How to transplant Green Beans from the Burpee Greenhouse to a pot

Burpee Greenhouse Part 1 | Burpee Greenhouse Update

Here are the Seedlings, all ready for transplanting.

Jiffy Greenhouse on the bottom right, Burpee Greenhouse on the top right.

Go here for how to transplant from a Jiffy Greenhouse.

Here we have an up close view of the Green Beans.

The directions says to use a tool to help remove the root ball from the Greenhouse.

I'm using a disposable tongue depressor.

They're cheap, biodegradable, and have many uses in the garden: seedling plant stakes, digging holes for seeds, writing names on them, etc.

As you can see, I'm gently separating the root ball from the Greenhouse cell.

I'm going to reach under the cell and push up on it to loosen the bottom of the root ball, and if it works right, it will pop out of its holder and into my hand.

Remember, be careful and gentle and move slowly. The seedlings are fragile.

If all goes well, you should end up with a green bean with a root ball that looks similar to this.

If you don't see roots wrapped around the plant, you may need to wait longer before transplanting. Try to put it back in the cell if you can.

Otherwise, move on to then next step.

While supporting the plant in one hand, use your fingernails to gently separate the root strands.

Try not to break any, just detangle them from the root ball as seen here.

Some people say to pick apart every bit of root ball, but I'd just get the biggest roots apart just to give the plant room to grow.

I've killed seedlings trying to pick all the roots apart.

Next, prepare the pot. I'm using peat moss I picked up from Home Depot mixed with a little bit of the garden soil.

I'm not transplanting these into the garden just yet. These pictures were taken in mid-March, it was much too cold still.

It's April now, and I'm still waiting a few weeks before transplanting to the garden.

Dig the hold just wider than the root ball, and deep enough so the roots you detangled can spread out.

Then, with both hands, gently place the seedling into the pot.

It's much easier to do this if the soil is damp already.

Not only is it easier to plant, you can tell how much soil you need in the pot if it's compressed down a bit.

And there you have it: transplanted green beans.

I'm leaving these guys inside under lights mostly still, but if the weather is good they are outside in the part sun/shade to get used to the outdoors.

In a few more weeks, they'll go outside to the garden.

How to Build Garden Stakes from Bamboo

This is as cheap and easy as plant stakes get. They're homegrown, won't rust like metal stakes, and bamboo actually lasts a few years out in the elements.

The plant on the right is in a huge pot (don't plant it in the ground unless you want a bamboo forest all over your yard) that allows it to grow 8-10 ft. stalks.


The plant is about 12 years old. Regular trimming helps keep it healthy. It needs fertilizer once a month during the spring/summer.

It also needs quite a bit of water during the summer. 



Depending on the heat (in Georgia it gets to the 100s) it may need water 2-3 times per week.


Or more. I usually let the hose trickle slowly on the plant for 15min to saturate the roots fully.

To make stakes, I trimmed two stalks off with rose clippers. I only need a 6ft stake for the peas I'm planting.


You can measure the stalk if you want, but I just eyeball the height I want and cut it off where the bamboo becomes too narrow to use as a stake.


I also use these stakes for tomatoes and other vegetables. I'll also use them to hold up my bird block fence.

There. All trimmed and ready to use in the garden. I just used the rose clippers to trim off the leaves as close to the stalk as possible.

The leaves will compost, but the twigs will take a long time to break down if they're thick.


Sometimes, I like to leave a little edge of stem to give the plants something to hang on to as they climb the bamboo.



For example, the pea plants will like to climb up it.

I used garden twine to tie three bamboo stakes together.

Then, I sunk each stake about 6-12in. deep in the soil.


Then, the pea plants were planted. 

I use these bamboo stakes for everything that climbs in the garden. 

You can make a trellis out of it for cucumber, or use it to make a bird block fence.

Transplanting Seedlings to the Garden from a Jiffy Greenhouse

Well, most of the Seedlings are Transplanted today...

Jiffy Greenhouse Part 1 | Jiffy Greenhouse Update

About a month after planting my Jiffy Greenhouse, the seedlings mostly look like this:

The peas have just about outgrown their little peat pot, so it's time to kick them outside into the garden.


For the last week, I've moved the greenhouse outside into the part shade to let the peas get used to the sun.


In the foreground, you can see the peat with nothing growing in it from where the mold killed off the seeds/seedlings.


The two green beans that lived are going to be my little experiment to see if the temperatures are right for the other green beans.




I'm not expecting success in this, (the nights are still below freezing) but it's worth it, for science.

