A little plant coddling is called for in spring

As a general rule, I’m against plant coddling.

I like to encourage plants to set deep roots that are more drought resistant and don’t rely on supplemental water. Other than annuals, which pack so much growing into their short lifespan that they need some extra care, most plants in my garden don’t get fertilizer either. I’m of the mind that you should feed the soil with organic material rather than feed the plants.

But there is a time when coddling is called for, and spring is it. Young plants need a helping hand.

More plant deaths occur in spring than any other time of the year. I made that up, but it’s probably true, because we’re approaching the time of year when gardeners expect their young plants to be self-sufficient much earlier than they should.

Like children being prepared to head off to college, getting plants ready to survive in your garden is a process that takes time.

Whether you’ve grown plants from seed yourself or picked them up at a garden center, odds are that most spring babies will need special care as they make their way to the garden.

This process, called hardening off, gradually acclimates plants to the harsh conditions they’ll be in outside — sun, wind and temperature extremes — that they haven’t experienced growing inside or in a greenhouse.

Unless a plant has been grown outside in your area, it should be hardened off before it’s planted to avoid the risk of transplant shock, which can be slow to recover from or result in death.

This involves exposing plants to outdoor conditions a little at time, starting with about an hour a day and gradually increasing to being outside full-time over the course of 10 days or so.

Hauling plants back and forth for many days is a drag, so I’ll sometimes load them up in a wagon so I can just roll them around to where they need to be. I also use thin frost cloth to ease the process.

Most annuals sold at garden centers have only ever seen the inside of a greenhouse, and if you see perennials that are much farther in their development than ones you see growing in the ground, it’s a sure sign that they’ve been recently shipped in from a warmer location. If you ever have a doubt, ask the garden center if plants have been hardened off.

Don’t start hardening off plants too early. They still can’t be planted out until the temperature — air or soil, and sometimes both — is warm enough. The temperature here is likely to dip below freezing at least a few times throughout April, and few annuals can tolerate temperatures that cold. Perennials, shrubs and trees, however, should be fine to plant out, presuming they’ve been hardened off if needed.

But hold your horses for all but the most cold-tolerant annuals such as pansies, violas, snapdragons and sweet alyssum. Some of our summer favorites like tomatoes, basil and petunias won’t have their day in the sun for another six weeks or more.

But when it is time, remember not to rush them into the soil. A little coddling is still called for.