Winter Sowing 2010

Oh, that's fine then.  

I don't get this celcius thing, whats the purpose of it when we have farenheit? LOL Anyway here's what I planted.

1. Daturas, double and triple white, yellow, and purple as well as single lavender and white innoxia.
2. Hollyhock, burgundy and black
3. garlic chives
4. Texas bluebonnet
5. Dahlia
6. dianthus
6. agapanthus
7. citrus
8. pomegranite
9. starfruit
10.chinese lanterns
11. mango
12. red pot leaf hibiscus
 13. passion vines
14. brugmansia seeds
15. money plant
16. cabbage
17. broccoli
18. flowering cabbage
19. brussels sprouts
20. tomatoes
21. peppers rainbow mix
22. thai hot pepper
23. and a few other, can't remember.

My winter sowing after the storm. Poor things.  Just the breathing holes showing.

lol that's cute.  Little air holes

They're nice and cozy wrapped up in that snow.

lol  Ginny.  They're really cozy today.  It's still snowing... all the air holes are covered up.  Poor plants.  

I like hearing all about this winter sowing and reading how successful it is. Most of the time our winters are not cold enough for it to work, but with the way things are going, I'll be ahead of the game, and will know how to do it before anyone else

Grindle you do not need the snow or cold to WS.  There are lot of people that WS that do not have snow and long winters. 

WS is sowing (perennials for your zone) seeds outside in little greenhouses.  The earth friendly thing is we are not using electricity to keep lights over seed trays inside, wasting water let nature water them, and saving the plastic from the landfill.    I did not realize how many things come in plastic that I was throwing in the garbage.

The big plus for me was because my winters are harsh is the plants are stronger because they were grown outside.

Ah, right, I understand now, I'll have to go and raid the recycle bin for containers and have a go

Although I am not an expert on WS (this year is my first attempt at it), but I would think you could try almost anything that is hardy in your zone. 

I think anything about WS that you're not real sure of is "worth the risk"  You never know what might grow!!

Winter sowing is just starting flowers and veggies early to have crops/blooms sooner, or to extend the crop season a month or two. I started everything in the greenhouse and my spare bedroom to get a head start on things.

smurfboy, winter sowing is not the concept you are describing.  Lot of people prefer to start their seeds indoors. 

WS to me is growing in containers in the winter outside.  Letting nature water and care for the plants until it is time to sprout.  Mostly without any care of watering and artificial lighting.  The only time you would need to water is if you get an early warm Spring and no rain.  Which seldom happens in my area.

Starting seeds inside is growing seeds early.  If I was good at growing seeds indoors I could see that as beneficial for annuals but Perennials are easier for me if I Winter sow.

Not in the concept we are talking about. As Aud said it is starting your seeds in small "greenouses" outside in the winter. The gives the seeds a freeze thaw cycle, wich some need to germinate. For me WS is more sucessfull than indoor seed starting.

I'm starting my seeds in a greenhouse, which happens to be outside, that doesn't count?

Nope, the whole point is to use mini recyclable containers
I will PM you a link to check out!

Smufboy I am not saying the way you have started your seeds are wrong it is just not WS.  WS is letting nature grow your seeds vs starting seeds early. 

The concept of WS is not getting early germination but a better, stronger plant because it has been grown naturally in the environment it is going to be grown. 

 

In a plastic milk jug.

 

No harden off time but still there has got to be some transplant shock when dividing the WS loot compared to direct sowing in the spring or even fall.  That's really letting nature do its thing.  The incubation time in the plastic containers have to heat things up a bit for faster germination but so would Smurfs.  I suppose a greenhouse is like a big plastic container.

 

I wonder what seedling size difference there is between starting seeds indoors or WS?  And it would be interesting to compare the plant growth at the end of the summer to see the real advantages of WS compared to grow lights.

Quote:
The seedling size is always bigger than the ones I have grown indoors.  My indoor seeds are always dead.

I got hooked when I finally found a way to grow seeds as I have said many times growing indoors was a great failure for me. 

By Smurfboy's list of seeds I assumed he is growing annuals or tender plants so I think he is growing as indoor plants would be grown in a pot to get early germination. 