Here's the garden bed I'm using. It is mostly composted horse manure mixed with peat moss and north Georgia dirt, surrounded by wood timbers.


Grass does manage to grow around it in the summer. The fence does a dual job of keeping the dog in the yard and the deer out.


Squirrels and chimpunks, not so much. That's what bird block is for.

Here you can see the peas outside of the greenhouse and in the garden.


According to the box, they don't need to be removed from the peat pods, just plunked down into the dirt with a bit of the top sticking out of the soil.





I placed each plant roughly where I'm going to place the bamboo poles that will help hold them up.



This is as cheap and easy as plant stakes get. They're homegrown, won't rust, and bamboo actually lasts a few years as a plant stake.

The plant on the right is in a huge pot (don't plant it in the ground unless you want a bamboo forest all over your yard) that allows it to grow 8-10 ft. stalks.


The plant is about 12 years old. Regular trimming helps keep it healthy. It needs fertilizer once a month during the spring/summer.

I trimmed two stalks off with rose clippers. I only need a 6ft stake.


You can measure the stalk if you want, but I just eyeball the height I want and cut it off where the bamboo becomes too narrow to use as a stake.


I also use these stakes for tomatoes and other vegetables. I'll also use them to hold up my bird block fence.

There. All trimmed and ready to use in the garden. I just used the rose clippers to trim off the leaves as close to the stalk as possible.

Sometimes, I like to leave a little edge of stem to give the plants something to hang on to as they climb the bamboo.

For example, the pea plants will like to climb up it.

I used garden twine to tie three bamboo stakes together.

Then, I sunk each stake about 6-12in. deep in the soil.

The pea plants went in next.

I followed the directions on the Jiffy box and left a little lip of the peat pod sticking out of the soil.

Now we'll see if they'll grow.

In a week or two, I'll use garden twine to tie the pea plants to the stakes loosely to help them climb it. I may add mesh to the stakes to help them climb upwards as well.

You can barely see it, but this is what the bird block fence looks like.

I used bamboo poles and garden twine to tie a fence around the garden.

The bird block can be reused for a few years before it disintegrates.

I'm using this temporary fence instead of a wire fence because in a few months, I'll change out the plants for the summer cucumbers and tomatoes.

I use marigolds to keep animals away. They work quite well. I also need the room to walk around the garden, and it's annoying to move the fence every 5 minutes.

Growing Vegetables from Seed Part 4

Part 1: Jiffy Greenhouse | Part 2: Burpee Greenhouse | Part 3: Jiffy Greenhouse Update

This is the kit I started with. See the links above for how to start seeds in it.


So far I've had better luck with this kit.




Unlike the Jiffy Greenhouse, 90% of the plants sprouted in ten days, just like their seed packet said.

The kale and brussels sprouts appeared in 5 days.

Left to right: brussels sprouts, kale, beets, peas, green beans. Looks like almost all the cells have sprouts in them.

Here's an "aerial view" of the seedlings.


As you can see, the cells on the left have not sprouted - the San Marzano tomatoes.




They may be taking longer because of the soil temperature. I'll give them a few more days (or another week) before I break down and get a heater mat.

I put this closeup here because it's so nice to actually see the green beans sprouting!

Between the mold on the Jiffy Greenhouse and the seeds that disintegrated instead of sprouting, I like seeing the plants actually growing.

I took this picture a few hours after the one above and the green beans had visibly grown in that time.

One week later, all the seedlings have sprouted.

I'll give them another week and then the cold weather plants (peas, kale) are going outside to the garden.

The green beans will be transplanted. I'll leave the others (tomatoes, beets, brussels sprouts) for another few weeks in the kit.

I decided to buy another greenhouse so I could start a mesclun mix of greens and spinach. They mostly sprouted up.

The mesclun mix seeds were so small I ended up putting a handful into each cell, so 6-7 sprouted instead of 2-3.

I did have to re-seed a few cells for some reason. Maybe I forgot to put seeds in them?

These guys will also go outside next week with the peas and kale.

Growing Vegetables from Seed Part 3

Part 1 | Part 2




After 3 weeks, I had mixed results. The columbines were predictably not up yet (they can take up to 4 weeks to sprout), most of the peas sprouted, but only 2 green beans spouted.


The rest got covered in white mold.


 
I cleaned out the unsprouted pellets as best I could of the mold and tried again with new green beans and new peas in the pellets that hadn't grown.




Now, I had only watered the pellets once by this point as per the instructions. 

