hi everyone welcome back to the Fall
Garden Series
we're in the middle of a record-breaking
heat wave here in Southern California
so it doesn't feel too much like fall
but i know the weather is cooling off in
a lot of the parts of the country
and we've got our fall garden seedling
started these have been growing inside
under grow lights for a couple of weeks
and i've been getting a lot of questions
on how to water and fertilize
your seedlings so that's we're going to
cover in today's video now watering is
by far
the area where most gardeners get
tripped up if you water too little
your plans die but if you over love and
water your plants too much
it's not good for them either so that's
exactly what we're going to cover today
if you've never grown a fall garden
before
now is a great time to do it a fall
garden is growing cool other vegetables
that grow best
in temperatures under 75 degrees so go
back and watch the series from the
beginning so you know exactly what to do
to get your fall garden started don't
stop planting veggies just because
summer is over
well watering your seedlings really
depends on a couple of different
variables
number one the temperature if you're
growing them in a warm location the soil
is going to dry out a whole lot quicker
if you're growing them in a cooler
location you're not going to need to
water as often
the second variable that trips people up
when trying to figure out how to water
is the type of soil that it's growing in
for example
i have some dill seedlings growing here
in little seed cells
with potting mix but we're also growing
some peas right over here
in peat pellets so depending on the
medium in which you're growing
your seedlings in they could dry out
quicker or dry out a lot less often
but no worries there are a couple of
clues two clues that you can look for
so you know exactly how to water and to
fertilize your seedlings
now why is watering and fertilizing your
seedlings so important
because watering is the key to a
productive garden you want to water
and feed them the appropriate amounts so
they get off to a good start
so you can grow a lot of vegetables the
most important thing you can do
to tell if your seedlings need water is
to check them daily
and the very first clue to look for is
the color of the soil
so let me just show you what i mean here
here we've got some peas some sugar snap
peas from the Fall Farden Seed
collection growing in peat pellets
see how that soil is light brown that is
definitely a clue that they need
watering
now let me just compare them here to the
soil that's
right here in these peat pellets these i
just watered yesterday
see how it's a darker brown color that
means that there's lots of water content
in the soil
so these peat pellets definitely need
water the second clue that tells you if
your seedlings need water
is the weight of the container that
they're in now here we've got
some kohlrabi from the Fall Garden Seed
collection
so so pretty guys i cannot wait to eat
this kohlrabi
but not only is the soil a light brown
which is my first clue
but it's also very light in weight which
means there's
not a lot of water content in the soil
now just to compare
i'm going to show you the red express
cabbage these seedlings are so so pretty
i started these about a month ago
they're going to be ready to transplant
out in the garden as long as the weather
cools off soon
but not only can you see that the soil
is a darker brown color
but the container is much heavier which
means it has a lot more water content so
it's a little bit of trial and error as
you
water your seedlings and practice you're
going to be a pro
you'll be able to tell when your
containers are a little bit lighter and
when they need watering
so today we're going to water and
fertilize all in one step
now when to start fertilizing your
little baby seedlings
well you want to start fertilizing your
seedlings when they have their first or
second set of true leaves and let me
just explain what i mean by true leaves
when a seedling first germinates it has
little tiny baby leaves
so you can see here on this kohlrabi
there's these little baby leaves that
don't really look like a true kohlrabi
plant
but you can tell that as the plant
starts to grow and develop
there's a second set of leaves that
looks more like a kohlrabi leave or more
like the vegetable that you're growing
and i'll show you here over on the dill
plant i love the little baby seedlings i
think they're so
cute you can see these little leaves
here are the baby leaves
and now it's developing a little dill
leaf which are called the true leaves or
the adult leaves so when your little
baby seedlings get one
or two sets of your adult true leaves
that's the stage when you want to start
fertilizing because at that point
your seedlings need some extra food to
grow nice and healthy
so you can get them planted out in the
garden in about a month now when you're
fertilizing young seedlings
whether you're growing them from seed
indoors or whether you're planting
outdoors in containers like we did last
week
easy does it is the key on the
fertilizer you want to do
half to quarter strength of anything you
put on your small seedlings
until you get them transplanted out in
the garden so we're going to fertilize
with a couple of different things today
we're going to use the vermistera worm
tea
which i really like because it gives
slow and steady growth to your plants
really helps with root development and
it gives it that beneficial bacteria
and microbes which really help your
seedlings be healthy
the normal dose would be four ounces per
gallon i've got a two gallon watering
container here
so i'm going to put four ounces per two
gallons and i've been doing this long
enough
i know about what it is i'm just going
to eyeball it
i'm also going to feed my plants with
some good dirt plant food which is
higher in nitrogen
so it gives your plants that good leafy
growth normal dose is four pumps per