I have not did a comparison of indoor vs WS but the people that write about it say the plants are smaller but the roots are better and they have less death of transplant than indoor.  I thought that sounded that it could be true since the flavor of a tomato grown in a hot house vs in the environment taste better.

The plastic jug is outside in the outdoor air.  You do not close the jug the top is off so outdoor air gets in the jug vs indoor air and you do not need a fan to keep fresh air moving over your seedlings.

It just seems to me that if you compare greenhouse/hot house growing vs outdoor growing that there would be a difference.



You lose a lot direct sowing to bugs, animals etc. There is no transplant shock for WS because again it is grown outside so it is use to being outside. 

I think the WS rate of success depends on where you're located, and how you treat the plants once transplanted, I had great success in zone 3a if I ws in a cold greenhouse and then transplanted outside as soon as frost left, I find that babying them kills them and to treat them as if mother nature sowed them herself, of course I'm dealing with perennials here, we cant ws anything remotely favoring annuals.  Those we can't put out until first week of June, and then we still have to have our fingers crossed!

No, I didn't mean from the outdoor elments but you have plants sprouting together in a container, right?  Don't you have to pull them apart to plant?

Boo, you have to try this with just one bottle.  I promise you will become a believer.  Because they are grown outside they are stronger. 

No there is NO transplant shock.  I do not know why other than the roots are really thick.  I can only assume it is because they are grown under that snow and cold is they know they have to be strong to deal with the elements.  So you get a stronger plant.

When I took the plants out of the bottle and put them in the ground I watered and they acted like nothing happened.

Oh I'm sure it works but I actually enjoy starting my indoors.  I've always had really good luck with the jiffy plugs. 

 

I was going to try some outdoors but I guess I'd better do it soon because its going to be 50 degrees in the next couple days. Any perennial or can you guys tell me a sure fire perennial that is great WS?  Foxglove?

The Foxglove was great. Ginny sent me some seeds of a yellow one and it bloomed for me the first year.  It was the first time I had ever had a Foxglove.  I had brought plants but they never took in my garden.  

I’ve done both, and I prefer winter sowing. I enjoyed starting seeds indoors, but I always had a hard time hardening off the plants.  With our winds and late frosts, you had to cover them or bring them in, both of which I’d forget too often and ended up killing them.  With WSing the plants are not as fragile and more used to the elements. That’s the biggest factor for me, but there are others.

 

WSing takes less time. When I was home, I was able to check on my seedlings more often, but now that I’m at work all day I can’t, and the WSing takes care of itself once outside. You don’t have to worry about watering them.  You don’t need grow lights because the containers are outdoors so get the sun.  You don’t have to worry about mould. With winter sowing, the perennials tend to bloom quicker.  Most of mine bloomed the first year. 

 

Re the transplanting.  I don’t know if everyone does this, but I thin them out when I open the jugs if there are too many.  Then I scoop the whole thing, soil and all, and plant that in the garden,  so they don’t get disturbed as much.  The plus with WSing compared to direct sowing is earlier blooms, which is great in our short season.

 

And I get to feel like I’m gardening in January or February!

Blue that is a big part of the plus of WS.  If you have a job you really do not have time to grow seeds indoors.  When I traveled it was impossible.

Blue, I do the same thing as you when planting my WS. I have never had much succes with indoor seeds. I am  completely won over by the WS method.
Boo, I have never once not had a columbine seed germinate from WS.

I'm really going to have to try this WS next year, columbine and foxglove seem to be the seeds I really have trouble germinating indoors

 

Thanks.  I was wondering how you would do that without disturbing roots.  I will try the foxglove since they don't seem to like indoor conditions as well.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Actually I have a question.  Is it too early to see any germination on my seeds?  It's warming up (wow, up to 50 degrees today, but still near 32 at night).

Should I be seeing any growth yet?

I do a bit of everything. I start some indoors, some out in the "greenhouse" which is actually a walk in cold frame, some WS and sometimes I sow them in pots in the fall and dig the pots into the ground for the winter with no covering except a bit of mulch. I prefer the seedlings which have sprouted either by WS or the ones that have come up in the greenhouse. They are stronger and hardier. The ones in the pots sown in the fall are strong plants too but the problem is that I usually have to weed the pots as seeds get in over the winter.