This is part six of a six-part series on seed starting. Part one can be read here. Part two is here. Part three is here. Part four is here. Part five is here.

While the forecast calls for a brief return to a wintery chill the next few days, the calendar is progressing headlong into spring, and the earliest daffodils–along with the just-unfurling green buds on the dreaded and omnipresent multiflora rose–are here. Soon, the earth will warm, and your seedlings will eagerly sink their bound roots into the big, living universe of your own garden’s soil.

TRANSPLANTING
Transplanting is an intuitive and extremely satisfying garden activity. Before transplanting, your bed is empty and shapeless; after transplanting, your garden comes alive with the rhythm and structure created by the rows, grids, circles, and freeform shapes your new transplants trace.

Most of us began our garden journey with an act of transplanting, usually a few tomato or basil or lettuce seedlings purchased from a garden center. And while transplanting is quite straightforward, there are definitely some things to keep in mind for the best results. Here are five thoughts.

1. Only transplant properly hardened off seedlings. Hardening off seedlings–the process of gradually exposing them to longer and longer periods of unprotected, outdoor conditions (starting with about two hours per day, working up to ten or twelve over several days)–is essential to ensure the survival of seedlings grown indoors. There’s no room for fudging here–especially with warm-weather crops such as peppers, eggplants, melons, and tomatoes. If you grew it indoors, it must adjust gradually to outdoor conditions. If you raise your seedlings in a cold frame, full hardening off is not necessary–just set your trays outside your cold frame for a day before transplanting.
2. Transplant only on cloudy days or on late afternoons of sunny days. The act of transplanting is, by nature, stressful on the seedling. Bright, hot sun and dessicating winds amplify the shock: the poor seedling spends its limited resources in a struggle for water and purchase in the soil, rather than just settling in. Young seedlings are much happier when they are given a cool, moist, dark breather before facing their first day in a whole new environment.
3. Prepare your bed thoroughly first. Incorporate compost and soil amendments before transplanting. It’s best if the seedling can have at least a few days without much disturbance to its root system. It also needs a good, fertile environment in which to sink its roots, and few weeds to out-compete it. Work to provide these conditions before putting the seedling in the ground. Even if the seedling is getting root-bound, even if the calendar says its time to transplant, wait: the work of correcting poorly prepared soil is far more painful than exerting a little patience beforehand.
4. Transplant gently. Once all the above conditions have been met, cut into the surface of your soil with a trowel or hand-held hoe to create a space for your seedling. Eject your seedling carefully from its container, and then set it into the space you’ve made. Except for tomatoes, nearly all vegetables should be transplanted so that the level of the soil surrounding the seedling is even with the level of the garden soil (tomatoes can be sunk more deeply–all the little hairs on the stem grow into roots). With your hands, push the surrounding soil towards the seedling to “seal it in”; pat the soil down so that the seedling is held in place firmly, as vertically as you can get it. Water in with a gentle setting on your hose (longer than you think–be sure that you do more than just a surface watering), and you’re done!
5. Consider the cutworm. If you’re gardening a new plot–and often if you’re not–you may face the dreaded cutworm, a small crawly creature that loves to fell young seedlings. It does its thing by forming a circle fully around the stem of a seedling and then chomping down. You’ll instantly recognize the damage–it really does look like a felled tree. It mainly affects tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, but it occasionally visits the stemmy bottoms of brassicas, too. To prevent this heartbreaker from ruining your day, put two toothpicks alongside and touching the stems of your transplants, one on each side of the stem. Do this at transplant time. The cutworm won’t be able to fully encircle the seedling and will give up. (Rarely do cutworms venture higher than the height of an average toothpick.)

That’s pretty much it! A few days after transplanting, your seedling should be well rooted, and cultivation with a hoe can take place.

TROUBLESHOOTING

Growing a garden is an invitation for trouble: thousands of other beings–from deer and woodchucks to bacteria and fungi–will be eyeing your vegetables just as hungrily as you are. While a good fence will keep the larger foes from your crops, the smaller ones are usually held at bay by the plant’s own defense systems. The key is providing the conditions that allow the plant to be as strong and resilient as possible.