Transplanted Herb Plants During Growing Season

A couple days ago I transplanted my indoor herbs into outdoor containers because they weren't doing so good indoors and thought the natural sunlight would do them good.  Plus I like the way fragrant herbs repel mosquitoes, so it seemed like a good idea at the time. 

When I transplanted the herbs it was on a cloudy and cool day but today the weather had changed it is extremely hot.  Of course, this means I need to take extra steps to prevent outdoor herb plants from stress.

Read the first post about these herbs here transplanting kitchen herbs to outdoor garden

Anything planted in a container will dry out quickly and if you water the plant in the morning by midday when the sun is hot the soil with dry out.  Normally when I check with my index finger the soil is dry an inch down after a hot day. 

To prevent dry soil I generally water in the morning at the soil level until the water drains from the holes on the bottom of the container.

Applying mulch is good also as long as you do not put the mulch close to the herb stem.  Mulch is great because it absorbs the water and then releases moisture back into the soil slowly. A mulch that I use and recommend is nature scapes advanced garden mulch by Scotts  I bought this brand mulch at lowes.com, had watched sales, and got a good buy on 2 cubic feet.

What I like about this mulch is that it retains the water and slowly releases it back into the soil which means you will not need to water your flower or herb gardens daily.  On average you will save up to 30% on your water bill.  Plus you will save time and energy because you won’t need to water the garden daily.

When I get home from work I will need to check on the newly planted herb plants and will mist the leaves and stems with the garden hose because this will prevent them from wilting.

The best way to care for any newly transplanted herb in the growing season is to make sure the soil does not dry out. Keeping it evenly moist but not wet will ensure that the roots will take hold and the plant does not get stressed out.

Also helpful when transplanting during the growing season is to use a Green Light organic root stimulator.  I would not dream of putting a plant in the ground without a root stimulator.  I have bought the green light product at amazon.com and am pleased with it.

Here is a great way to keep the plant sauce full of water, thus the plant roots will never dry out.