gallon
so i'm gonna do four pumps per two
gallons
so it's half a dose here
give it a little stir another question i
get asked a lot is how do i water my
seedlings
well you want to water at the base of
your plants it's a much healthier way to
water you're not splashing water on your
plants
then you're not disturbing the young
seedlings as they grow so i'm just going
to pour
my water into the bottom of the tray
here and then the plants
because they have holes in the bottom of
these seed cells will wick the water up
and that way you're not disturbing your
young seedlings and splashing water all
over them as well
and promoting disease and possibly mold
growth on your soil
so just fill my tray up then after 10 or
15 minutes
the water or the soil will become a
darker brown color
and then you want to pour off the extra
water you don't want your plants sitting
in water all day because again that can
encourage disease as well
now the peat pellets are always fun to
water
for the water in the bottom of the tray
as the pellets get moist
you see them turn a darker brown color
as it moves up to the top
so while we're waiting for the water to
soak up in the little seedlings that we
started indoors i want to show you the
progress of the rest of our fall garden
that we planted last week out in the
smart pots so here we have our radishes
and the purple CaliKim Smart Pots
already busting through the soil even
though it's been so hot here this week
so it's always fun to see these
breakthrough these are the triton purple
stem radishes
from the fall garden seed collection you
can see the little purple stem right
here
and watering your containers you can see
how there's a lighter
brown area this means that the top of
the soil is starting to dry out
so because it's been so hot here lately
i am actually going to sprinkle this
with water from my watering can
and when you're watering your containers
you just want to water until the soil
drains out the bottom of the container
but especially in the heat
you want to keep them nice and moist and
i'll be replanting these as the weather
cools off because when radishes
get hot they produce a lot of leaves but
don't produce
a lot of bulbs so we'll definitely be
eating the leaves off of these
and then planting again for the bulbs as
the weather gets cooler
in the first video on the Fall Garden
Series we planted arugula and mustard
greens and they're already growing like
crazy
these are both from the Fall Garden Seed
Collection fall is a great time to grow
your greens so definitely get some of
your greens planted
now last week we also planted some red
core
chanting carrots they're already
germinating these germinated so so
quickly
isn't that fun you see the little baby
carrots coming up i'll be coming back
and doing another video
as these grow we're going to be thinning
them out we've had them covered with our
shade cloth all week to keep the
moisture in
because carrots definitely need moisture
to germinate so go back and watch
last week's video for exactly how to get
your carrot seeds planted
so make sure you get your fall garden
seeds planted now here's some i just
planted a month ago so in a month
you could be having some seedlings that
look like this they're ready to get
planted out in the garden
here's some beautiful feathery dill a
nice cool weather vegetable
the red acre cabbage these are the ruby
queen beets from the Fall Garden Seed
Collection
are these absolutely beautiful and the
greens are
so so delicious beets are another
vegetable that when it's hot you'll get
more greens
once it cools down you'll get the beets
and here's the lettuce that we planted
right here in the Smart Pots on last
week's video already busting through the
soil
remember lettuce needs light to
germinate so all you have to do is
sprinkle the seeds in
press them down and here we are just a
few days later
and they are already popping up oh i
cannot wait to taste that fresh lettuce
again
and right here in the berry blue smart
pots the sugar and sugar snap peas we
planted last week
are already busting through the soil
this is just so much fun to plant these
fall garden seeds
see them break through and know that
we're going to be eating some fresh
tasty fall vegetables
in about a month to six weeks now let's
check on our seedlings that we're
watering to see how they're coming along
you can see the pellets here are a
darker brown color
the soil at the top is a dark brown
color they're much heavier in weight
than they were before
so i'm going to go ahead and pour off
the water that's not soaked up
just go ahead and pour it into my little
tomato planter here
i'll get a nice little dose of water and
fertilizer as well
then our seedlings and our little seed
cells same thing
the top of the soil is a dark brown
color which indicates they've soaked up
enough water
so we're going to go ahead and pour off
the excess
just going to dump them over here on my
flowers
if you're doing this indoors you could
dump it into a pitcher and then use that
water to water some other plants
well now that you know the two clues to
look for in watering your seedlings
the color of the top of the soil and the
weight of the container that the
seedlings are growing in
you're going to know what to look for to
effectively water and fertilize your
garden
in fact watering your garden is such an
important topic
that i dedicated an entire chapter to it
in my book Organic Gardening for Everyone
what we covered today is in chapter six
watering the key to a productive garden
so if you haven't yet got your fall
garden started it's not too late
grab one of my Fall Garden Book Seed
Bundles you can save five dollars when
you purchase them together over at
calikimgardenhome.com
got 14 varieties of cool weather
vegetables that will get you growing
your fall garden in no time
let me know what you're growing in your
fall garden and how things are going for
you
thanks so much for watching we'll see on
the next video
