Winter Sowing 2010

Its almost time to start our winter sowing! I can't wait to get some dirt under my fingernails, even if it is just potting soil

So, what are you WS'ing this year? I have some white mallow seeds and some zabrina mallow seeds and another bag that I forgot to write the name on and can't remember what they are  Plus whatever I happen to pick up between now and then!

I cannot type my list.  I have a shopping bag of seeds and a garbage bag of containers.  I cut up all those security plastic packages I got christmas and I have a paint pen.  I am ready this week to get started. 

I am going to start getting the tags ready this weekend as I go through my stash and see what I am going to WS and what I am going to just go out there and put in the garden and let it sow itself.

I'm going to try start mine next weekend.  I'm starting Arctic Fire dianthus since I never got it planted last year, trying the Tibetan Blue Poppy again which didn't germinate last year, Black Currant Swirl hollyhock, purple lupine, Jacob's Ladder and Canterbury Bells.  I wanted to start Lemon Slice again but have no more seeds.   I'm going to try do annuals again later on.

Has anyone tried WS in warmer zones? I don't have very good luck with flower seeds so I'd like to try WS if it would work down here.

Winter sowing is planting perennials that are hardy for your area in the winter.  Whatever your cooler months are would be the timeframe you would use to winter sow.  It should work wherever you live.  It will be interesting to hear from our warm areas how they WS works for them.

I also have done a spring sowing for annual plants in the Spring.  I start those in April and they are ready in June.

What time of year did we do the seed exchange where we sent the envelope around the group?  Brain fart, I can't remember what that is called?    Will we do that again? I am going to put in some parsley, and herbs, celosia. daisies, and whatever else I can find.  Have not unpacked everything so will have to hunt for my WS possibilities!  I have a glass door and a couple of windows so am going to try to put together a cold frame.  Ambitious for someone who vowed to wait until her house was together before touching the dirt.  Oh well, some addicts are just hopeless!  Looking for manure to start off with...

It wouldn't be true winter sowing, Linda, which needs the freeze/thaw cycles, but you could certainly sow in containers.  I did my annuals in containers last year too, also in April.

Okay, so I would need to get some pop bottles, cut the top off, plant my seeds in potting soil, water then replace the top of the bottle minus the cap? In sun or shade? My spring planting date is the end of March so when would I plant the seeds?

I must say first here I am only guessing...

I have been to Texas many times...Every state has a winter period it may be a rainy season with or without cooler temps a drier than summer or..... But whatever time that is considered your winter and by using plants that normally would not be actively growing would be your winter sowing time. 

If you have summer plants that die back when your winter season comes those you can plant 2-3 months before your summer. 

When I was in Texas in the winter time it was still very sunny so I would place the jugs in shade because the light would be bright enough to germinate but not burn and dry out the soil and burn the seedlings.  You want your jugs to have condensation on the sides of the jug.  The type of plants that grow in your area may not need a freeze and thaw.

Thanks, Aud,  I'll give it a try.

Just put out some Gentiana, Delphinium and Sea Holly. I managed to clear off a spot in my VERY messy cold frame/greenhouse and pop them out there. I really have to clean it out...I could barely get in the door

Sown on balcony in my apt - 06.11.2009
1. Aquilegia purple - lots germinated
2. Aquilegia white - lots germinated
3. Penstemon palmeri - just one seedling :(
4. Dodecatheon meadia - about 7-8 seedlings
5. Codonopsis lanceolata
6. Veratrum nigrum
7. Heliopsis helianthoides "Lorraine Sunshine"
8. Tropaeolum polyphyllum - got 3 seedlings
9. Nemophila menziesii "Penny Black" - about 7-8 seedlings
10. Hesperaloe parviflora - 5 seedlings
11. Cardiocrinum giganteum
12. Chelone obliqua
13. Xanthoceras sorbifolium
14. Helleborus orientalis
15. Incarvillea - lots of seedlings
16. Dodecatheon pulchellum

In the room
1. Delonix regia - 1 seed - germinated but then just rot
2. Jatropha podagrica - about 4-5 seeds, no germination yet
3. Puya betreroniana - 2 tiny seedlings
4. Agave parryi
5. Echium blue - lots of seedlings
6. Poncirus trifoliata
7. Decaisnea fargesii
8. Calycanthus floridus
9. Amsonia tabernaemontana

24.01.2010
1. Caiophora coronata
2. Amsonia tabernaemontana
3. Gilia tricolor - germinated in 2 days !!!
4. Edraianthus tenuifolius
5. Polemonium caeruleum ("alba" and blue)
6. Glaucium flavum var. aurantiacum
7. Allium karataviense
8. Datura 

Many many more waiting for their turn. No more room on my windowsills :(

I have to get my potting soil either today or tomorrow! I can't wait to play in the dirt!

