Winter Sowing Plans

The distilled water jugs work better than the milk jugs I get. The distilled water jugs are smooth all the way around while the milk jugs have a large round indention.

The water jugs I get have that indentation too, but I manage okay. Nicer not to have to rinse out old milk tho.

Got six done today, two kinds lettuce, winter greens mix, kale, spinach...... Nice to be back in the WS flow again.

oh no, save 'all' my twist ties too???

lol, i'm sticking with hinges and duct tape. till i use all my tape up anyhow

i gotta get thru Thanksgiving and Christmas before I can think too much about WS.
my head will explode if I dont. I think i started around Jan 20 last year.

Ya, I'm not starting *real* wintersowing til after Christmas, but had to get my greens started asap and I do believe this is the best way.

I have done completely without any fasteners, just sometimes shove the top down into the base if the hings gets too used to being open, they have been just FINE with no fasteners....... well, that was last year, the only time I have done this, but still, it was no problem at all not to fasten the tops in any way.

I've never used fasteners for the jugs either in my 4 years of wintersowing. Haven't run into any problems as a result, and it makes life much easier in early spring when I can't stop myself from checking every jug daily.

I've also found using the jugs beneficial for seed starting in general, whether wintersowing or not. I ran out of pots in the proper sizes last year in the middle of sowing tomatoes, and sowed the remainder in jugs. Those in jugs all germinated before those in pots, and seemed to grow faster too.

This is one of those " idiot questions" but here goes, if you winter sow in jugs or bottles, then in spring you have to move them and replant, wouldn't it make sense to sow in site and cover them with the jugs or bottles?
Maybe that wouldn't work, but I am thinking, I never seem to have the spots to plant the things I think I want to winter sow.
Linda

Linda -- i just came across that very thing this morning in the Agastache Forum. A guy who lives in Colorado does that. Just covers the seeds with a milk jug.

I personally never thought of that... but in my situation... where i plant, that wouldnt work as there are critters, high winds, heavy down pours ... all of which could take the seeds from their location.

Linda and TCS1366,
That could make good sense, especially for wintersowing in a raised bed...send the link to the discussion please, so I can read further on wintersowing in place.

Thanks!

Linda

Gymgirl.... there wasn't much of a discussion... just a few posts...

but here is the link... http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1053680/

it starts around mssg # 8

hmmm..i have critters and strong winds to deal with too but if you could anchor the jug to the ground, which sounds easy, it does make better sense.

why didn't I think of that? ;)

I have all those issues, too, with wild wind and critters. We have trouble keeping a roof or siding on the house so an empty milk jug doesn't stand a chance.... But another little factoid: My garden soil can stay frozen for a long time in spring. By the time the garden soil finally makes it up to 40 degrees or so, my milk jugs are running 60 or 70. I think direct sown with a cloche might sprout a lot later.

Yes, I do really monitor my soil temp in spring. As soon as it hits 40 degrees, I start treating with iron phosphate.

Karen

that;s interesting Karen... can i ask with the Iron does?

Iron phosphate kills slugs, and it works very well. Some brand names are Sluggo and Escar-go, but more brands are popping up all the time. Gardener's supply has one too, though I forget the name. It's more kind to beneficials than most of the other slug poisons on the market.

I researched this subject a few years ago and found that slugs become active at 40 degrees F., so that's when I start treating.

Karen

Another issue with direct sowing and covering, is you still got loads of weeds. That's a big reason I don't do much direct sowing- the weeds always grow faster and better than the desirable plants, and are often difficult to weed out.

Has anyone tried putting down newspaper and then mulching the same area around the seed when direct sowing? So you'd sow your seed and then put your jug over it, then newspaper around it and then mulch on top of the newspaper. Just wondering...

I don't have to worry so much about the soil temperatures as we have very mild winters. My biggest concern is not having to replant the seedlings in the spring. If I can sow them now and mulch over them then I can plant around them in the spring and just fill in where I need color spots. I think I will try small areas as experiments this year and see what happens.
Linda

Or, you could wintersow in containers, and just do a HOS (hunk 'o seeds) planting in your beds. Could be a dramatic splash of color?

That is a really neat idea too. Maybe I will try both. Thanks, Linda