So, you’ve finished transplanting and your garden is sitting snugly under the lights. Now it’s time to sit back and wait for growth! There is a lot of regular maintenance to be done in a garden. It’s a good idea to keep track of the work and set up a maintenance schedule.
Plants need five things to thrive, light, water, nutrients, air, and space.
Make sure your plants are getting enough light. Is your lighting system the right distance away? Is it on for enough hours in the day?
Are you watering consistently? Are the plants too dry? Too wet?
Did you add fertilizer? Make sure you followed the package directions. Too much fertilizer can be as much of a problem as too little.
What’s the air like? Is it too cold? Too hot? Are your plants crowded? Plants need good airflow around them in order to grow. Using an oscillating fan in your garden for a few hours a day can help when plants have less space than is ideal.
Set up a maintenance schedule with your students.
Basic Garden Maintenance
- Check water levels regularly
- Water as needed
- Check if any plants need staking
- Prune tomatoes as needed
- Clean up dry leaves
- Immediately remove any diseased plant or plant material
- If you suspect a plant is unhealthy, quarantine it
- Pollinate flowers as needed
- Keep checking lamp height, you will need to raise it as plants grow
- Check your timer to be sure it is correct – especially when we change to and from daylight savings!
Teaching From the Garden 