Wintersowing 2009-2010 ... getting stared....

Lollyjean, welcome. I live in Cinti. Wintersowing works great in our zone. This will be year 5 for me.

Take it from a veteran wintersower (me!)- nothing beats gallon jugs and 2 liter pop bottles. Avoid seed flats, peat pots, paper pots, and all those others. They don't work as well, at least not here.

Karen

Karen, the only gripe I had about the gallon jugs last winter was that when I was ready to transplant..I had a heck of a time getting the potting mixture out without it falling apart. This was mainly on the ones that hadn't grown a ton of seedlings in the jug.. is there a secret to getting them out more easily?

Since I'm in the same zone as you..I'll keep watching what/how you're doing it LOL.. so if you feel any eyes peeking over your shoulder, it's just ME! @@

Chris, did you cut the jugs up to get the plants out? LoL I wish I could physically stand over shoulders to watch each step of WS. It sounds to easy to be real! I know everyone experiences some failure with seeds as I'm sure I will but I'm already hooked! I had to buy more seeds just to have different plants to start. LoL In some of my containers I only put slits (not holes) for drainage. Are the slits sufficient?

Just finished my first round of WS.Did 16 containers.If I just get a few plants from each ,I'll be happy!
I'll wait a week or so and do my next round.

Diamond9, making slits in your containers is fine as long as water drains out easily. I slit my plastic containers with a craft-knife and then twist the blade a bit to be sure the plastic edges don't join back up. SO FAR I haven't cut off a finger.
In the late spring when I'm removing the seedlings I cut the jugs apart with the aforementioned kraft-knife or scissors. It's almost always too hard to get them out without destroying the jugs in the process.

Removal is generally easier if they're moist so I usually water first. I must have been in a hurry to plant these because they look dry. I dump the whole blob into a flat.

Karen

Then I flip over the blob and cut into hunks of desired size, with a knife, like a pan of brownies. I have been known to plunk the whole blob into one hole.

Karen

kq, are those Marigold seedlings? You can WS them? What else have you WSown?
I also am a newbie and will be trying tomato seeds and numerous flower/shrub seeds this month. I started saving milk jugs 2 months ago. I never thought about getting them from Starbucks. I'll have to give them a call, I already get used coffee grounds from them.
I can use all the help I can get.

So glad ya'll are here! I have almost 40 jugs prepped for WSing waiting on me! I have a question Regaring potting medium falling thru the holes. Anybody ever experienced this before? I can start sowing today with either Bocabob's coco coir, Jiffy mix, or MG potting Mix to start my first batch of Tomato Seedlings. Not making a move until ya'll respond! Linda.
P.S. Reply ASAP, please. Its getting cold outside!
Thx!

Yes, those are marigolds. Like all tender plants, they do best when sown closer to spring. I start tender things like marigolds, zinnias, or cosmos around very late March, early April. Same method is used, just the timing is different.

Karen

Linda, of those you mentioned MG is the only one I've used. It worked fine.

I usually use one of the professional ones like ProMix, Fafard, or Metromix.

Any quality potting mix should be fine. Most folks say Hyponex is bad but I've never tried it.

Karen

Thanks kq, that helps. I started a data base for my seeds, I will enter the Marigolds for March seeding. : )
Have you ever done the Zinnias? I've heard they don't like to be transplanted.

Violap, what planting medium did you sow your seeds in?
What did you sow?
Linda

Sure you can do zinnias. They work great. There are quite a few WSown ones in my picture above. I do some every year.

Karen

YEAH!!!! This is getting better by the minute. Thank you so much kq. : )

THANKS, Kelley! I've got 3 HUGE bags of MG! I'm Gonna Go sift a batch right now (I just hate all those sticks)! And I wanna give my tomato & pepper seedlings a finer mix 2 push thru. No internet 2day, and can't post large pic files from my cellphone. But, I am taking pics of my progress, N will post soonest!
Ciao!
Linda

Can peppers be sown in Jan or should I wait until later?

P.S. A co-worker's saving her tall, square water dispenser jugs 4 me. I stood it vertically with the dispenser spout pointing straight up. I cut a flap starting opposite and along the spout side. The hinge is directly behind the spout. Reach for the spout to open it up! Its DEEP! Think I'll sow the Zinnias and Marigulds in those, in case they don't get transplanted on time. They won't flop over! How's that for African Ingenuity?!

Don't make this harder than it has to be guys. I never sift soil. I moisten, dump it in a jug, and sow. My tomatoes don't seem to mind.

Karen

kq, that is an inspiring picture of tomato plants. : ) When do you usually put them in the ground for your area?

I don't know how inspiring it is. I can be a pretty lazy gardener, obviously. But the tomatoes sure are good.

I don't transplant toms to the garden until after all risk of frost is past. For me that's around mid May.

Karen

When do you WS your pepper seeds?

Karen,
I probably asked this before but once you see sprouts in your container, do you simply vent the container or do you remove the lid? I'm in zone 5, so I think our last frost day is mid-May to June 1. I'm wondering when I should start checking my containers for sprouts? Should I expect sprouts in March or April? I'm assuming that if I leave the lids on once they sprout they could cook on a warm day. But it seems like they would need an adjustment period.

It depends. I usually start seeing sprouts in March and April. As weather warms I'll often add more vents. But my jugs aren't air tight. Besides the top hole, I generally have big gaps around the center because I close with only 1 or 2 small strips of duct tape.

