Winter Sowing 2010

I do not think they will be harmed.  I see that every year with my perennials when we have our Jan thaw. Your perennials are root hardy not foilage hardy.  They can take the next on coming cold and grow back from the roots.    

My Dafs are up and as long as they do not bloom they are fine.

I'm not worried about my perennials, I plant the toughest zone 3-4 plants, it's the seedling from winter sowing that have a hard time when they come up to early.

Alberta, I guess you don't get a lot of snow before the chinook hits?  Or does the chinook actually melt it all?  We usually get so much snow that the January thaw just brings down the snowbanks a bit.  I have to go look up chinooks.  I never realized they cause the temps to soar that much.

Chinooks are very unique and I hate to love them.
I'll start another thread so this one can get back to winter sowing.

I'm all ready to winter sow tomorrow!  I got my water jugs ready, I just picked up some potting soil, seeds are ready, got my drill charging up to bore through those reinforced jugs.  I can't wait!   I drove DS to work as it's still freezing outside, and then I decided to do the groceries.  I had a lot of energy for some odd reason.  A stint of grocery shopping on a late Saturday afternoon took care of that!  Half the town was in the store. Now I remember why I always shop in the morning.

I was hoping to find Canterbury Bell seeds but they didn't have any.  I'm going to buy a couple of plants I saw online of the pink ones.  I always end up with the purples, sometimes a few whites, but rarely pinks.  I want all three colours because that's my favourite colour combo.

If I could get them accross the border, I'd send you some. I have those gorgeous pink champions canterbury bells and I saved lots of seeds.Connie

Yes, that's the ones, Champion Pink!  Actually, I believe you can send to Canada, it's we that can't send to the U.S.  Unless we're creative.

Aren't they gorgeous? Pm me your address and I'll send you some. How should I send them? Should I put on there what they are? Connie

I'll PM you, Connie.

being up north in alberta chinooks are just a passing dream LOL, I plant my perennials in small home made paper pots, water them good and put them outside in my unheated greenhouse then let mother nature do her thing,,, I find there is no hardening off involved and they become the hardiest plants ever.  They don't start to sprout until late april early may, at that time I line the north side of my greenhouse with black landscaping cloth to absorb the suns heat, put in some 5 gallon pails of water to absorb the heat from the inside, along with some brick, and then only use (if needed) a small space heater to maintain a temp above freezing during the nite hours, then when the ground is ready I just pop the pot and everything into the soil, and let them go.  My problem is I want to start annuals too but want to keep my heating costs down,,, any ideas?

I think I'll wait until next week to do my winter sowing.  I had a lot of cleaning to do today and my weekly budgeting/banking, and cooking. Now I'm too tired to do my winter sowing.   I was up part of the night with a toothache, then ended up sleeping in too long, so that threw off my whole schedule.  I also ordered some seeds that I should come this week, so I can do those with the other seeds next week.

I found the Champion Blue (which are dark purple) Canterbury Bells, and the white (or the closest to white) which are called Champion Lavender because they have a lavender blush to them.  The Champion series is supposed to bloom the first season and they're supposed to have sturdier stems than the regular Canterbury Bells.  So I ordered those to go with the pink.

if you're still interested in trading I'd love some of all 3 colors, here is my list let me know what you think

I'm still holding off on my winter sowing because the seeds I ordered didn't come in this week.  I'll probably start them next weekend.

Next weekend I think I'll start. I'm only doing a few jugs this year because I get too crazy with them and then I have no room to put them in the garden.

Dhrushka, that is why I like winter sowing.  They were the best plant I have in my garden.  Being grown in the conditions that they have to grow up in and not having to harden them off is my big plus.

I have a few seeds for winter sowing. I'm not going to put out as many as we did last year. Need to dump those containers in a flowerbed for now. Waiting on mail, guess I'll do that tomorrow.

Wooooohoooooo! I'm ready to winter sow. I got my containers ready tonight. Tomorrow I'll get my potting soil and look out, I'll be getting my hands in the dirt.! Wooohooo. I don't have to many seeds, I didn't save very many, but I'm planting all that I have. I have some I found in the drawer from last year and I'm going to plant them as well. I saw a couple of seed heads poking out from the snow and I'm going to get them and sow them also.Please hurry spring! how many days, about 40? I can make it, I can make it, I can make it, but hurry I'm out of patience! Connie

It is fun Connie.  What are you planting.   I pulled out all my white and Blue seeds.  Next I will plant what ever my hands hit in the bag.

I'm now the proud owner of a very large bag of frozen potting soil. So, I'll bring it in the house to thaw, then I can winter sow. Awesome, I've missed winter sowing. Connie

WS-here's what I've got ready so far: Delphiniums, Coneflowers,Campanula. These are all seeds from my plants that I collected. Now, I need to sow the ones I bought. Connie

Nice start, Connie.  I'm going to try get mine done tomorrow.

I've done a bunch more and stuck them out in the greenhouse. While I was out there I checked on the seeds I'd already sown and, would you believe it, my Gentiana have sprouted!!!! It's only February 14th!!

I'm about to start mine now.  I was shocked to discover that I was able to find the duct tape, plastic markers and the china pencil!  I usually have to hunt high and low at the last minute because they're never where I last put them.

Well, stage one is done.  Now I have to look up which seeds need to say uncovered before I proceed.  I'll have some lunch and watch some Olympics while I write out the markers (I use plastic forks).   I hope I still have that website that stipulates which seeds to cover.

I found the seed site that gives all the germination info.  Just click on the letter of the plant and the page with info comes up:

http://earthnotes.tripod.com/seeds.htm

And they're out!  I sowed the three Champion Canterbury Bells (Pink, Lavender/White, Blue/Purple), dianthus (white and Arctic Fire), Black Currant Swirl hollyhock, purple lupines, Meconopsis grandis (Tibetan Blue Poppy) and I figured I'd try some old gentian seeds I found, see if they'll germinate.  I'll sow the annuals in jugs in April.

Well, that was a lot more fun than going in to work! 

You are fast.  But you have encouraged me to go get started.  We are getting 4-8" of snow on top of the 40" we have out there. Now is the time to get them out.  I do not think we will be getting a thaw for a loooong time.

You have to be fast when you don't have much time to do them.   But I only sowed eight containers.  I wonder how they'll do this year since we're not getting our usual amount of snow coverage.  I'm sure I'm going to lose some plants in my gardens this year.  I don't mulch because we usually have more than enough snow to insulate the gardens, but some areas barely have snow this year.

I got mine all done too. I took a finished container to Curves to show it to the owner. Her response was that the plants would die doing it like that. What an idiot. I had explained it to her thouroughly more than once and that was her response. No time for idiots today, they simply wear me out to much! anyway, I put out 24 containers. Wooohooo! Several were cone flower seeds that I got from my yard. Cooooooollllllllllllll! Connie

Oh neat, Connie.  You must have been busy! 

Yeah, some people just can't wrap their heads around winter sowing.