sun you're actually
getting the true temperature of the soil
the other thing to look at and
particularly this is important when
actually putting out seedlings is the
overnight temperature if the plants that
you're planning out are frost sensitive
you need to make sure that you have no
chance of frost coming if you're not
sure about when the last frost occurs
anywhere check your weather Department's
guides they will usually have records as
to the minimum overnight temperatures
and that will give you an idea as to
when the last frost is likely to occur
and then allow a couple of weeks for
safety before actually planning out
frost sensitive plants other things of
course like beans and pumpkins and
cucumbers that like it quite warm you'll
need to allow probably at least a month
away from the last likely frost the
other way to determine when to plant
things is to look at when things begin
to grow in your area for example this
silver beet has been sitting from the
previous year and as the temperature has
risen in the soil even though it was
quite dormant overwinter it has now
began to come to life and move and go to
seed now as soon as it began to grow it
told me that it was the right time for
me to actually start planting my silver
beet seeds an example again is these
tomatoes that I see the tomato seeds
naturally germinating out of the soil
where they've fallen into the soil and
sat there all winter and when they start
to grow it tells me it's a safe time to
go and plant some tomato seed
here again is a volunteer it's a pumpkin
which is started to germinate all on its
own out of the soil and the fact that
it's germinated tells me that it is a
good time again for me to come and plant
my pumpkins because the seed itself is
the best guide to the soil conditions I
recently had a presenter on a popular TV
program here in Australia say that when
seedlings were available purchased from
nurseries etc that it was about the
right time to plant well I'd have to
really emphasize the about because as I
was saying before it's again very much
dependent on your local conditions
stores bring them out based on probably
the earliest conditions and people that
are much later really should wait so
what do you do that are available in the
stores and there might be sales on and
you want to buy some seedlings but you
know that you can't put them out and
you're going to have to wait if well 4-6
weeks before it's safe to put them out
what do you do well what I do is
actually to buy them get them at that
best price when they're small seedlings
and then to pop them on and that allows
them to grow you can then if you have a
greenhouse you can grow them in a
greenhouse the result is that after
about four weeks you're going to have
instead of a couple of pallets of small
seedlings you're going to have nice big
plants like this ready to go out now if
they've been inside it is advisable to
harden them off for a few days depending
on your conditions I think if you wait a
little bit longer until it's warmer they
will continue to grow well and I've
successfully just put them outside and
not harden them off and they do just
fine picking those right conditions is
the key wait until it is warm enough I
think it's always better to plant two
weeks later than two weeks earlier two
weeks too early is really a problem and
the plant will stagnate and it really in
peds its development the plant that is
put out a little bit later will often
overtake the earlier plant and give you
fruit sooner and be a healthier
in the long-term the final factors to
consider is the actual weather at the
end of time in terms of rainfall if you
put out plants particularly seedlings
this is the case but also when you're
planting seeds then if you can put them
out when there is some rain coming one
or two days it's a nice light rain
that's going to really moisten the soil
and ensure that those seeds get good
moisture to germinate and then it's
going to be followed by a few days of
nice warm sunshine you'll get the
optimum growth now a lot of people like
to plant by the moon and believe that
following lunar cycles will actually
enhance germination and I believe there
has been some tests and say that yes
there is a small advantage in doing that
my observation of the moon in relation
to weather and growing is that there are
rainfall cycles that will follow the
moon there's a number of various cycles
that can occur one common one is that
the rain will space out at around about
a week apart and this is following the
lunar cycle it's a little bit more than
a week but in a little creek because the
lunar cycle is just that a little bit
more than 29 and a half days so on one
week it will rain on Monday the next
week got all rain Monday again and then
the third week it will move to a Tuesday
and it'll just creep along this is a
cycle that's related to the moon and if
you can identify this and see this
happening you can use it to your
advantage and plant accordingly your
seeds or seedlings will get watered
seedlings love getting that day of shade
and the opportunity to settle in before
the hot Sun and when the Sun does come
everything will jump out of the ground
and really grow well so I hope this
video has given you a few ideas as to
how you can read your climate and read
the soil and choose the right time to
plant your vegetables
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