What to do if... If you’re not ready to plant yet
Rocket Growing Guides
If your veggies arrive before you are ready to plant them out, or during a cold spell in your area, you can plant them temporarily into a grow bag or bag of compost (or a 10cm-ish deep tray of compost – an old roasting pan works well)
Simply follow the 5 steps below and you can keep your plants for up to 2 weeks before needing to plant them out in their final positions.
- Plant temporarily
1. Unpack your plants
As soon as possible after your plants arrive, carefully unpack them all. They may look a little tired after their journey but this is nothing to worry about.
2. Give them a drink
The roots may be dry, so give them all a good drink of water by standing the plants upright and submerging the roots for a few minutes in a container of clean water – you could add a little liquid feed or wormcast fertiliser to the water too which will give them a nutritious boost.
3. Pop them into some compost
Either plug them loosely into a bag of compost or a growbag, or stand the plants up in a deep tray and loosely cover with a handful or two of compost. Place them on a sunny windowsill or porch, or if you have a greenhouse you can put them in there.
4. Water them
Water them every few days – before the compost has fully dried out, keeping it just lightly moist – until you are ready to plant them out.
5. Plant out within 14 days
When you are ready to plant them out it should be easy to gently tease them out of the compost without damaging their roots. Once planted, water them in well and they should be just fine.