Water Garden Transplanting Guide
The Water Garden is a great home for a wide variety of plants - it’s a blank canvas for your gardening dreams! From speedy microgreens to slow-growing houseplants, there’s something for every grower. Have your eye on plants other than the included microgreens? Take a look at this step-by-step guide for transplanting potted starter plants into your Grow Pods!
Select What To Grow
Before you start, it’s worth spending a minute to figure out what your planting goals are for the Water Garden. Looking for something low-maintenance and long-lasting? Or how about something that’ll yield a harvest? See the chart below for some info on different plant types that will be best for your goals:
Prepare Your Water Garden for Transplants
Wash your grow medium with tap water to remove any dust or debris
Remove your grow pods from the bed and fill with a thin layer (~½ inch) of grow medium. Layer thickness can be adjusted based on the size of the transplant.
Set aside remaining grow medium to add once plants have been prepared for transplanting.
Prepare Transplants for your Water Garden
Remove transplant for its temporary container. For plastic pots, lightly pinching the container sides can help loosen the roots and soil for easy removal.
Gently pull plant from container by the stem base and break off any bound roots that have developed. Massage away loose soil around the roots, taking care not to damage many of the roots in the process.
Fill a container with water and plunge plant roots into the water. Carefully move the plant around to clean off the remaining soil.
IMPORTANT: transplant and roots should be free of soil before adding it to your Water Garden. If necessary carefully rinse roots under your sink faucet to clear any remaining dirt.
Add Plants to Grow Pods
Place plant into grow pod, cover roots and part of plant stem with grow medium, ensuring plant is vertically supported. Rinse the pod with tap water to ensure no dirt is left on roots or in the grow medium.
Place pod into the Water Garden Grow Bed, and repeat these steps for your 2nd and 3rd transplants. Place the fully-planted bed back into the top of the Water Garden and turn on your pump.
And just like that your Water Garden is ready to grow! Have other questions? As always, Back to the Root’s team of growing experts are here for you. Reach out and we’ll get you growing!
