Last time, we started our cultivation – with recycled materials, organic seeds, and nutrient-poor potting soil. Now the long waiting and watering has begun. Because light and water are now the two most important things for your cultivation nursery.

Pricking Out and Repotting Tomatoes, Cucumbers, and Other Vegetables

Some plants, such as tomatoes, are pruned when they are large enough. In this case, large enough means they have formed the first pair of true leaves above the cotyledons. The young plants are then carefully separated. The best way to do this is with an ice cream scoop or spatula, which will gently loosen the delicate roots from the soil. Also, touch the plants only by the leaves to avoid crushing the stem. Then place them in individual pots at least as deep as the base of the cotyledons. You can also remove the cotyledons and plant even deeper.

When it comes to cucumbers, melons, and similar plants, you may need to intervene earlier to prevent the plants from getting too crowded in the cultivation tray and the roots from getting entangled in an inextricable macramé… Because sometimes (like this year for me) the seeds sprout much better than expected…

         Recycling Tip for Repotting 

For the new pots, it’s best to simply use plant and flower pots (about 8 to 12 cm (3 to 4 inches)) from previous years. If this is your first gardening season, ask your family, friends or neighbors for help. Especially if they have a lot of plants or a garden themselves, they are sure to have plenty of pots of the right size lying around.

Other seedlings should also be transplanted to new containers after sprouting and the formation of the first true leaves. They will need more space for their roots and more nutrients for the next stage of growth. This means it is time to use vegetable or potting soil instead of the nutrient-poorer growing soil. Then it’s back to waiting, watering, and watching them grow.

When can I Plant Tomatoes, Chilies, and Co. in the field?

In April and May it can still get quite cold at night. This is not good for your seedlings. Therefore, frost-sensitive plants such as tomatoes should not be planted in the ground until after the so-called “frost saints” in mid-May. You can and should use the time and warm days before to acclimate your seedlings to the sun, wind, and outside temperatures. To do this, place the young plants outside when the weather is good and gradually increase the time. Be careful not to put them in the blazing midday sun. Plants can get sunburned too ;). Eventually, you will be able to leave them outside all day and even at night during mild periods.

After the Ice Saints, the real work begins: your plants can be moved to their final location. I have a few containers (for cucumbers and peppers), window boxes (for herbs and flowers), and a raised bed for tomatoes and direct seeding lettuce, spinach, radishes, and whatever else I feel like. The gardening season (or balcony season or windowsill gardening season) has begun.

And at the End of the Season?

I have another tip for keeping your seeds safe and sorted over the winter: the insides of Kinder eggs and egg cartons. By the way, my Kinder egg capsules came from a food-saving campaign. They would have been thrown away along with the Kinder egg chocolate. If you don’t have the opportunity to get the capsules this way, why not pass the task on to your family? Alternatively, you can keep the original seed bags, fill them with the (dried!) seeds, and close the top by folding it over twice and securing it with a paper clip. Then everything goes neatly into a box and waits for the next cultivation 😉