Winter sowing - 2010 - what's sprouting?

Lisa I just sowed mine end of Feb and beginning of March... the current weather has a lot to do with it

Lisa, I'm in zone 5 and I was worried one day because I had only one sprout but the next day I checked one of my containers and had several sprouts.

This is not a very clear picture but you can see the green babies that have poked through. it looks like quite a few.

Of course, tonight the temperature is supposed to drop down to below freezing. So we will see how they do!

Well folks, I believed the weatherman and left my brugs out last night and the one that looked like it was going to bloom early this year froze. Not bad, but enough that the blooms are in doubt now.

supposed to go down to 30 here tomorrow night too

the weather liars have been "off" here for at least a few days.
Today i had to put the winter coat back on... winds HOWLING out of the north,,, we never hit 40.

Jeannette, I certainly hope your Brug blooms for you.

If it weren't raining I'd check the jugs to see what else is sprouting. Off the top of my head, there's a few Agastaches and the Silene armeria from you Anita is thick as thieves. A bunch of Hollyhocks are almost ready to transplant and Lazlo's mystery mix is going bangbusters.

Thanks, I do too. It has not bloomed before and I am not sure which one it is. For some weird reason I lost the tag. I am so careful of that too.

I am so excited to you Susan! I'm glad those seeds are performing well for you. I cannot wait to get home to see if I have more babies.

look like they are trying to escape from that jug

Woot! I have jalapenos sprouting today!! Some of my maters are starting to get their real leaves and many of my other jugs are going like gangbusters!

How cool is that, Steph.

Does that mean I can start veggies and herb seeds in jugs now? I usually plant them in flats in mid-April and baby them along since our last frost date isn't til around May 15th I'm just itching to plant more seeds.

We are getting snow right now, but I'm leaving it to mother nature as I'm not going out to put tops on or even a blanket cause I just keep thinking if they had been in the flower beds they wouldn't be getting any special attention... if I lose some I lose some... and then I'll know better for next year.

Janet

Unless they're super-tender, they'll be fine. I had dianthus live last year, they sprouted and got snowed on, for a week.

Yes, you can do herbs and veggies. I winter sowed all my bell peppers, jalapenos, and tomatoes that way. I also did several herbs.

It's too cold here too late to do tomatoes, peppers and basil, I think. Some local WS's tried, and didn't get much in the way of tomatoes and peppers till August.

I'm still waiting to do any veggies (except onions & peas) I know it's too early - but soon! I still have nothing showing on the things I planted earlier though :o(. This is my second year WS'ing, so I know it works... but I'm impatient!

Love everyone's Jugeye photos!

AAArgh!!! After wonderful little sucesses the past two weeks, and completely finishing my WSing today, there are now 3 inches of snow on my containers, and the ground with a temp of 30 deg outside. Had lots and lots of tulips, daffs, crocus, etc. either in bloom or close to and my green sprouting WS jugs................supposed to be two nights of mid-twenties, this weather makes me crazy, but I have to keep believing that M. Nature knows her plan, just wish I DID!!!!!

I have a ton of daffs with buds that might all be trashed after today as well

Celene, I have wintersowed tomatoes successfully here in Cincinnati. Our weather isn't much different from yours.

It's true that the plants start out small. Mine have been only 4" to 5" tall at plant out time in mid May. But once the weather warms up they take off and mine produced fruit at the same time as the nursery bought plants that were 12'-15" tall at plant out. One option is to grow shorter DTM varieties too, to give you toms until the longer DTMs produce their fruit.

Karen

Next year I'm trying some just to see.

My sprouted jugs have an inch of snow...I'm nervous.

A dusting of snow out there today here too. Yuck!

You could still do them now, Celene. In fact, it's the perfect time. I just sowed mine a few days ago. You could WSow them any time in the next few weeks.

Karen

snow never stopped my winter sowing,,, just plunk the jugs right into the snow. It is a good insulator. I'm sure they are warmer in a snow bank then if they were out in the open with the 20-something temps.