Only when the pellet is a light brown do they need watering. 

 
 I followed the directions to the letter and still it grew mold. Pretty disappointing.

I decided to keep hope alive for the columbines though.  Surely they wouldn't turn out to be a dud like the green beans.  But still... one month germination period? That's a pretty long time.

However, one week later, I had columbines! They are the tiny seedlings on the left of the tray.

 I saw no new sprouts in the green bean or pea section, so I gave it up as a lost cause.


The Burpee Greenhouse grew plenty more peas and green beans, I can use them.

Here's a closeup of the sprouts.

Columbines on the left, marigolds on the right.

The weather is still a bit cold, so I'm waiting another week to transplant, outside.




There will be more light on the garden then.

The roots are coming out of the pellets and visiting the other plants next to them, so hopefully the roots won't be a tangled mess in another week.
 
The plants are still growing, so at least I'm doing something right here.

Growing Vegetables from Seedlings Part 2

Storebought Greenhouse Experiment: Jiffy vs. Burpee Greenhouse Kits
Part 2: Burpee Seed Starting 72 Cell Greenhouse Kit

Previously on Winter Seed Starting, I made a fluorescent light hanger and started a flat of spring vegetables with a Jiffy Greenhouse Kit.

Being new to vegetable gardening from seed, I'm testing out two types of indoor greenhouse kits. This article is about the Burpee Greenhouse Kit.

72 slots for seedlings may seem like a lot, but my garden will eat it up.
I'll probably need 3-4 of these kits to fill up the entire space.

The greenhouse parts include:

(L-R)Plastic clear dome, 2 trays of plant cells (72 total), 72 "Burpee Super Growing Pellets" (inside trays), 1 growing tray, with 2 "plant-o-grams" inside that.

The "plant-o-grams" I assume are the paper inserts and basically I thought they were useless so I tossed them.

I use throwaway wood tongue depressors to write my plant names on. If you use a sharpie, they can get wet without the ink running. The paper will just get wet and indecipherable. The wood will last much longer.

The instructions are simple enough. The greenhouse includes the soil you need and a tray to keep it in. You provide seeds, water, and light.

The most important step in putting together the greenhouse is arranging the pellets.

They must be flat-side down in the cell or the pellet won't expand properly. It will make a mess instead.

See the picture on the left as an example of what to do.

Top left of this picture I tried to show how much water to add.



The pellet absorbs the water fast, but you should only need to fill 3/4 of the cell to fully expand the pellet.

Even if you carefully add water, the pellets won't expand evenly.



You can see on the picture above that the peat moss will get everywhere if you're not careful.

After all the pellets have expanded, use a tool like a plastic spoon or tongue depressor to spread out the peat moss in each cell.

Once all the peat moss is spread out, time to pick out your seeds of choice.

Clockwise from top left: Brussel Sprouts, San Marzano Tomatoes, Beets, Peas, Green Beans, Kale.

I placed 1-3 seeds on each cell, on top of the peat moss where I could see it clearly. I wanted to make sure I actually put seeds on every cell.



After that, I followed the directions on each seed packet for how deep to plant the seeds.

The peas and green beans need to be planted at 2 in, which barely fit in the peat moss. We'll see if they come up right.

After burying all the seeds, sprinkle carefully with some more water to dampen it.

You don't want to accidentally drench the seeds and wash them out of the cells!

Then place the plastic dome on top and place outside of direct sunlight in a warm area. I have mine under a fluorescent light.



Part 3: Jiffy Greenhouse Update

How to Start Seedlings Indoors

Storebought Greenhouse Experiment: Jiffy vs. Burpee Greenhouse Kits
Part 1: Jiffy Professional Greenhouse 72 Cell System

This year, I wanted to start my seedlings indoors to get a head start on the growing season. Most of the vegetable and flowers I'm growing need to grow for 6-8 weeks before transplanting.
Here in Georgia, starting seeds in January is perfectly viable. I've already made a fluorescent light hanger so all I need are seeds to start.

Between my vegetable garden and all the flowerpots, I'll need a few hundred seedlings. I bought two brands of greenhouse kits to try out: the Burpee 72 Cell Greenhouse Kit and the Jiffy Professional Greenhouse 72 Cell Kit.


I'm starting with the latter.

What I liked about this are the peat pellets. You can buy more pellets and reuse the plastic bits over and over. So that could come in handy.

Step One: Pour 10 1/2 c. warm water evenly over the pellets.

Step Two: The pellets are 1 - 1 1/2 in. long when fully expanded, pour off any excess water after pellets have finished expanding.

