Welcome to Day 13 of the 30 Day Challenge: How to Start a Vegetable Garden. In my last article, I discussed Earth Day and why it is so important to grow your own food. Yes, gardening is enjoyable, budget-friendly, tasty, and important for our food storage, but it's also very important for the environment.

If you missed this important article, please check it out here on Street Articles: How To Start A Vegetable Garden - 30 Day Challenge - Earth Day And Your Carbon Footprint. My Street Articles profile also has a link to my website, where you can find all of the articles for this challenge.

Hardening Off Your Seedlings

If you started your seeds indoors, you must first harden off your seedlings before transplanting them outside.

What is Hardening Off Your Seedlings?

Hardening off, is the process of gradually introducing indoor grown plants (especially fragile seedlings) to the outside temperature, wind, rain and strength of the sunlight in small doses until the seedlings are strong enough to survivor outdoors on their own.

In order to harden off your seedlings, follow these steps:

Approximately 1 week before you plan to transplant them to your outdoor garden, begin placing them outside.

For days one and two, place them in a sheltered, shaded area outside during some of the warmest parts of the day. Make sure to only leave them outside for a few hours the first two days.

During days three and four, begin introducing sunlight and light wind to your plants. Keep them outside from late morning until early afternoon, but only in sunlight for about 2 hours per day. Make sure you watch the soil moisture level once you begin introducing sunlight as these tiny seedlings can dry out quickly.

By day five, leave your seedlings outdoors, in sunlight most of the day but continue to bring them in at night. Be aware that the seedlings should not be exposed to temperatures below 50 degrees yet. They are still very fragile and may not handle a cold snap well.

By day seven, allow your plants to stay outside overnight as long as temperatures allow.

Between days seven and ten your plants are ready to be planted outside - assuming all threats of frost have passed. When you are ready to transplant your seeds, choose a cloudy day and make sure your soil is well hydrated and nourished before transplanting.

30 Day Challenge

For those of you who are following along with the challenge, how are you doing? What are you growing this year? Are your seedlings ready for transplanting, or did you start them in their permanent homes? If you have any gardening questions, please post them here or on my blog and I will do my best to help you.