My 'task bar' temp program is readying 27 at the moment... the sun is out brightly, but i do not think it will be a warm day, just bright.

I have some sowing i need to get done today.... plus DH will be gone for the day, so i will be "car-less" -- so i have a wonderful day planned ... sowing and transplanting.

Teresa, isn't it a wonderful thing to be left alone to do your thing??? I was at work the other day washing my jugs and 2 liter bottles, cutting and making holes. The men at work thought I was nuts...but they left me alone!!! LoL They don't believe in this WSing thing but once my flowers are growing strong, they will!

Anita, my DH was that way. The first year, he thought i was nuts... then he saw all the plants, that i did not have to buy ... still, since i have to do it in the kitchen... i try to do it when no one else is home. works best that way.

I have a full bag, the 55qt size, of miracle gro, only 2 gal jugs... but i have various sizes of nursery pots and a 'flat' on my DR table that needs to be filled.

I still have a few more hrs before i go out and check the jugs... it's still COLD out there. and the sun hits that area of the patio maybe around 11am.

I have one friend who understands my love for my flowers. I don't try to explain myself anymore. LoL I would always walk through the Botanical Conservatory. I simply wanted to see what was new and what was reasonably priced at the gift shop. My mother told me I had a problem and needed to get some help because I already had too many flowers. I didn't argue. I told her she was right and the next time I felt the urge to buy flowers I was going to buy crack, instead. She hasn't said a word about me buying any flowers since that day. It's my hobby and something I love to do. I don't really expect for anyone to understand just to leave me alone to do it. LoL

same here... i figure, i could have worse hobbies / addictions.

I can tell ya... i do miss my DH not working anymore [miss the paychecks too]... he used to be gone 3 days at a stretch once per week. I used to get A LOT of projects done.... and i didnt have to clean house if i did not want to....

Yes I am not married but I can identify with what you ladies are saying. Others want to turn their noses up at filling trays at the kitchen sink...where else should I do it? If it was nice I would be outside. I keep Clorox clean-up close by always. LoL

I kind of cheated this time around, so I didn't have to worry about kitchen cleanup so much. Couldn't cook if I wanted to anyway, with the counters covered with gardening stuff. I bought a couple of weeks worth of those Lean Cusine and similar meals. Just have to microwave and just have to wash a fork and the plastic dish after each meal. Yes, I am trying to lose weight. Figure I'll have 2-3 days notice when Hubby is headed home, so I can do a good spring cleaning while he's in route.

My first sprout in the WS jugs is Hollyhocks.
These are the true perennial kind: Antwerp hybrids.

These were Ws February 23. This is zone 3a.

This message was edited Mar 26, 2010 10:07 AM

Wow! What's the weather like up there?

Today we are getting a little rain which is very much needed as it is very dry here, except where the snow is melting. Most of the snow is gone.

I'm hoping I have more green stuff in my jugs. I haven't been home for the past 24 hours. I had 1 solitary Malva and one container with sprouts and a couple that were pushing through. We had freezing temperatures last night. I'm not sure how that will affect my sprouts but I will find out tonight.

My hubby used to work out of town a week or two at a time. Now he's home 24/7....absolutely drives me nuts and I really miss the 'me' time I used to have working on projects [that I actually finished] and having that good ole feeling of satisfaction at the end of the day.

I forgot about the Digitalis sprouts already up and noticed a few Aquilegias today. CL, my first sprouts were Hollyhocks and several already need to be transplanted.

LOL Anita, keep collecting plants.

I hope mine survive we got about a inch of snow i covered mine with a old sheet but they had some snow on them and its been cold today

I have hollyhocks, also. They are the first to sprout. Also a couple of salvia. One jug, delphinium, had mold so I removed the lid, sprayed it with neems, sprinkled it with cinnamon and moved it to filtered sun. No delphinium sprouted, yet.

I will have to take a better survey the next warm day, maybe tomorrow.

cinnamon?