Step Three: Pull back netting on top of pellets. Fluff and level the top.

 

Step Four: Sow 2-3 seeds per pellet, following the directions on the seed packet.


I sowed peas, green beans, marigolds, and columbines. According to the seed packets, the marigolds should emerge first, followed by the peas and green beans a week later, and then after a month has passed, the columbines.

Note: In the picture above, there is only one seed.  I only used one green bean seed per pellet. That was a bad idea. You will find out why later.

Step Five: Place dome on tray and keep in a warm location away from direct sunlight.


Directly under fluorescent lights are fine, however.

Two weeks later, I have seedlings! On the left, I have green beans. In the middle, peas. On the right, marigolds. No columbines yet but that should be a few more weeks.


I haven't had to water it yet - the pellets have yet to turn light brown. On the downside, several of the peat pellets have grown mold! All of the marigolds came up, most of the peas as well, but not many green beans.

I'm not sure if it's because of the mold, the fact that they needed to be planted further down in the soil (seed packet said 2 in. deep, peat pellet is only 1 1/2 in.), or some other reason. Like only using one seed per pellet...


So I have mixed results with this greenhouse so far. Let's see how the other one does.

How to Build a Grow Light Hanger for Seedlings

Part 1 | Part 2

 

After cutting your PVC pipe, it's time to put it together. Do not glue it until you're sure everything will fit together. In fact, you may not have to glue all of it. I would highly recommend gluing the parts that bear weight, however.

Begin assembling the braces of the light stand like so:

1. 90° elbow
2. 1 in. section
3. Tee
4. 12 in. section
5. 18 in. section

Here is another view of the completed side brace:

1. 12 in. section
2. 45° elbow
3. 9 in. section
4. 45° elbow connected to 1 in. piece connected to a tee (and then vice versa)
5. 18 in. section
6. Tee connected to 1 in. piece connected to 90° elbow

When both braces are completed, you should only have the 3 48 in. sections left to attach. You can then begin fitting the longer lengths into the tees and elbows and gluing them, making sure the connections are straight.

These parts are the easiest to glue first:

1.  48 in. section connected to a tee on both ends
2. Two 48 in. sections connected to 90° on both ends
3. Four 12 in. sections connected to a tee on one end
4. Four 9 in. sections connected to 45° on both ends (not pictured)

I used heavy duty PVC cement so I would have a bit more time to set up the objects to be glued. Even though I used a slower drying cement, the glue still set quickly. I did accidentally glue the wrong sections together and had to use a wrench (shown below) to get it apart.





The cement should come with its own applicator, which helps quite a bit. Try not to get any on your skin, it is a pain to get off later. Rubber gloves may be best if you want to keep your hands clean. The PVC cement will put off a tremendous amount of fumes, so either glue this outside or have a window or door open with a lot of fans going to air it out.





After you glued the long sections to the elbows and tees, let it dry for 12-14 hours even though the PVC pipes felt solid after 20 minutes. I waited until the smell had gone, which took until the next day.

The next day, you can glue (or not glue, whichever you prefer) the bottom of the stand together:

1. 12 in. section connected by tee connected to a...
2. 90° elbow connected to a 48 in. section
3. 18 in. section connected to two 12 in sections

The elbows are connected to the tees with a 1 in. section. After gluing the base, you may either wait another few hours before attaching the rest of the PVC pipe or go ahead and continue.

 The upper part of the structure is attached like this:

1. 45° elbow-ended 9 in sections are first attached and glued to the four 12 in. sections
2. Four 1 in. pieces are then connected to the other end of the 45° elbows
3. The 48 in. length is connected to the 1 in. pieces by the tees. The tees should already be glued to the 48 in. length.

You should wait an additional 12-14 hours for the cement to dry before you attach the shop light. I bought the most no-frills light available, the only way to turn the light on is to plug it in. You can get as fancy or as plain as you want when choosing a shop light, just as long as it fits the light stand. I used T12 because I already had the lights for it.

When it comes to the lights, I used aquarium lights. You have a lot of options, check out this article for some suggestions.

After the stand is all dry, or whenever you can no longer smell the cement, feel free to attach your shop light and put some plants and/or seedlings underneath.





As you can see from the picture above, I wrapped the shop light chain around the tee instead of the pipe for added stability. Just something to think about.

Also, I lowered the chain so it was almost touching the plastic greenhouses after I took this picture. You'll want to keep your lights really close to the plants. You can move the light up as they grow.