Arctic Gardens: Getting ready to go outside

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - At this point in the season, seedlings are getting pretty big and they’re almost ready to go into the garden, but you can’t put them directly outside. They need to be hardened off, which is a process that helps make your plant stronger and more durable.

“Hardening off is really just slowly acclimating the plant to what it’s like, because the even the grow lights that folks have inside their homes or at most nurseries, are not as strong as the sun is here at beginning in the spring,” said Larissa Wright-Elson, the network connector for the local nonprofit Anchor Garden. “The sun is the biggest effect that we see on young plants, and that plants get sunburned.”

With less than two weeks before Southcentral typically plants on Memorial Day weekend, while the Interior typically plants June 1, now is the time to start preparing your delicate seedlings for the world outside. Hardening off your plants isn’t difficult, but it can be tedious.

Start by placing your plants outside on an overcast day or in a shady spot for a few hours, then bring them back inside. The next day, repeat the process, expanding the time by a few hours each day. This exposes your plant to the sun and wind, which toughens the leaves and stalks. Do this for a least four days before planting outside.

If you plant outside without hardening off your plants, it can be a bit of a shock.

“It can stunt their growth because they’ll just be in shock, just like, you know, when you’re new to Alaska and you go outside for, you know, a long time in the winter and it takes you a while to recover when you come back inside. It’s that same kind of idea,” Wright-Elson said.

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