Don’t rush to plant out your veggies

We are currently shipping some of the more hardy veg plants, like brassicas and beetroot, but even so, we would recommend being a little cautious when your plants arrive – better to wait a little than to lose the plants to chilly winds or a late frost.

Here’s what you can do instead:

 

1. Unpack your plants

As soon as possible after your plants arrive, carefully unpack them all. They may look a little tired after their journey but this is nothing to worry about.


2. Give them a drink

The roots may be dry, so give them all a good drink of water by standing the plants upright and submerging the roots for a few minutes in a container of clean water.


3. Plant them loosely in compost

Cut open a bag of compost and loosely plug the plants in (with a plant marker). You can just pop them in a bunch and submerge their root balls into the soil, you don’t have to space them out or plant carefully. Keep them in a sheltered place that gets good daylight – a porch, greenhouse or similar.


4. Water them

Water them every 2-3 days until you are ready to plant them out.


5. Plant out within 14 days

When you are ready to plant them out it should be easy to gently tease them out of the punnets without damaging their roots. Once planted, water them in well and they should be just fine.

 

Brassicas, roots and leaves are generally pretty tough, so don’t worry too much about those unless there’s risk of a late frost. If it is still cold and you are worried when you plant them out, you can cover them with fleece. But, for the more tender crops – sweetcorn, peas, tomatoes, beans, peas, aubergines, squash, courgettes – they will need better protection, ideally with a cloche tunnel, or you can make little bottle cloches like the ones pictured by raiding recycling bins and cutting plastic bottles in half.