This is what I have out to plant.  The annuals I will direct sow since I kill anything I try to grow from seed indoors.  LOL

Pink Musk Mallow P

Foxglove (cream, white, and pink) B
Canterbury Bells B
"Milkshake" verbascum B
Siberian Blues Dianthus P

Spotted Throat Foxglove B

Gaillardia P

Giganteum Poppy Light and dark purple A
"Alaska" Shasta Daisy P

"True Blue" Penstemon P

"Indian Summer" Rubeckia P

Maltese Cross P
"Black Ball" Bachelor Buttons A
Salvia (Creamy white/light yellow) P
Salvia (transsylvanica) blue/purple P
Sweet William Mix B

Cleome Mix A

Lance-leafed coreopsis A
Crimson Scabiosa A

Blackberry Lily P
Zebrina malva P
Blue Licorice Agastache P
Hyacinth Bean Vine purple A

I really shouldn't do any winter sowing because I don't have room in the gardens.  About half of what I winter sowed last year is still in the containers on the back porch because I never got around to putting them in the ground.  I gave tons of things away too.  Anyway after saying that, I probably will put some stuff out.  I'll just blindfold myself and pull out 10 packets of seeds and sow those.  Last year I didn't get around to doing anything until almost April so some seeds didn't get a cold thaw cold thaw but still germinated.

Many seeds really do not need the cold thaw treatment.  The only ones I noticed needed the freeze thaw are the hard shell seeds.
You have all those canna beds you will need some low growing flowers in those beds.

I'm not going to try it this year. I don't "need" that many more plants and our chinooks play havoc with there timing. Milk jugs are just not enough insulation when your new seedlings suddenly have to put up with a week of -20 -30 C weather.

I'll have to start mine indoors where I can regulate the temps better.

I was thinking dianthus would look good around the canna bed border.

Chris, that will be pretty.

Alberta you WS'd perennials and they died?  That is not suppose to happen because they are perennials so they are suppose to be hardy enough to take the weather for your zone.

Right, they're not even supposed to break dormancy and sprout until the spring.  The containers aren't for insulation, they're just a medium to start the plants in. The seeds go through the natural process they would in the ground, freezing and thawing which eventually breaks open the seeds in the spring when the plants would normally start growing.

Unless you get unusual warm temps and then a freeze.

We get that all the time.  We get January thaws every year, then back to severe cold in February.  It's part of the process.  The warm spell would have to last an awfully long time to get the seeds sprouting and actually growing.  Unless that's what's happening.

The seeds must be too warm for her and then freezing.  They shouldn't break dormancy at all or those temps will kill the seedlings. 

Right.  My seeds don't break dormancy, even through our January thaw which lasts almost the month. Alberta's temperatures must really soar or last a long time.

If they are on a warm side of the house, in the jugs and in full sun I can see that during warmer temps things would sprout like mad.  I guess indoors you have control over that.

 

I was going to try a container but next week we're expected higher temps so who knows.

But wouldn't it have to be warm for a long time?  Remember, our temps get really cold, so it would take a while for the soil in the jugs to unfreeze, even in the jugs.  Alberta, how warm does it get during a Chinook?  And how long do they usually last?

It depends on the seeds.  Some can sprout pretty quick within a few days and the jugs are going to heat things up.

We get a thaw in Jan so I learned my WS did good if I start in Feb.  We have some low and some high from Feb - March.  Then it is usually in the cool time and in the jugs the seeds get going during the cool months and by June they are ready to go in the ground.

I would think unless you had 50 and above temps for a month you would not get seedlings tall enough to be damaged when the cold comes back during the winter.

I had seeds sprouting outside in my flower beds last week, it got as high as +16C on the back deck. Some of my perennials broke dormancy too.
This week we are back to -20C.

Yeah, the freeze would zap those little guys.