Planting out vegetable seedlings

As spring progresses, I start planting out the seedlings that have been raised indoors over the past few weeks.  Warmer and lighter soil means plants no longer need to be filling windowsills and shelves, but they can start filling the allotment instead...

Over the past couple of months, I've sown seeds indoors, and then hardened them off using a coldframe:

See also: Start growing your own by sowing seeds

See also: Hardening off vegetable seedlings before planting outside

When to plant out seedlings

Now, finally after what can seem an interminable wait, the weather has warmed up and the soil is no longer cold to the touch. It's less heavy and sticky to dig. It's time to start planting out the seedlings that have been waiting patiently for this moment.

I head for the allotment carrying ice cream tubs full of toilet roll tubes, each one containing a bean or pea plant.

Broad (fava) bean seedlings in toilet roll tubes ready to plant out

Using toilet roll tubes is great because they'll rot down in the ground, so can be planted as they are. Seedlings grown in pots are carefully removed and planted. 

Seedlings in loo roll tubes can be planted in the tube, which will rot down 

Planting seedlings

I made a small hole for each, popped them in, firmed the soil around them and watered them. In the case of climbing peas and beans, I planted them next to a stick or cane that has been inserted in the ground. 

Peas and longpod broad bean varieties need sticks for support

See also: Easy ways to support climbing beans and peas

It also helps to use smaller twigs to give the peas and beans a bit of support when they are small, until they reach the main support framework I've got for them.

Twigs will support young peas

The ones I've used have come from around the plot, either fallen from trees over winter, or the thinner bits of the branches that were taken down from an old tree by a tree surgeon. As long as they have lots of sticky out bits for the tendrils of the peas to cling to, up to about 18 inches (45cm) tall in total, they'll do the job.

Succession sowing for regular harvests

These are the first batches of seedlings to be planted out. There are others that were sown later still waiting in the coldframe, and further batches only recently sown indoors. Each will get planted in turn, after sufficient time hardening off.

Having these different batches should stagger the harvest a bit and enable me to pick broad (fava) beans for quite a while with a bit of luck.

I've also sown some spinach, lettuce and beetroot in modules, and I'll plant these out in the same way when they are large enough.

How to stop blackfly attacking broad beans

Broad beans are prone to attacks by blackfly, and the way to prevent it is apparently to pinch out the tops of the plants, so I did that to all the ones I've planted so far, though the advice I've read before was to do it when the first pods start to form.

  

Pinch out the top of broad beans to stop blackfly

I just gently prized apart the leaves at the top, to get at the budding growth in the centre, and carefully pinched it off, leaving surrounding leaves in tact. This should also have the effect of making the plant grow bushier, and produce more stems on which flowers, and therefore beans, can develop.

If you know how it also keeps the blackfly from causing problems, I'd love to know, so please use the comments box below to share your wisdom!  

Broad bean seedlings after planting

My potatoes have also been planted in their bags, but it's still too early to plant less hardy veg like french beans or courgettes. They need to remain under cover for a while yet, just in case there's a frost later, but I'll be sowing them soon. 

Planting potatoes in a bag

I will also soon be able to sow some crops direct into the ground, like carrots, parsnips and beetroot.

Whatever you're planting out this week, happy growing!

Paul

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