The last average frost date for my area {Eastern Iowa} is tomorrow! That means, it’s time to plant seedlings! This time of year can be nerve-wracking because seedlings are fragile. Put them in too early and they freeze. Put them in too late and they get scorched. Over the years, I’ve collected several tips for planting seedlings and I’m excited to share them with you today.

Tips for Planting Seedlings

I usually put my family to work on Mother’s Day and we get a ton accomplished in my garden. I love this time of year! It’s exciting to put little plants in the ground and watch them take off. Uset these tips to help your seedlings survive and thrive this year.

Timing is Everything

If you’ve ever planted your baby seedlings too early or too late, you know timing is everything. Pay attention to your current weather and temperature patterns.

If at all possible, plant your seedlings right before a gentle rain when the low temperatures are acceptable for your plants. It’s no fun to plant too early and watch the poor little things shrivel up because of a late frost.

If it is already pretty warm and sunny, plant seedlings in the late afternoon to protect them from the harsh sun. If you can, plant them after the sun has gone down a little. This will help reduce transplant shock and stress.

Give Seedlings Room to Grow

Seedlings look small when you first put them in the ground, but remember they grow quickly. Tomato and pepper plants in particular are deceiving. Make sure you know what the proper spacing is and plant them accordingly. Plants need room to develop properly. I use a ruler to get it right. {And I still mess up sometimes!}

Provide Protection and Nutrition for Seedlings

Give your seedlings the best possible start by making sure they are well watered. Water them immediately after planting. Check them every day and continue watering as needed to keep them looking strong.

Another way to tip for planting seedlings is to use lots of mulch around them. Applying mulch around your seedlings keeps moisture in and weeds at bay. Grass clippings, straw, or wood chips can help your seedlings really take off. We used grass clippings and placed it around the plants and also on the path. I’d prefer to weed as little as possible.

Those are my tips for planting seedlings. What else do you do to transplant seedlings?

More Mother’s Day Gardening Tasks

It might seem like Mother’s Day isn’t the day to be working in the garden. But, there’s a lot to be done and I put my family to work. 🙂

We picked up a lot more straw and covered up the potatoes again as they have really surprised me and are growing strong! If my 5 rows of potatoes produce, we will be sick to death of eating potatoes this fall. 🙂 I can’t wait!!

We also picked up free wood mulch from our little city and used it to mulch the paths between the potatoes as well as form a border all the way around my garden. Last year I had a hard time with weeds around the edge of my garden and my smart husband suggested a mulch barrier this year!

He was a little miffed that my post last week on the Top 5 Garden Must Haves didn’t mention a husband with a strong work ethic, a tractor, and a dump trailer. Sorry, honey. He is definitely at the top of my Must Have list! I highly recommend a helpful husband for successful gardening. 🙂

My helpful hubby also drove all the support stakes for my tomatoes. I’m glad that delightful task is done, and I think my stake garden looks pretty funny. Hopefully my tomatoes will survive.

Some of them are looking pretty sad. Clearly, I need more water and more mulch!

We also mulched all of my fruit trees with a HUGE mound of mulch, being careful to pull the mulch away from the tree trunk. This is the pear tree my husband clipped with the tractor earlier in the spring. It’s still alive. We’ll see how it fares this year. It did flower, surprise of surprises!

My gutter salad garden is growing nicely back at our house! It won’t be too much longer before I have lettuce to pick and eat. Yummy!

Check out my gorgeous spinach!

And this is my mesclun mix. I’m thrilled with my gutter salad garden. If you’re curious about it, you can read more about the gutter garden here.

Back at the barn, we also planted a herb garden next to the garden shed we moved out to our property last year. I transplanted a huge sage plant from the middle of my garden last fall and it is beautiful! We also added lavender, cilantro, oregano, rosemary, and parsley. I’m planting basil in my main garden area next to the tomatoes.

In other news, my kids found this nest with robin eggs underneath the bridge that leads up to our barn mow! Two of the eggs have hatched and you can just see the little baby bird fluff there! I didn’t have the right lens with me to photograph this nest, but we’ll take it out later today and see what we see. Luckily for the baby birds, the nest is hard to get to which means they may be safe from my curious and well meaning, but awfully hard on baby birds, kids.

I also DID manage to get the strawberry and asparagus beds cleaned out last week. All in all, it was a very good week for us.

Gardening Goals for This Week

• Mowing our property
• Mulching the strawberries and asparagus
• Planting seeds as the ground warms up
• Continuing to weed
• Applying more mulch around my garden paths to discourage weeds

More Gardening Tips You’ll Love

• Hot Weather Summer Gardening Tips to Help Your Garden Thrive
• Grow Up This Year with Vertical Garden Planters: Ideas, Tips, & Tricks
• Simple and Effective Vegetable Gardening Tips for Beginners
• How to Start Seeds Indoors to Save Sanity, Time, & Money