This week in class we discussed the differences between transplanting and direct planting, and the reasons why a gardener or farmer would chose one method over the other.
Transplanting is the process of growing a plant in one location and then later moving it to a different location. This process is more costly due to the extra supplies needed to grow the plants in more than one place and to be able to safely transfer them. You also risk that your plants may go into shock and not survive in the new environmental conditions. Transplants are still great though because you can begin growing them in monitored environments. This yields a higher success rate with the plants due to conditions being more stable. Farmers have the ability to get a head start on the growing season, and they can even transfer their crops thousands of miles if desired.
Direct planting is the process of growing a plant by putting seeds directly into the earth. This method is less reliable than transplanting due to the lack of ability to control the weather conditions. It is also harder to keep animals, bugs, and other pests away from the plants. Direct planting is cheaper to do, however, and requires less labor.
After the lecture portion of the class, we finally got to plant our gardens!(: I was able to transplant my tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. I directly planted all of my other veggies and flowers except for lettuce, peas, and broccoli, which we will be doing later. Below is a picture of my garden, Plot #44, with a New Girl Tomato transplant. More pictures to come! Until next week...
No comments:
Post a Comment