I might open the jug if I already have good germination. I usually leave the top half attached but open. In case of frost I can flip it closed for tender plants. The hardy perennials don't generally mind the frost. Sometimes I've already planted the hardy ones into beds when we get late frost.

Karen

Its work outfitting these milk jugs. Do we get to use them again or start over next winter?

I agree with Drapelady! Thanks for answering questions that amy seem silly and insignificant. I am truly a work in progress in the gardening arena. I have learned so much.

Thx K!
The sifting has become my OCD in the garden. I got hooked on how "pretty" the sifted soil looks! I know its not necessary. Just my personal quirk!
I don't sift everything. Just for the "wee" seedlings! Besides that, its hard work, and I need 2 lose 35 lbs. In 2010. Sifting is becoming part of my cardio workout! ^^_^^ Linda

LoL @ Linda I may have to take up sifting too. Anything to help shed some pounds. Had I known it would be this hard to get rid of I NEVER would have gained an ounce!

Maybe I'm just lazy.

These things are the reason why I like WSing so much. No sterilizing. No dampoff. No sifting. The process is easy if you let it be.

You could reuse the jugs next year. I don't because I don't want all that junk sitting around all year. I start with new jugs every year. They're easy enough to come by.

Another philosophy in wintersowing: Pay it forward. When I was just starting out wintersowing, so many online friends were so helpful. I try to do the same for other WSing virgins now. It's a wonderful garden method and nice to share information. Remember, I was in your shoes a few years ago. In return, you beginners can coach the new folks next year.

Linda, that's just too OCD to sift for pretty soil in a jug that's gonna be taped shut! You won't be able to see it anyway!
I like chunky soil. I often add bark and lots of perlite. Don't wan't particles all the same size because it compresses and compacts too easily.

Here are my first sprouts of last year. Rudbeckia cherry brandy, March 10.

Same ruds, late summer.

Karen

That is a beautiful patch of rudbeckia and coneflowers:) What are the blue flowered plants in the mix?

I'm cutting my plastic tonight and making seed choices.

I love the Cherry Brandy. I know I've said that before. LoL I have newly discovered the different varieties of Ruds. So you got sprouts in March? I know I'm making this difficult again but you opened your containers when you got sprouts or actually saw greenery?

diamond: Yes, first sprouts last year were in early March.

I usually wait for a while to open until I have a fair amount of germination. The closed top helps hold humidity and encourage seeds to sprout. After there are a good many sprouts, I pop the top.

I'm not sure what you mean about the difference between "sprouts" and "greenery"? By sprouts do you mean radical emergence? seed leaves?

Here's spring of 2008. Sprouts are opened, unsprouted jugs still closed.

Karen

Looks like you have a fair amount of greenery. Sprouts in my opinion look as though they are still white and uncurling from the seed. By greenery I mean leaves on stem standing upright. I like your set up. We should develop WS containers that can be used every year with the vent and drainage holes already in place. Think there would be a market for that? I have a picture of some sprout. Some of my sprouts have gained color but some are still in the uncurling stage. .

This message was edited Jan 2, 2010 8:57 PM

Hello everyone. I was recently introduced to WSing (less than a month ago) and its been the best advice I've had in a long time. I'm still a n00b gardener, who has spent the last two years delving into all things gardening. This winter, I had planned to start all my vegetables and herbs under lights...these plans have all changed, though, which is great because I was struggling with where to put all the new shelves and lights I was going to have to buy!

I've been lurking here for about three weeks now and I've learned *lots* of stuff, so thanks kqcrna, et al. You may consider yourself a newb Gymgirl but you've been a big help, too.

Here's what I've got cookin' right now (cut n' pasted from Excel) :

Vegetable Name Location Plant Date Sprout Date
Summer Glory Lettuce Milk Jug 12/24/2009 12/31/2009
Summer Glory Lettuce Milk Jug 12/24/2009 12/31/2009
Summer Glory Lettuce Milk Jug 12/24/2009 12/31/2009
Summer Glory Lettuce Milk Jug 12/24/2009
Basil- Dark Opal 2 liter 12/24/2009
Basil- Red Rubin 2 liter 12/24/2009
Swiss Chard (4 seeds) 2 liter 12/29/2009
Swiss Chard (4 seeds) 2 liter 12/29/2009
Swiss Chard (4 seeds) 2 liter 12/29/2009

I still need to collect more jugs and bottles so I can WS tomatoes, peppers, yellow crookneck squash, okra, various herbs, butterfly bush, and who knows what else...

Ha ha Karen, long time since I've been called a virgin. Thanks :)

John... looks like you have a good jump on your veggie garden.

It is very frigid this week... brrrrrrr

so maybe i'll get started with a few jugs of my own, as i'm in between projects and it's just too darned cold to go out and shop.

I think we're going down to 13 tonight or tomorrow night...haven't seen temps that low in a couple of years--no precipitation just bitter cold:lol:

You guys keep this thread going for us newbies. This is my first time WS and I'm learning so much. I plan to use aluminum roasting pans with the plastic covers. I would love to use milk jugs, but I'm not going to get away with having them in my yard. My husband is too persnickerty; worried about what the neighbors would say. I believe that I can hide the pans in my borders around the house. Someone in another thread suggested using drinking straws to divide the different seeds planted in one. So I'll do that. Any other suggestions I can use?