Winter Sowing - 2010 - things rolling right a long #2

Mine look like yours karen. I am envious of those with sprouts...I keep checking anyway thou...

Dh just about made me spit coffee by saying "What you really need is a t-shirt that says "My Jugs Still Look The Same". He's a caveman.

LOL!

I have a zazzle account I can make the shirts if you guys are serious

I only wish my jugs looked the same.

too much info.. LOL

I agree, I'll contribute to the tee shirt. I so appreciate all of you. Gymgirl, you are way ahead of me. Today I add Black Cherry and Gold Nugget tomatoes to the list of germinating jugs. : ) Proud mamma. : )

Ya'll are incorrigible!

theres a slogan...my jugs are germinating!

I like that!

I like

Winter Sowing Forum

Want to see my jugs???

attached photo

Jugs-R-Us?

LOL

Got Jugs?

Had to edit that post. I didn't realize that was an actual website. I was making a suggestion for the t-shirts. Sorry if I offeneded anyone. I can only imagine what that link lead to.

This message was edited Feb 20, 2010 1:40 PM

Oh dear!

Looking on the bright side, gymgirl, you will have blooms while we still have snow. No need to lament the lack of cold, dreary weather.

Lol. In the world outside winter sowing enthusiasts "show us your jugs" means something else altogether. Not going there.

I have to get a few more done then clean my kitchen. First, need at least one more cup of coffee.....

Start wintersowing
for spring flower growing!

Ok, I need winter sowing advice. I opened my tomato seedling milk jugs and put them out on the concrete launching pad to start getting some sun (although we've only had bright light 'cause it's been cloudy the last 3-4 days. Sun peeking in and out VERY briefly...)

Well, the seedlings look like they're turning yellow instead of greening up. I'm getting concerned, and am inclined to wanna pot them up to 16 oz cups and bring them in under the fluorescent lights for about a week or so to give them a chance. Or, should I just leave them alone?

They're just now making their 1st set of true leaves. I want them to live to the 2nd set of true leaves!

H-E-L-P! S-O-S! SAVE-OUR-SEEDLINGS!

Will post a pic in a minute...

LINDA

Here's a pic...

This message was edited Feb 20, 2010 2:13 PM

Another pic of yellowing seeds...

Gymgirl, I am pretty sure they are going to be just fine! keep the lid of the milk jug on them, the filtered light is really the best. I kept my tomatoes in their jugs last spring until they were coming out the top.

They were good and sturdy when we were finally past frost. In the milk jugs they were fine once they germinated. I know it is hard to believe. But I am even in a zone 7 where we still got below freezing for almost a month after they were up.

I planted mine on 3/6, they germinated 3/25 and we didn't get our last frost until late April. They were outside the whole time! They were covered until I planted them out in May.

Seriously, it works!

Thanks, LissaD!

Karen sent me a message saying the same thing. So, I'm gonna cover them up again tomorrow and leave them alone until March 15th when they go into the EBsand eBuckets.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Well, here's a new one. I had some wallflower "My Fair Lady" seeds on my WS list, and after careful research, decided they shouldn't go out until mid-March at the earliest. Of course I didn't read my own notes, so that when sowed them last weekend by accident while doing a bunch of other ones, I decided to compromise. I left the jug on my four-season porch, where temps get down to about 30-40 degrees overnight, and we also have a heater we use when we sit out here in the evenings. Today I went to make sure it wasn't drying out, since it's in the sun but indoors ... and surprise! A bunch of seedlings! Looks like they germinated in about 4 days.

Any particular advice on keeping the alive throughout the next two months? I also have dozens of coleus seedlings that I sowed in one of those plastic trays with the individual peat discs ... in January, because I just HAD to plant something ... and they came up in four days too. So I'll have to try to nurse them along until May as well.

I wintersowed Wallflowers (Erysimum cheiri) year before last, and did them early. They were the first to sprout, while it was still quite cold out. They performed beautifully, and are apparently quite hardy. Last spring they bloomed beautifully, the mother plants as well as a bunch of seedlings around them have stayed green through this awful winter we've had. This makes me think they prefer cool temps. The porch should be fine for them for now, but in March I believe I'd put them outside. When my seedlings were tiny they were exposed to quite a bit of cold and were unharmed in the jug.

Thanks for the input! All the research I did seemed to indicate that there were less hardy than other perennials. Your experience would explain why they leaped at the chance to germinate in less-than-ideal conditions.

This year I've got both Siberian Wallflower (Erysimum x marshallii) and English Wallflower (E.cheiri) wintersown. Its the Siberian I typically see around here, and the one I figured would be the toughest, but so far the English has been easier for me. I'd read that the English wouldn't tolerate our hot summers, but so far, so good :-)

Well, the little beggars are looking happy, so I'm happy! Do you think they'll bloom this summer?

Mine bloomed the 2nd year, I think that's typical for them. I think I heard they're a short lived perennial, but looks like they reseed enough to make themselves a permanent fixture in the garden.

This week I did:

Linden Tree
Purple Disk Sunflower
Chocolate Joe Pye Weed
Sweet Joe Pye Weed
Blackberry Lily
Hollyhock Chamois
Hollyhock Peaches'n'Dreams
Black Cohosh
Anise Hyssop
Prairie Spiderwort
Northern Blazing Star
Cardinal Flower
Jack in the Pulpit
Bleeding Heart Vine
Downy Painted Cup
Southern Blue Flag Iris
Jumpseed Painters Palette
Snapdragon Lipstick Silver
Snapdragon Frosted Flames Mix
Columbine Leprechaun Gold
Columbine Chocolate Soldier
Columbine Lime Frost
Bellwort
Purple Milkweed
French Hollyhock Zebrina
Needle Grass
Kankakee Mallow
Pasque Flower
Rock Soapwort
Carnation Clove Drop
Swamp Rose
Dianthus Ideal Cherry Picotee
Alpine Violet
Red Turtlehead
Hosta Decorative Foliage Mix
Bearberry
Edelweiss
Large-flowered Beardtongue
Purple Coneflower
Lupin Tutti-Frutti Mix
Prairie Larkspur
Pyrethrum Robinsons Mix
Tansy
Wild Petunia
Common Arrowhead
Marsh Marigold
Comfrey
Blue Chrysanthemum
Purple Bell Vine

Also got a bunch of inside seeds started. Some of these I should've gotten out earlier, but, well, you do what you can.

nice list!!

You must have a lot of acreage to accommodate all those plants!

Oh, no, I only sowed enough to get 1-3 plants of most of them. There are only a couple of gallons, the rest are 1/2 gallons and 2 liters, and almost all the containers have more than one species planted in it. Some of the natives are going in and around the wild pond nearby since no one maintains it (like the arrowhead and echinacea).

Good work grrlgeek! hope they give you all the plants you need this spring.

Last year all I WS'd was parsley - it grew better than any I ever tried before.

So far this year:
parsley
catnip
lavender
columbine
pansy
snapdragon
oriental poppy

Are these all good candidates for WS?

I have them on a deep basement window sill (at least 12 inches), limestone foundation, facing south. I'm thinking that this will give them a head start. The south facing wall is behind the tall trees in the attached picture, which was taken on Thursday.

I direct sow my poppies in the fall. They start coming up in late January here.

Yes, those are good candidates!

I have sprouts!!! Checked my jugs today and one of the varieties of sweet peas that I planted are starting to sprout! I'm so excited! I'll have to take pics tomorrow. LOL

hurrayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy for the sweet peas.....

Janet

I'm so envious of those with sprouts. Mine are still utterly and completely covered in snow.