Year-Round Hoophouse Vegetables slide show, and the decision between transplanting and direct sowing

I’ve feeding in a flurry of slideshows I’ve been presenting at conferences this winter. You’ll notice a lot of them have a hoophouse theme, although not all. Here’s one from the four hour course I gave at the Virginia Association for Biological Farming conference.

To view the slideshow full screen, click the diagonal arrow icon. You can then hop, skip and jump through it, choosing the bits you are interested in.

My other main topic this week is choosing when to transplant and when to direct sow. I am a big fan of transplanting, so I’ll start with that.

Advantages of transplanting:

• You can start earlier in the year than you can outside, and so get earlier harvests
• By starting seed in more ideal conditions in a greenhouse, (or on a kitchen windowsill), you’ll get better growth, more satisfaction!
• It is easier to care for new seedlings indoors – major weather events stay outdoors!
• You can fit more crops into each bed throughout the season, because each crop is occupying the bed for less time than if direct-sown.
• Transplanting. can help you grow more successions of summer crops, as each one needs less time in the garden or field. This helps you always have good quality fresh produce for harvest.
• If you don’t want or need to plant more food crops, you can use those time windows for quick cover crops, such as buckwheat in warm weather, mustards in cold weather.
• You will save on seed costs, because you’ll be sowing and spotting or potting up, then transplanting, not sowing long rows and thinning most of the plants out.
• Using transplants fits (better than direct sowing does) with using plastic (or paper) mulches, which can help with weed control and soil warming (or cooling).
• Using transplants fits well with no-till cover crops. Mow or roll-and-crimp the cover crops, transplant into it, and the dead mulch keeps the weeds away for 6-8 weeks in our climate, longer in cooler and drier climates.
• Transplanting works well for crops where you want several varieties, such as tomatoes and peppers.

  

• You have more flexibility if the weather turns bad, for example if spring is cold and/or wet. You can delay transplanting. Your plants still grow, provided the roots have enough space. If you know they won’t, you can pot them up to provide more root space.
• At transplanting time, you can select the sturdiest plants, and compost the rest, meaning you have the best chance of good yields.

Disadvantages of transplanting:

• If you extend the season and start earlier, you will have more work. . .
• You’ll need to spend extra time caring for the starts indoors, as they won’t get water if you don’t provide it.
• Transplant shock can delay harvest, so be sure to learn and practice good techniques
• More attention is needed to watering new plants after transplanting, (compared to direct seedling) as some root damage is almost inevitable. (Plug flats and soil blocks minimize root damage)
• If you don’t have a good irrigation system or water supply, growing many transplants will be a challenge.
• Likewise you do need a good greenhouse set-up to grow many transplants.

Advantages of direct seeding:

• See the disadvantages of transplanting.
• Direct seeding is less work than transplanting. Put the seed in the ground, water as needed and stand back!
• You do not need a greenhouse or special transplanting equipment
• Compared to buying starts, direct sowing has lower costs
• Direct sown crops have better drought tolerance – the roots grow without damage
• Some crops just don’t transplant easily: melons which have fragile stems and roots for instance, or carrots which get distorted roots if transplanted.
• Some crops have millions of plants and you couldn’t possibly transplant enough:  (Carrots)

  

Disadvantages of direct sowing:

• See the advantages of transplanting.
• Direct sowing uses more seed than transplanting.
• Direct sowing requires more time thinning
• Direct sown crops occupy the land longer than the same crop transplanted.
• Some direct-sown crops may be harder to get started in cold (or hot) conditions.

There are probably others, do let me know!

For those wanting to sow large-seeded crops through plastic mulch, see below for how we planted beans.