Getting Ready for the Big Move

I do believe that Mother Nature has finally come to her senses and is actually going to let me get my pepper plants into the ground this week. The temperatures are looking better and overnight chills should end Wednesday night. The next few days are going to take so long to pass as I am super excited to finally get rolling with the season.

In preparation for all of my plants going outside full-time this Thursday, I decided to take advantage of a beautiful Sunday morning and get the pots ready for their new guests. With the raised beds that will accommodate 24 plants this year, I’ll also be working with a variety of pots for the remaining 16 peppers – in the shape of self-watering buckets and containers of varying sizes.

The soil mix I am using this year is a bit different than I’ve used in the last couple of seasons. Due to the current state of affairs in the area, I wasn’t able to get the exact ingredients that I typically use for my potting mix. This year I’ve got some generic potting soil, manure/humus and peat moss. The blend is fairly basic at just about ⅓ part of each item, as well as a healthy bit of perlite to aid in drainage and compaction.

With the mix completed, I set about filling each pot in preparation for planting. I decided to add in a few nutrients at this time in order to give the plants a boost as their roots grow down through the soil. A couple of grams of 14-14-14 Osmocote, bone meal and blood meal was mixed into the lower half of the pot before I filled each container to near fullness.

I can’t wait for Thursday morning to finally arrive. In the meantime, the plants will get as much outdoor time as possible to finish up the hardening off process and prepare them for the grand migration outdoors.